These two words can change your mood, change your mind, and have the power to change lives and the world if we understand and leverage them in the right way”  ~ Angela Maiers TED Talk June 2011

I believe they can also change a company.

When I Didn’t Matter

A few years ago I worked at a company where I was required to attend the annual Board of Directors meeting. It was a two-day meeting and the first sessions were held on a Sunday. Unfortunately, the event overlapped with an important family event, which I had to miss.

Each attendee was given an agenda prior to the meeting and told to be prepared at the beginning of the meeting to state what was most important for each of us strategically to garner from the meeting. I was prepared. The Chairman went around the room asking each individual for their response and, when he got to me, told me that he only wanted to hear from the Board members. And yet I had been required to attend the meeting.

I chose to no longer work for that company.

When a leader’s actions convey to you that your opinions or your ideas don’t matter, you’re obviously less likely to do your best work and to commit yourself one hundred percent to your company. You’re more likely to leave and find a place that values what you bring to the table.

Hearing “You Matter

I work with several important clients that very regularly say things like, “I really want your advice on this…I value your opinion,” or “You’re the only one who can do this for us.” I work overtime for these clients and do my very best work for them.

These are simple, basic examples of the difference between being told, “You matter,” and, “You really don’t.” It’s so obvious. And yet, how many leaders do you know who not only understand this on an intellectual level but act on it to ensure that every single employee knows they matter?

 As I said earlier, I believe the concerted and consistent use of the words, “You matter,” by leaders in an organization, and actions that reinforce this message, can change a company. After all, according to a Gallup survey of more than 1 million employed US workers, the Number One reason people quit their jobs is a bad boss. Imagine if people began to be told by their boss on a regular basis that they matter… Knowing that in an organization people are your biggest asset, this change of mindset would make a tremendously powerful and positive impact.

Do you agree?

Join Steve Woodruff and me as we welcome Angela Maiers, creator of the You Matter Manifesto, as our Guest Host this week at Leadership Chat, where she’ll share her wisdom about the impact these two words have on our biology and our leadership success. It is THE place to be this Tuesday evening, February 7th at 8:00 pm Eastern Time!

And we’re thrilled to announce that this important event is sponsored by the team at Have a Nice Conflict and their just-released bestselling book, “Have a Nice Conflict!” Because the more you convey to people they matter, the less likely you are to experience conflict.

Authors Tim Scudder, Michael Patterson and Kent Mitchell, who will be joining us at Leadership Chat, have written a brilliant road map for better understanding and navigating conflict, and for using this knowledge to be a more effective and successful leader. I highly recommend it! Buy it today! (Not an affiliate link).

The Introvert's Guide to Success in Business and Leadership

Are you an introvert looking to use your introversion to your advantage in business & leadership or an extrovert interested in leading introverts more effectively? I wrote this eBook for you…

“The Introvert’s Guide to Success in Business and Leadership” eBook is NOW Available! Now an Amazon Best Seller & Hot New Release, Featured on Huffington Post, and inspiration for my Harvard Business Review article!

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Click here to DOWNLOAD in PDF format. Thank you!

Being an introvert is truly an advantage in business and leadership if you know how to leverage it, and if you remain true to yourself.

The most interesting part of our conversation centered on her belief that driving double-digit growth for more than ten years straight would not be her most challenging accomplishment. Rather, it’s the one ahead of her: creating a holistic approach to customer experience in all parts of the organization and in every store across the globe.

The Project Mindset

This CEO understands that her company is entering a new phase where growth will come from customers’ experience with the brand rather than from rapid, physical expansion. But the challenge she is facing is her executive team is viewing “customer experience” as a “project.” It is anything but.

Customer experience is part of a company’s culture. And culture starts within, with each employee.

Hospitality, for Example

One important aspect of customer experience we discussed was hospitality. This isn’t something you can “turn on” when you open a store in the morning and “turn off” when you close at the end of the day.

For a customer to genuinely feel that they’ve been treated warmly and with sincere friendliness you need employees who are like this by nature; you need a company that is like this by nature. And you need an organization that is hospitable in its approach to each other as work is done in corporate offices and on store floors.

The same holds true for every other aspect of customer experience, including respect, quality, and the higher purpose on which the company was founded, often aspirational in nature.

Essentially, it’s about Culture

And thus the need for a holistic approach to customer experience rather than a “project” mindset. When corporate employees create a company-wide project or strategic initiative there is a tendency (in my experience) to create written guidelines that are approved by the legal department and then communicated in a systematic manner via the corporate communications team, who may know nothing about the realities of day-to-day operations.  Communication efforts are tallied, actions are recorded, surveys are done to measure internal results, and ultimately teams move on to a new project.

A holistic approach is entirely different. It’s about creating a culture built on solid values that says and inherently exudes, for example, “This is who we are. We are a company that believes in hospitality and respect. We believe in quality products and quality of life. We, as individuals, believe in something larger than ourselves.” And it’s about both customers and employees experiencing this as deep-seated beliefs that permeate all aspects and parts of the company.

Customer experience is not a project.

What do you think?

The Introvert's Guide to Success in Business and Leadership

Are you an introvert looking to use your introversion to your advantage in business & leadership or an extrovert interested in leading introverts more effectively? I wrote this eBook for you…

“The Introvert’s Guide to Success in Business and Leadership” eBook is NOW Available! Now an Amazon Best Seller & Hot New Release and Featured on Huffington Post!

BUY Now on Amazon for Kindle or Buy it at B&N for Nook! 

Click here to DOWNLOAD in PDF format. Thank you!

Being an introvert is truly an advantage in business and leadership if you know how to leverage it, and if you remain true to yourself.

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Photo is Afternoon Tea at The Four Seasons

He said, “Lisa, you wouldn’t believe what happened to me when I joined LinkedIn. I joined it for exactly the purpose you mention, to participate in a few private groups that may be of help to me and where I might be able to add some value. But then I had breakfast one morning with a few employees and I discovered an unintended consequence.

They mentioned to me that they’d noticed I’d joined LinkedIn, and they asked why. When I told them, they seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. And then they said,” Mr. (CEO), we were all convinced you were looking for a new job.”

Everything communicates, particularly when you’re the CEO.

This gentleman told me he worked with his communications team to put together a blog post that explained to employees that just as they all had areas of development they were working on, he too looked for ways to continually improve in his role. For him, using LinkedIn to connect with his peers who had similar challenges was one of the ways he was accessing experienced advice and insights.

It put to rest the rumors he was looking for a new job, which had already begun to impact morale.

This story is an important reminder that as executives, how we use social media and what we say in public is being viewed in ways we may never have intended. As leaders, it is our responsibility to consider the impact of our communications on employees, partners and stakeholders.

What has your experience been?

~

The Introvert's Guide to Success in Business and Leadership

Are you an introvert looking to use your introversion to your advantage in business & leadership or an extrovert interested in leading introverts more effectively? I wrote this eBook for you…

“The Introvert’s Guide to Success in Business and Leadership” eBook is NOW Available! Now an Amazon Best Seller & Hot New Release and Featured on Huffington Post!

BUY Now on Amazon for Kindle or Buy it at B&N for Nook! 

Click here to DOWNLOAD in PDF format. Thank you!

Being an introvert is truly an advantage in business and leadership if you know how to leverage it, and if you remain true to yourself.

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Photo is LinkedIn Chocolates by nan palmero.