Company culture and your customers Dave Winpenny VP – EMEA Customer Support.

Company culture and your customers

Dave WinpennyVP – EMEA Customer Support

© 2004 Computer Associates International, Inc. (CA). All trademarks, trade names, services marks and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.

Lets meet Terry…..


What is culture?

Knowledge and sophistication: enlightenment and sophistication acquired through education and exposure to the arts.“They are people of culture.”

Shared beliefs and values of group: the beliefs, customs, practices, and social behaviour of a particular nation or people.Southeast Asian culture

People with shared beliefs and practices: a group of people whose shared beliefs and practices identify the particular place, class, or time to which they belong

Shared attitudes: a particular set of attitudes that characterizes a group of people. “The company tries hard to avoid a blame culture.”

Source: Encarta Web Dictionary


An MBA definition………

Organisational cultureOrganisational culture is the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people in an organisation and control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organisation

- Organisational valuesOrganisational values are beliefs about what type of goals members of an organisation should pursue and about appropriate standards of behaviour organisational members should use to achieve those goals.

- Organisational normsOrganisational norms are guidelines or expectations that prescribe appropriate kinds of behaviours by employees in particular situations and control the behaviour of organisational members towards one another.


What is “Company Culture”?

Is more than just “culture” Additional factors are:

- Politics- Personal gain- Legal - HR - Globalisation - One eyed view of the world- Honesty – or maybe the lack of it!- Fear- Uncertainty- Competition- Industry practise- Size


The cultural web

Systems

Power

Symbols

Ceremonies

Myths

Rituals

OrganisationalOrganisationalcultureculture


Culture and strategic leadership

The influence of the founder- Leadership style attracts new employees who share the same values

- These members hire new employees

- Culture becomes more distinct as its members become more similar

Organisational structures- Flat, decentralised organisations e.g. Microsoft

Leads to entrepreneurial organisation where managers experiment and take risks

- Absolute control e.g. Henry Ford Leads to centralised, conservative and risk averse structures

Managers implementing strategy must be aware of these factors


How to build a great culture? Leaders have to want it to be great! Great leaders:

- inspire confidence and trust- communicate effectively, internally and externally- consistently achieve superior results and produces results through other people- fosters a learning environment- produces other leaders- develops cross-functional knowledge and versatility- embraces change and looks for ways to use it to his advantage- are constantly on the look out for innovative ideas, particularly in unlikely places- builds alliances to further corporate goals, internally and externally- balances the short term with the long term focussing on both- embraces ambiguity- practises and encourages thoughtful risk taking- champions cultural diversity- leave “footprints” on their organisation- freedom and responsibility within limits- hire self disciplined people who will go “the extra mile”

Don’t confuse culture of discipline with a tyrannical disciplinarian Create a “Stop doing” list and get rid of anything that is not relevant


The Good-to-Great matrix

HierarchicalOrganisation

BureaucraticOrganisation

GreatOrganisation

Start-upOrganisation

Low High

Low

High

Ethic of Ethic of EntrepreneurshipEntrepreneurship

Culture ofCulture ofDisciplineDiscipline

Source: Good to Great – Jim Collins

So what does this all mean to our Support organisations?


What do our customers want?

Customers will like you when Customers will like you when youyou

like the organisation you are like the organisation you are

working for. working for.

Should Should youyou dislike it for any reason, dislike it for any reason,

this will be reflected onto the this will be reflected onto the

customer and customer and they will dislike you.they will dislike you.


Put simply……

Motivated employees will motivate customers and Motivated employees will motivate customers and

demotivated employees will demotivate customers.demotivated employees will demotivate customers.

Customer care is a reflection of staff care.Customer care is a reflection of staff care.

Your front line people who care best for their Your front line people who care best for their

customers are those who feel cared for by their customers are those who feel cared for by their

employers.employers.

Is yours a Is yours a BLAMEBLAME or or GAINGAIN culture? culture?


So where does it all go wrong?

Emotional dissonance- If policies and practises of leaders bear little relationship to the

mission and values that the company espouses.

Be careful of YOUR actions- Don’t say “Customer Service is king” and then always focus on

financial results!

- Don’t ask for open, honest feedback and then do nothing to fix the problems identified!

- Don’t promise and then not deliver - setting the customers expectations is as important for your people as it is for your end users!


Characteristics of BLAME organisations

Characteristics of BLAME organisations- Very autocratic- Obsessed with financial results- Obsessed with metrics- Dismissive of ideas “not invented here”- Status driven- Pay lip service to Customer Service- Belief that there is a “systems solution” for every problem

Performance problems are fixed by bureaucratic performance management systems

- Defensive, irritable, bad-tempered- Difficult to get hold of- Exceptionally nice to VP’s as well as to chauffeurs, car park attendants, security

staff and everyone who “salutes” - Very little attention to teamwork- Allow grapevine communications, RAFT and gossip


Sustaining the Blame culture

Cynicism

Keep your head down

Powerlessness

Maintains the

status quo

Making mistakes is unpleasant

We fear them

We conceal them

We discourage them

We blame others

We punish mistakes


Characteristics of “Gain” culture

Employees feel- Valued- Trusted- Supported- Cared for- Respected- Understood- Fairly rewarded- That bosses are interested in developing my skills and talents- Decisions are fairly made- They can be open with their bosses- Accountable for their actions- They can take a few risks without getting into trouble if it goes wrong- Its fun to work here- A good spirit exists in the organisation


Positive mistakes in the Gain culture

Challenge

Creativity

Energy

Empowerment

Making the right kind of mistakes

is valued

We try to learn from them and don’t repeat

them

We share the lessons

We encourage the right kinds

We take responsibility for our mistakes

We support others who make

mistakes

How to move from “Blame” to “Gain”


Get emotion back into the business

WHAT THE BOSS WANTSWHAT THE BOSS WANTS WHAT THE CUSTOMER WANTSWHAT THE CUSTOMER WANTS• Doing what the boss asks

• Doing what the systems dictate

• Being deferential and reactive

• Organisation think

• Following convention

• Conforming to tradition

• Resisting change

• Acquiescing

• Avoiding risks, cautious

• Doing what the situation requires

• Doing what the customer wants

• Being proactive and initiating

• Thinking for yourself

• Challenging convention

• Questioning tradition

• Innovating

• Seizing accountability

• Leading and making it happen

TRADITIONAL, HIERARCHICAL ORGANISATION

ONE STEP BEHINDONE STEP BEHINDNegativeNegative

Emotionally deficientEmotionally deficient

ONE STEP AHEADONE STEP AHEADPositivePositive

Emotionally connectedEmotionally connected

EMPOWERED, SUPPORTIVE ORGANISATION


So, where do we go from here?

Its all up to you as leaders!- Do you give mixed messages?

- Do your customers like you? Do you care?

- Do your people trust you? Should they?

- Is Blame the approach in your organisation? Do you learn from mistakes?

Do you say “Sorry”

- Do you have open, frank discussions with YOUR manager

In the end, you are responsible for your people and In the end, you are responsible for your people and

so its ALL UP TO YOU!so its ALL UP TO YOU!


And now Terry says the final word

Questions

Company culture and your customers Dave Winpenny VP – EMEA Customer Support.

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