As the security industry turns a fresh page into another competitive year, our regular contributor Jim Gannon asks: are you actually listening to your customers and employees about the quality of the products and services you offer, which should ultimately define your growth and success in the market place and maybe determine whether you will still be around in 2016.
Having worked for a company for over 20 years which developed its own way of working by adopting the management principals of The Toyota Way, transforming The Unipart Group from a parts division of British Leyland in 1987 to one of Europe’s leading logistics companies, I have some understanding of what it takes in effort, commitment and financial investment to harness the skills and talent of people at every level of an organisation to make a difference. The key underlying philosophy of the company was to understand the real and perceived needs of the customer better than anyone else and to serve them better than anyone else. It did this through its employees.
Toyota way
In those early days I recall my Group Chief Executive John Neill handing me a book called The Toyota Way written by Prof Jeffrey Liker with the advice to read it. I knew this was not just a suggestion as I was damned sure he was going to ask me about what I thought of the content in the not too distant future, which of course turned out to be correct. The Toyota Way was an amazing business success story as it steadily took market share from its price-cutting competitors, earning far more profit than any other automobile manufacturer and winning praise from business leaders worldwide. It of course had its own way of working to create the perfect working model for success, by fostering an atmosphere of continuous improvement and learning, satisfying its customers while eliminating waste, getting quality right first time every time, grooming its leaders from within rather than recruiting outsiders, teaching all of its employees to become problem-solvers and finally growing together with its suppliers and its partners for mutual benefit.
Much the same principals adopted by Unipart as they simply sacrificed short term gains for long term benefits knowing that survival, growth and improved profitability depended on retaining a loyal customer base and investing in its most valued asset, its employees.
Firms that don’t listen
I was somewhat surprised to read in the media during the first week of January 2015 that some leading firms are apparently not listening to either their customers or employees, which is a clear cut path on the road to ruin. RyanAir, Carphone Warehouse and BT are alleged to be companies not listening to either after coming bottom in a study of the empathy displayed by businesses in the UK. According to a feature in the Sunday Times the ‘empathy index’ which marks Britain’s 100 best known companies on their treatment of staff and their customers, found that public relations was the casualty in a ‘hectic race to the bottom’ in the telecoms industry which had four of its main players rooted in the bottom ten companies for empathy. Banks also did not fare too well with most of them coming in the bottom half of the index except for HSBC which came in at 22nd being the top finance industry performer.
LinkedIn topped the business “Empathy Index” compiled by creative agency Lady Geek, listing the top 100 best-known companies on social media in order of how they treat customers and staff. The index analysed 100 of each firm’s tweets, supplemented by a poll of 1,000 members of the public. Questionnaires were also issued to 25 staff at each company. Professional social network LinkedIn came in first place with it scoring highly for responding to user concerns via Twitter within seconds unlike firms placed further down the list. Furthermore, employees admitted that they felt valued by the company. Microsoft and Audi followed in similar fashion in second and third place respectively. Telecom firms performed poorly with four of the firms among the bottom six on the list. EE placed 94th, Vodafone 96th, BT 98th and the Carphone Warehouse Group came in last place. In contrast, Mobile carrier rival 3 placed substantially better in fourth.
Apple’s absence from social media saw it finish only in 43rd place on the index despite it being dubbed the world’s most valuable brand in September 2014. In October 2014 Belinda Parmar, the chief executive of Lady Geek, discussed the growing role of empathy in business with The Drum, a modern marketing publication, where she claimed that caring corporate models give consumers a voice. The survey also discovered that employees and customers can have opposite experiences like the retail online giant Amazon which rated high on the index at 21st being loved by its customers but not liked by its staff. Whilst one may say this is just another one of those meaningless surveys, here today gone tomorrow, it does highlight the need to focus on both customers and employees alike if you are serious about your business.
Treating employees well
Encouraging staff loyalty still remains high on the ‘must do list’ and the best examples of this can be seen in motor racing teams competing in Formula 1, with Britain still leading the world both in technology and results. On the other side of the coin we have seen how the management of City Link treated their employees and their families over the Christmas period by announcing widespread redundancies for a majority of employees following its financial collapse. Employees and the firms self employed contractors heard more bad news when they learned that its investors had made City Link a secured loan of £40m rather than investing in the company as equity, to protect its own interests, meaning that as a secured creditor it puts it ahead of the company’s staff in recouping money when it is eventually wound up. Not the best way to create goodwill amongst over 2000 employees now facing a bleak 2015. Your show however must go on but take heed; listening is still the best way to learn.
