Typically, when we look at our engagement survey data by management level, there is a slope. The senior leaders have the highest, most favorable views of the company, and those views decline with each level until you get to employees. This is what we expect to see. And, we want the senior leaders to have the most favorable view; they are the ones leading the organization. But sometimes, we see a dip in middle management. The middle level having the least favorable view of the organization. When this happens, we have a problem, because it won’t take long for the employees to follow suit.

The strength of any organization is only as deep as the layer below its best leaders. If that layer isn’t being developed, the C-suite isn’t just carrying more than they should. They are one unexpected departure away from finding out exactly how much they were holding up.

It is usually a result of the middle level either not getting the information they need or not being developed to grow in their position. Either way, it breeds disengagement.

The result is predictable. Everything flows upward. Decisions that should be made three levels down end up on the VP’s desk because that’s how the VP maintains control. Projects stall waiting for approvals that only one person can give. The team beneath them stops growing because they are never given the opportunity to think through problems on their own. And the C-suite, which should be focused on strategy and direction, gets pulled back into operational conversations they have no business being in.

Here are some tips for strengthening the middle layer’s ability to execute.

Assess your second tier honestly. Not by title or tenure, but by capability. Can your VPs and directors lead without constant C-suite involvement? Are they developing the people beneath them, or are they the bottleneck? The answers to those questions tell you more about your organizational health than any engagement survey.

Make development a performance expectation. A VP who delivers results but develops no one is only doing half the job. Build the expectation that leaders at every level are responsible for growing their teams’ capabilities, and hold them accountable for it the same way you hold them accountable for their operational goals.

Give the second tier real authority. Leaders who are never trusted with meaningful decisions never develop the judgment to make them. Delegate authority, not just tasks, and resist the instinct to pull decisions back up when the outcome feels uncertain. That uncertainty is where development lives.

Have the honest conversation about succession. Most second-tier leaders who aren’t developing successors haven’t been asked to do so directly. Make the expectation explicit. The cost goes deeper than inefficiency. When a VP hoards decisions and knowledge, they are also quietly eliminating their organization’s ability to function without them. In most cases, this isn’t malicious. It comes from fear. A leader who hasn’t developed anyone beneath them often believes, consciously or not, that being irreplaceable is the same as being valuable. What they are actually doing is creating a single point of failure that puts the entire organization at risk.

Develop your leaders now, before discovering that the layer beneath you was never prepared to lead, and it’s too late. The most expensive leadership transitions are the ones organizations didn’t see coming.

Dusty Tockstein is a senior consultant at Peter Barron Stark Companies. Dusty works with clients to improve their corporate culture through a variety of tools, including Employee Engagement Surveys, 360 Leadership Development Assessments, Leadership Coaching, and Organizational Assessments.

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The term leadership material falsely implies that either you have what it takes to be a leader, or you don’t. Throughout time, we’ve heard many explanations as to why some people have followers and others don’t. Some of these explanations range from the ancient civilizations who believed that the ability to lead was bestowed upon a lucky few from the gods, to the more recent view that leaders just happen to be born with the right personality, while others are not.

Let’s take a look at some of the most prevalent leadership myths:

Great leaders are born, not made. Although the DNA crap shoot of life does play a role in your ability to lead, you can learn the skills that will allow you to create relationships and an environment where people want to follow you. It’s impossible to debate with accuracy whether the nature/nurture percentage is 50 percent born and 50 percent learned, or perhaps 25 percent born and 75 percent learned, or any other combination of nature vs. nurture. What we do know, however, is if you have a desire to learn the skills of a great leader, practice those skills daily, and learn from your failures, you can significantly improve your ability to lead others.

Leaders and managers are one in the same, ie, managers are leaders and leaders are managers. Although the goal of a manager is to be the leader, in reality, we work with some managers who only have the power of their title. This means that if their team members were given the choice, they would not follow that manager nor would they work for them. In most of these situations, the team members have actually chosen to follow another member of the team or another leader in the organization. While leaders may or may not have a title, what they do always have is a relationship where others have made the decision to follow them.

You need to be a Director, Driver or Red behavioral style if you want to be a leader. Great leaders can be any style: analytical, supportive, amiable, driver, expressive, or hub. Here’s the secret: great leaders are able to adapt their style depending on the situation and who they are communicating with as this is the best way to build relationships and accomplish goals.

Leaders need to have technical expertise to lead others. If this was really true, I’m not qualified to lead this consulting firm. Everyone on my team has more technical expertise in their specific area of the business. Alan Mulally, the CEO of Ford, is probably the greatest example of someone who leads a company without technical expertise. Mulally spent his whole career building airplanes at Boeing. When he was hired by Ford, many predicted he was doomed for failure because he lacked technical expertise. Mulally proved that prediction wrong by leading one of the most successful corporate turnarounds in our lifetime.

Owning your mistakes undermines your credibility. Admitting when you make a mistake, taking accountability for improving situations, and delivering on results are signals of confidence and strength, not of weakness. Managers who don’t accept responsibility and accountability usually end up placing the blame on someone else, and, in turn, tend to lose the respect of others’. Since people don’t follow those they don’t respect, managers who aren’t respected can never be a leader.

People choose their leader. Although we agree with this point, we believe that great leaders do not sit back and wait to be chosen. Great leaders make a conscious decision to lead. Based on their decision to lead, they exhibit the behaviors where others want to follow them.

Managers do things right but leaders do the right things. This is a great concept from Warren Bennis. However, here’s my challenge: I believe that great managers also do the right things, and that great leaders also do things right. I understand this philosophically but believe the more significant point that supersedes this is that great leaders, with or without a title, have the relationship where people want to follow them.

Leaders are in control. Great leaders trust their team members and therefore give up control. What great leaders do maintain is holding others accountable and taking responsibility for the results of their team or organization.

Leaders have a vision; managers execute the vision. Sometimes people describe this as leaders being big picture thinkers and managers working on the details. Although most leaders do have a vision, great managers also have a positive vision of the future. On the other side of the coin, great leaders also get involved in executing the vision–the actual doing–when needed. Last, while great managers also have a vision, there are times that great leaders have to become involved in the intimate details of something to gain understanding and lead the team in a direction that aligns with their new understanding of the details.

Thankfully, these are myths. Leadership isn’t bestowed upon us or built on something innate and unchangeable, it’s built on behavior, which is largely a choice. Leadership is in your hands so don’t let myths deter you.

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The fundamental problem with complaining or blaming is that it does absolutely nothing to improve your situation. On the contrary, it makes things worse because it makes people feel comfortable knowing that, since they are not the source or reason for their problem or complaint, it absolves them from having to take action to change their condition. Instead of focusing on what we call the “Aim Frame” by asking themselves where they want to go and how they can get there, complainers and blamers always focus on the “Blame Frame.” They ask two questions:

What is wrong… and who is to blame?

If you ask complainers and blamers what they accomplish by spending time addressing these two questions, they almost always universally answer either, “Nothing,” or “It makes me feel better.” It is important to note that the first answer they provide, “Nothing,” is not correct. By determining what is wrong with the world and who deserves the blame, the complainers and blamers are absolving themselves from having to take any action to solve the problem. They believe that until the person or thing being blamed fixes itself, there is nothing they can do. Feeling good about not taking action is a significant accomplishment in itself.

Since complaining and blaming accomplish so little, here are 5 tips to help you improve your results and achieve your goals:

1. Create and maintain a positive vision of your future. A vision is a clear mental picture, described in words, of the outcome you desire. Your vision, if it is a good one, is going to be tested. These are trying times. Life has ups and downs. Economies have cycles. Relationships change as people grow. Careers and jobs change. All of these changes are to be expected, but they still create huge tension in your vision. There are two ways to reduce the tension. First, you can lower your vision. The easiest way to lower your vision is to blame the lack of achieving your vision on someone or something else. The second way to reduce the tension created by your vision is to set goals and then take action each day that takes you closer to your vision. Many people believe the concept of a vision is overrated. Norman Vincent Peale was on target when he said, “Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure.” Whether you think you can turn your vision into a reality or whether you think you cannot, you are right.
2. Set goals to achieve your vision. Goals are milestones you will need to accomplish to realize your vision. Make sure your goals are specific, measurable and time bound.
3. Establish a step-by-step plan to accomplish your goals. When you buy something in a box that says, “Some assembly required,” you can be guaranteed there will be instructions in the box. It is usually then when you find out the words on the box were a lie…a lot of assembly is required. When you write out your plans to accomplish your goals, similar to the instructions inside the box, you find that it is much easier to work the plan and achieve your goals.
4. Hold yourself accountable. Accountability is all about accepting responsibility for the end result…no excuses! If one road does not lead to success, then accountable people find another road or build one. If you are a manager, then it is your job to hold your team members accountable. Let’s say that you have a team member who is spreading ill will and discontent (complaining and blaming) to other people on the team.  There are two things you need to know. One, your employee does not have enough to do. They have way too much time on their hands that allows them the freedom to complain. And two, you are not holding the team member accountable to high enough standards of productivity.
5. Celebrate life…celebrate your opportunities…celebrate success. As much as we may want to complain and blame, we are alive! Buddha said it well, “Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.”

If you practice these five tips each day, you will be so focused on the results, you will have little time for excuses, complaining or blaming. You can choose results or you can choose excuses that are built upon the foundation of complaining or blaming…but you can only choose one. Whichever path you choose to take…you wrote your own ticket.

The post When You Feel like Complaining or Blaming…Take Action! appeared first on Peter Barron Stark Companies.

What is amazing is that most DMV employees are seasoned veterans capable of being cross-trained to handle every possible transaction a customer may need to accomplish. Most likely, most of the DMV employees do know how to handle all the possible transactions or, they can turn to the person within three feet of them and find the correct answer. For whatever reason, some organizations, like the DMV, prefer to not equip team members to deliver on a customer’s multiple needs.

Southwest Airlines is a great role model when it comes to team members who can accomplish multiple jobs. After every flight lands, the flight attendants, and many times a pilot, take on the responsibility of cleaning the entire cabin. Recently, I watched a pilot take the lead in pushing a passenger in a wheelchair down the ramp and then help them get into their seat. Although this pilot’s job is to fly the plane, I could actually see joy in his eyes at the opportunity to help not only a passenger, but his fellow teammates so the plane could board and depart on time.

Over the years, we have conducted Employee Engagement Surveys with over 300 organizations and have over 100,000 opinions in our Peter Barron Stark Companies benchmarks.  When we breakout the top 25 percent of all organizations in our benchmark, the Best of the Best, employees in these organizations consistently rate their company 28% more favorable than the overall companies when it comes to the competency of cross-departmental teamwork. Organizations that are strong in cross-departmental teamwork have employees who have broader knowledge than just their own job and an understanding of how the different departments and jobs all connect to better serve the customer.

There are both organization and employee advantages to cross-training:

Organizational Advantages Include:

• Coverage for an employee when they are sick or out on vacation
• Coverage to provide backfill when a qualified employee cannot be found in the shrinking workforce
• Smaller workforce is needed because employees can cover multiple functions based on the organization’s need
• Employees who are able to provide training on multiple skills to others
• Increased cross-departmental teamwork
• Development of future leaders

Employee Advantages Include:

• Increased morale due to a deeper understanding of how the business works and knowing they make a significant difference in the business’ success
• Opportunity to learn new skills
• Greater opportunity for a promotion
• Higher chance they will not be let go in tough economic times
• More skills and experience in your company
• Prevents stagnation
• Job flexibility
• Great job variety

The benefits to employees and companies is much larger than this. So why haven’t more companies made cross-training a priority? To help, the following are seven keys that will help you successfully implement cross-training in your company or team.

1. Identify the specific critical tasks for which cross-training is needed. You can look at the need from a few different angles.
   • What needs do our customers have that could be improved if multiple team members knew how to meet the customer’s goals?
   • Where are we vulnerable?  If this employee was to get hit by a bus today, are people trained today, ready to execute and get the job successfully accomplished? Ensure every job is backed up.
2. Identify the right people to cross-train. Some team members love learning new information and skills. Others are more comfortable completing the same tasks over and over.  
   • As you review your team member’s performance, ask what are the next logical steps to help them build their skills and increase their organizational value?
   • If you have a person in a critical position that refuses to cross-train others, you are being held hostage and putting the future health of your team or organization in jeopardy. Information hoards kill cross-departmental teamwork and kill creativity and innovation. If your competition has strong cross-departmental teamwork and your organization does not, you are going to be both vulnerable and at a significant disadvantage. Information hoarders seem to forget that we are all on the same team.
3. Create the right environment: Align the vision of cross-training with the goal of improving teamwork and service to the customer. This should help eliminate information hoarding by sharing their information and teaching others their skills.
4. Conduct a gap analysis: Determine what skills and knowledge are needed to successfully get the job done. Then, identify the employee’s current level of knowledge and skills. Develop a learning plan based on the gap.
5. Adjust workload: Employees learning a new skill will take longer to accomplish the task then a veteran of the position. Adjust their schedule accordingly.
6. Reward team members for learning new skills and practicing collaborative behaviors. People do what they are rewarded and/or recognized for doing.
7. Share information hoarders with your best competitor: If an employee is unwilling to train others, share information and work well cross-departmentally, you may be a lot better off sharing them with your best competitor and screwing up another organization’s strategic plan.

Cross-training is good for employees and leaders, and it’s good for business! Put these seven tips into action and it will help you build an organization that is rated by your employees as being a Best of the Best benchmarked organization.

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In fact, there is research that tells us that if you want to live longer, find meaningful work that you love to do. Dr. Thomas Perls, Director of the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University said, “It is vital to have a cause to wake up to every morning. There has to be something to get you up and keep you engaged.” I believe the opposite is also true – hating your job will take years off your life.

If you don’t love what you do daily, you are not alone. The latest results of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center found that about half the American workforce feels the same way you do. On a positive note, job satisfaction has risen every year for the past six years. But, as positive as this sounds, for the first time since 2005, the level just passed the 50 percent marker, coming in at 50.8. While the trend is encouraging, it is well below the highest level of American workers who liked their jobs which was 61.1 percent in 1987.

In a recent study surveying people who loved their jobs, the following characteristics emerged: 

Purpose: People who love their jobs have a belief they are doing meaningful work that makes a difference in the world.

Autonomy: Having work where you can think, make decisions and see the outcomes of your decisions seems to bring joy to a lot of the people who love what they do.

Hard work: Most of the people we interviewed who said, “I love what I do,” could also be described as hard workers. Others would describe these people as “willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done.”

Mastery: Hard work, the love of the work and the amount of time these individuals were willing to put in also gave them the ability to become great at what they did or gain mastery over their work and the environment. These individuals obtained great satisfaction in solving problems or leading others to a better tomorrow.

Recognition: People who loved their jobs feel that they are recognized and valued by people their work supports. It may be a boss, peer, direct report or even a client. If you do not show up, you know that you and your work will be missed.

Team Player: Talking about being a team player, after we talk about the characteristic of autonomy, almost sounds counterintuitive. But, it is so true. People who love their job and gain mastery over their environment, tend to gain joy in being part of a team. When they are able to help other individuals and the team win, it only reinforces the positive feelings one receives from the work they do.

Where’s the Money?: Although money may be the reason you took the job, there is almost always another reason why you leave a job. Some of the most common reasons we hear from people about why they leave their jobs…

• Poor relationship with their immediate supervisor
• Unsupportive co-workers who do not work as a team
• Not feeling valued or appreciated
• Work that is not meaningful or interesting
• What else?

When you are engaged in something that is meaningful and matters, you’ll find more purpose in your work. You’ll feel more fully connected and motivated.  Plus, when you’re swimming with the alligators in the swamp, you’ll have more resilience to wrestle with the beasts, achieving positive outcomes.  Money is important and motivates us to get to our jobs, but it never is the factor that causes us to love our work – meaningful work does that.

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It is our belief that these leaders could be even more successful if they would involve their team members in the decision-making process. It is also our belief that if the team members were not qualified to make decisions regarding the work they do daily, they probably should be working for a competitor and not the leader’s organization.

Although we are proponents of getting employees involved in the decision-making process, we acknowledge that there are four very real risks involved in allowing employees to make decisions.

First, you (the leader) lose control. When you make the decision, you maintain more control of the process and the outcome. There are no questions to ask because there is no need to gain additional information when you have made the decision. Turning the decision over to employees feels uncomfortable to many leaders because they do not know the outcome in advance.

Second, giving up control and letting employees make the decision takes more time. You could have made the decision in 10 seconds on the way to work. To get employees involved could add minutes, hours, days or even weeks to the decision-making process.

Third, they may make the wrong decision that produces a bad outcome. Is there anything that could be good in a bad decision producing a bad outcome? Yes, there is. It was Tom Watson, Sr. who had one of his direct reports make a decision that cost IBM $600,000. When recounting this event later on, Mr. Watson declared, “Recently, I was asked if I was going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost the company $600,000. ‘No,’ I replied, ‘I just spent $600,000 training him. Why would I want somebody to hire his experience?”

Fourth, employees may make a decision that works, but is not the best decision in the leader’s mind. Some leaders get frustrated in trying to live with an outcome or decision that they believe would be improved if their decision was implemented.

Despite these four challenges, we believe the benefits of involving employees in the decision-making process far outweigh the challenges.

Here are six reasons why we recommend including your team members in the decisions you make.

1. Employees feel valued. When you ask an employee for their opinion or tell them to go ahead and make the decision that they feel would work best, you indirectly tell people that you feel their opinion counts.
2. Employees feel trusted. When an employee makes a recommendation and you say, “Go for it,” you indirectly tell your employees that you trust their judgment. Despite the risk, the employee learns firsthand what decisions don’t work, and what decisions work best.
3. Employees learn and grow. When you ask successful people how they became successful, many will tell you they have had a great amount of experiences in their life. When you ask them how they gained this experience, they will tell you that they have made a lot of decisions…some that were good ones, and some decisions that went bad. The more decisions you make, the more you have the opportunity to learn what works and what does not work.
4. Employees feel a responsibility to think. When employees feel valued and trusted, they feel a responsibility to come up with ideas and suggestions of how to improve their work or resolve problems in their organization.
5. Innovation and continuous improvement will increase. When employees feel a responsibility to think of ways to improve their job or the organization, innovation no longer solely resides with you, the leader.
6. Employees will be more empowered and engaged to take action. When employees feel trusted and valued because they have been given a responsibility to think and improve the organization, most will feel energized and empowered to take action.

Each day you’re faced with a myriad of decisions that need to be made. We challenge you to think about which decisions you absolutely need to make solo, and which ones would be better made by involving employees. Experiment with giving employees more ownership of decisions that impact their work. Empower them to make a difference. We bet you’ll end up with confident, enthusiastic employees who say, “I love my job.”

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Those that have built a reputation for great service, know one thing – competitive customer service is caring customer service.  Does your organization have a culture that cares? Answer the following five questions to assess your “Care Quotient.”

Initiative

Do your employees take initiative to anticipate, respond and exceed your customers’ expectations?  In a culture that cares, employees know what a customer wants almost before the customer does.  Employees that care initiate action to offer suggestions, solve problems, and implement solutions that exceed customer expectations every time.

Commitment

Is your team committed to focusing on your customers’ needs?  A committed culture is one in which employees keep the customer at the center of their focus, ensuring that all decisions and actions are in the best interest of the customer.  A committed employee will do whatever it takes to deliver on a commitment to a customer.

Accountability

Do your employees take pride in being accountable to your customers?  Do they ascribe to the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, “If it is to be, it is up to me”? Accountable employees take action to make everything right for the customer, even if it is outside their job description or specific duties.

Resourcefulness

Are your employees creative in their approach to opportunities customers place before them?  Do your employees use all the resources available to them?  Do your team members provide customers with options to solve their service needs? Resourceful employees know when and where to turn for help and consider many options in serving customers.  A resourceful employee always has a back-up plan to ensure success.

Expectations 

Do your team members expect to exceed customer expectations?  A caring customer service culture delivers more than the customer expects every time. Employees that care go out of their way to delight customers and leave them with a memorable experience.  Memorable experiences build customer loyalty.

Based on these customer service tips, how would you rate the level of internal or external service your team provides to customers? If “I CARE” is your team’s motto, you will have the competitive advantage in your marketplace, allowing you to retain loyal customers, as well as select the markets you chose to do business with in the future.

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This isn’t a fun position to be in, but if you don’t handle the performance problem correctly, chances are it will continue to happen. If you don’t effectively deal with the behaviors causing customers to complain, you will lose respect as a leader from not only the employee in question, but your other team members as well. The bottom line: you need people on the front line that every customer views as courteous, knowledgeable and dependable.

We all want our customers to be happy, and to let us know when something has gone awry. But are you prepared to successfully handle situations where multiple customers complain about a long-term employee?

How to Tactfully Discuss Customer Complaints with Employees

First, meet with the employee and find out if they are aware of the complaints. Lead the discussion by asking a question such as, “We’ve had three complaints over the last month from customers who were unhappy with the interactions they had with you. What do you feel has changed in the last month that could have triggered these complaints?”

Second, ask the employee if they see these complaints as a problem. Without the employee’s agreement that the complaints are a problem, the employee will never be motivated to change their behavior.

Third, ask the employee for suggestions on what they are going to do differently to ensure that customers have no reason to, for instance, describe him or her as rude or arrogant. If the employee doesn’t offer suggestions, encourage them to involve you before a problem escalates with the customer in the future. Or, encourage the employee to provide the customer with options to resolve the problem so they feel they have a voice in how the situation is resolved.

Fourth, make sure you leave the meeting with four accomplishments:

1. The employee is aware that you see their behavior as a problem.
2. You and the employee have generated strategies/actions for what the employee is going to do differently to ensure the problem doesn’t happen again.
3. The employee knows that you care about his or her success and value their contributions to the organization.
4. Set a follow-up date within the next week or two to review the employee’s progress at utilizing their new strategies/actions to build stronger relationships with customers.

Some managers fear confronting long-term employees about poor behavior. They ask us, “What if they quit?” If the employee threatens to quit over being held accountable for positive customer relationships, don’t back down or lower the level of accountability. Here’s a shot of confidence to help you deal with these types of difficult employee scenarios: Very seldom do employees actually quit over being held accountable for doing the right thing. Lastly, if the employee actually quits over this conversation, this employee doesn’t truly care about you or the company’s success. Take pride in knowing that you did the right thing. Holding employees accountable ultimately contributes to the success of the business, and keeps your customers happy and loyal.

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While it may be your employees who are delivering the service, it is you, the leader who sets the bar for the standard of service. It is important that you have a clearly defined service standard, and that you walk the talk at all times. Remember, you are the role model. Each day, make sure your actions are what you want your employees to emulate.

Here’s how you and your team can, not just meet, but surpass your customer’s expectations:

1. Clearly articulate your customer service vision. What does great customer service look like to you? What should customers experience when doing business with your organization? Clearly communicate this to your employees, and confirm for understanding.
2. Train every employee. It makes sense to train your customer service representatives on customer service, but I’m going to suggest you go even further than that. Train everyone on customer service because it’s everyone’s job. Companies who successfully train every employee to focus on the customer and their total satisfaction, have more loyal customers and are a more profitable business. Does every employee in your company know the average dollar value of one job or the annual dollar value of an average customer? Give employees the training and the tools to wow your customers.
3. Hire for attitude, train for skill. Even after a brief interaction, you can probably tell who enjoys serving others and making customers happy, and who views customers as a necessary evil to receive a paycheck. People with great attitudes enjoy serving others, are easier to train, and are better at developing multiple options if the company’s standard way of serving and satisfying customers is not successful. These individuals are star employees: hire them.
4. Tear down the walls that isolate employees from customers. There are some employees who never have customer contact. We highly recommend introducing customers and sales representatives to employees. When employees know the customers are real people, not just a name or an order number, there is a stronger commitment to satisfy the customer. Two ideas that have proven successful are to 1) videotape a customer being interviewed by a company representative and 2) bring customers on-site for a customer appreciation day and have the employees provide tours.
5. Cater to your customers. Find out what your customers needs and passions are and find a way to delight, or thrill them. Just last week I was at my doctor’s office. I handed the woman behind the desk my membership card and, since my name was spelled wrong on the card, let her know how it was really spelled so that she could find me in the system. Immediately she verified my home address, hit several keys on the keyboard, looked up at me and said, “I’m sorry about that, Sir. I’ve ordered a new card with the correct spelling and you will receive it in the mail next week.” She knew what my need was but she didn’t even have to ask.
6. See through your customer’s eyes. Every now and then, take a step back from your role as leader, or even as employee, and objectively look at what your customer experiences. How do certain processes affect your customers? How well does your product/service work? If applicable, how does your place of business physically look to customers? Take notes and begin to make changes.
7. Measure customer satisfaction. Companies should be measuring whether or not they are exceeding customer expectations on an on-going basis. Measuring your customers’ satisfaction with quality, service, and timeliness are critical indicators of an organization’s long-term success.
8. Reward results and celebrate successes. It’ll be important to align your performance review process and reward system with an organization that focuses on customer satisfaction. And last, when your customers’ expectations have been exceeded, celebrate the success.

What else would you add to this list? Continually improving how you produce your products and deliver your service will create loyal customers who will be thrilled to suggest you to others.

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