Ask yourself, as leader, as a manager, a director or entrepreneur; next time you call yourself ‘world class’ – what’s so great about the cogs that turn in your business.

Places like call centres (or should that be the euphemism ‘Contact Centres’?), and big chain stores, employ their people with the intention of them being just another cog in the machine. Businesses want them cheap, easy to train, easy to maintain, easy to replicate and most of all – highly replaceable.

Customers have begun to expect the low service, low cost, low talent market place that has been created by casting out the talent and replacing them with automatons.

This is not just another rant about homo-robotics.

Just because your customers expect nothing more, it doesn’t mean that’s what they want.
Ask yourself, have you let your customers down, for so long, that they no longer care? Have your ignored your staff for so long that they no longer bother? Have you let yourself down for so long that you have given up trying?

More importantly, does your business culture clamp on to the delusion that you’re fantastic, amazing, ‘world class’, inspirational and innovative?

Can you ever be so good that you no longer need to try?

If your business model is such, that when a customer comes in store, or picks up the phone – they don’t care if your counter staff, your shelf stacker or your Telephone Technician is here today, gone tomorrow; it’s time to think.

How many customers do you have, that know the names of your staff?

How many customers do you have, that spare a moment for small talk about the weather?

Employing just another cog doesn’t fit the ‘fantastic’ label. To be an amazing business, you don’t just need an amazing product, and amazing brand and an amazing profit sheet.

Ask yourself, “Woud we miss you?”

Then, ask all the people who work for you.

It’s not just about making a change, a big step, or new look.

An insurance company I used to work for had [has] this problem. When attempting to change the legal scripts that get read out to the customer; they tried to make them sound, well – less legal.

After the lawyers have been in, things can sound, well just plain aggressive. Things can sound boring, and dull. Lawyers have certainly not been known for being inspirational with words, at least not on mass.

After a while, I was drafted in to put a bit of creative juice into the project. We worked hard, to fight the autocracy and bureaucrats, to make it sound better. Finally, after a long hard slog, we got there.

It was sounding beautiful, eloquent, and delectable even.
Sure, it wasn’t perfect – but it was in a land far, far away from where it began. Progress!

Of course, then what happens?

Off they trot, the creative people, “ok, we have it from here” say the management. They’re released from their cold sweats, and are no longer panicky about some creative having them by the balls. Boy do they hate it when creative people are on a roll. So, the second they can take control back – they jump. Pounce might even be a better word.

They see the positive change, and run with it. But old habits die hard and slowly as more “progress” is made, little bits change for the worse. Soon, those little bits add up. Soon, there’s a whole lot more jargon. Soon, it starts to sound harsh, and brass. Alas, the product changed, but the culture did not – and it’s the culture that guides everything. After only a few months, the product is heading right back when it came from, the comfort zone.

You have to change the culture, or it’ll come right back and bite you in the ass.