Guest Blogger James Castellano: What Do You Expect?
As leaders we should always be looking for ways to improve our business and increase bottom line results. Building customer engagement by delivering an outstanding customer experience is one way to do so. But this will only happen if employees are engaged.
Remember, every company has two types of customers. Internal customers who are those we serve within our company. External customers are those we serve outside of our company.
When our people believe in our goals and expectations, they get fully engaged and provide an outstanding customer experience. These experiences lead to increased customer loyalty and repeat business, which generates a much greater profit margin.
Setting solid and meaningful goals and expectations provides the foundation we need to develop highly engaged and focused employees.
Properly communicating expectations is also vital. Employees become confused when expectations are inconsistent. How can we succeed if we are not aware of what is expected from day to day? Employees also become unproductive when expectations are weak or meaningless.
The most common method of communicating expectations is the annual performance evaluation. These have a minimal effect due to the time lag between evaluations. Instead, provide ongoing coaching and guidance in real time.
There are many great opportunities to provide feedback. As leaders we should take advantage of them all. There is never a bad time to guide, train, and reinforce expectations.
Our company starts setting our expectations during the first interview. I let the prospective employee know upfront how we operate and what is expected from them. Here is how I set my expectations:
- Shoot for perfection: You will come up short, as no person or company is perfect all the time. Isn't it better to shoot for the sun and hit the moon, rather than shoot for the moon and hit the clouds? There is nothing wrong with expecting 100 percent on-time deliveries. This should be the goal.
- Embrace excellence: Let people know when they excel and reward them. What gets measured gets improved and what gets recognized gets done. Excellent customer service will result in long-term customer loyalty.
- Accept their best effort: If they give their best, we can work with them. If they are struggling, we may have them in the wrong role or their boundaries may be too restrictive. We need to let them do their jobs without constraints.
- Anything less: If they constantly fall short of level 1, 2, and 3 they need to be moved over or out! Can they be retrained or moved to another role? If not, help them move on. You can't have a great company with mediocre employees.
To ensure employees stay engaged, we establish key performance indicators (KPI) based on the specific roles of each position. How well the employee scores on their KPI helps determine what level of expectation they hold.
The culture we reap tomorrow is directly related to the expectations we sow today. Sow them wisely!
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About the Author: James L. Castellano is director of operations for Venezia Inc., a top 15 tank truck company.
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