LAY A FOUNDATION FOR A CUSTOMER-CENTRIC ORGANIZATION
Empower your employees to help your customers. BY HEATHER ROLLINS
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verything about the workplace has changed during the past year. During 2020 we all just tried to adjust as best we could, suddenly being thrust into remote workplaces, nonstop Zoom meetings, home-schooling our kids while working and trying to keep employees engaged while trying to stay engaged ourselves. Relationships with customers changed as well. Both B2B and B2C customers now look for ways to do business online and inperson that works for their unique needs and situation. Progressive organizations are embracing strategies focused on customer-centricity. At its core, customer centricity is: • A driving cultural shift in how organizations view their customers • Empowerment of employees to impact the customer experience
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and “make it right.”
Building an employee-centric foundation will be one of the most important steps toward achieving that goal. • Putting the customer at the heart of every business decision The foundation for every successful customer-centric organization is a corresponding transformation to employee-centricity.
EMPLOYEE-CENTRICITY An employee-centric organization is built on a culture where innovation, creativity and empowerment are encouraged throughout the organization, regardless of the level of the employee. In an employee-centric organization, employees are strongly connected to customers, prospects, peers and leadership. Employees in this environment are
We all know the stomach tightening we get when the unempowered employee responds by saying, “Sorry, I can’t help you, I will need to find my supervisor.”
encouraged to: • Help customers in any way needed • Challenge internal processes that may be impacting productivity • Promote “out of the box” solutions when situations arise Employees feel respected, engaged and believe they have an opportunity to grow.
EMPOWERED EMPLOYEES Fundamental to any employee-centric organization is full empowerment of employees, regardless of position within the corporate hierarchy. We’ve all been in situations where something goes wrong, we want the business to hear our concerns
When we get an empowered employee who immediately responds and corrects the situation, however, our loyalty is strengthened, we want to spread positive word-of-mouth about the situation and we look to expand our business with that organization. That scenario represents a customercentric organization and it all starts with a foundation of employee-centricity.
EMPLOYEE-CENTRIC ORGANIZATION As your organization is building its customer-centric strategy to effectively continued on page 18
HVACR BUSINESS MAY 2021
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