Engaged people, the only sustainable advantage
Wouldn”™t we all like to enjoy higher productivity, greater customer satisfaction, faster time to market and more rapid innovation? How about lower turnover, fewer accidents, reduced absenteeism, higher productivity and increased willingness to change? All of these benefits can be enjoyed, but only with the help of engaged people.
John C. Maxwell, The New York Times bestselling author and internationally recognized leadership expert, says, “If you ask the CEO of any major corporation what characteristics are most needed for success in leadership positions, they will tell you it”™s the ability to work with people.” That ability engages customers and employees.
Entrepreneurs find that the difference between success and failure is people skills. Top salespeople confirm that knowing people is much more important than knowing product. The most successful teachers and tradesmen excel due to the cultivation of skills that engage the people they work with; and you can, too.
The quality and attitude of the people serving our meal is apparent as we enjoy a pleasurable dining experience, but that attitude is no less important in the kitchen where the food is being prepared or in the restroom that is kept tidy and has been cleaned with pride. It must all be consistent and requires an engaged person for each function.
Everyone ”” customers, employees and outside vendors ”” must be fully engaged with your business. According to “The Engagement Equation” by Christopher Rice, Fraser Marlow and Mary Ann Masarech, “Engagement is a win-win relationship. The individual is getting what he or she wants from the job and the organization is getting what it needs from its employees.”
Each person is important and must know how what they do helps the customer who, in turn, is responsible for providing them with a paycheck and keeping the business operating. People who know why their job matters and who are treated well treat those doing business with you well.
Empathy is an important quality and we must show it with our people if we expect them to pass it on to our customer. Dale Carnegie once said, “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
People engagement skills suggested by Carnegie are: remember that a person”™s name is, to him or her, the sweetest and most important thing they will ever hear; smile, encourage others to talk about themselves and always find a way to sincerely compliment everyone.
Believe in the goodness of all people and expect the best from everyone because, as the philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, “Treat a man as he appears to be and you will make him worse. Treat a man as if he already were what he potentially could be, and you will make him what he should be.”
Even in the most engaging business with top-rate people skills, conflicts with customers and employees are inevitable. Always strive for win-win in any confrontation and try to be sure that the other person wins first. Always start out by seeking to understand rather than to be understood and don”™t try to make an agreement right away.
Fully engaged people, both customers and employees, will lead to higher productivity, greater customer satisfaction, faster time to market and more rapid innovation. Good people skills will lower turnover, decrease accidents and increase productivity. Fully engaged people are any organization”™s only sustainable advantage.
Questions for discussion:
How can we improve the level of our customer and employee engagement?
Have we taught everyone the people engagement skills suggested by Carnegie?
Joe Murtagh, The DreamSpeaker, is an international motivational speaker, meeting facilitator and business trainer. For questions or comments, contact Joe@TheDreamSpeaker.com, TheDreamSpeaker.com or call (800) 239-0058.