Action in Romania

Building the bridge to the land of brand kept promises ! Recall a recent purchase you have made? How did it live up to your expectation? Yes , No, Good, Ugly... did it build trust you have in that brand or did it draw down on your loyalty. Did you pass on the experience to those who can change it or those who can change it ! interesting isn't it. - customers or staff ... we can all have an impact - if we can be bothered!Which brings me to my last three weeks in Romania working with a group of passionate change champions - we have been using a simple model to track the promise a brand makes and the impact the customer experience has on it. Raising questions around trust and integrity... and what state do we need to be in ourselves to even care about it ? Given the starting point is you and me - the individual - how can we be consistently in a state that encourages customers to actually give us feedback on their experiences ( the good and the bad) and have us work with others in our organization ( often with perceived different/conflicting objectives) to clean up, put up and get on with it .

An answer can be found within the areas of personal responsibility, alignment and the courage of yourself and others to call it. Many organisations make the claim that they have customer champions but do they have a culture that moves beyond the finger pointing and blame that drives the common sense thinking and initiatives underground. How can i stick up for you ( the customer) when I'm not too sure who will stick by me ...

Anyway back to alignment - it may sound simple but what exactly are we aligned on? Does it mean anything to me ( staff) ? do i get and feel the links to my success and values? Same for personal responsibility -a big word banned around. What do we actually mean ? Keep your promises, deadlines included? Take action not just talk about it. Learn from mistakes - ( and we mean it ), give feedback and keep giving it till a difference is made. We call this the My Zone model - because when you have alignment and personal responsibility its all possible -you and others are in the zone - the place of action and inspiration.From this place listening becomes a customer experience input, not a process, working with others becomes a joint mission to meet and then exceed expectations that may be one step away from voting out your out. No good morning TV interviews for you. And the tension of many objectives - commercial vs customer vs x vs y - becomes a creative tension that the challenger/innovator in you cant wait to have a go at. Isn't that why you love this business?

So few thoughts as i conclude ... think about what are you aligned to as a team , as an organisation? How skillful are you at taking personal responsibility? And then - look at your own promises.. . How is your current experience matching up ? Building trust and integrity? What is the impact on you? and on those you care about most in this world?