The power from the TOP - how to enact company culture
This week I had a fantastic experience when I went to enjoy a scoop of ice cream at my favourite place in a popular beach resort in my home country.
I was helped by the new owner, more about that later.
This place had been in this resort for over 50 years, as a kid I used to go there. Called after the place it used to be, The Post Office, it remained popular even after moving to another place.
It has been with the same family for all these years and the founder was still observed at the till almost every day. She stood with her family and team during busy periods as well as during less busy times. She personified the brand and set very high standards for the people working in that place. Standards of friendliness, of efficiency. Her children ran the business in a similar fashion. During summer season, it is manned mostly with students, but the core values and core essentials of good and friendly service were always there, passed on by the owner by being there, by her gentle but imposing presence.
These owners just sold a majority stake to a famous entrepreneur, who made his fortune in Pharma and is now focused on the service industry and the leisure market. He owns hotels, restaurants, now ice parlours as well as having interests in many other sectors, through his investment company.
So why does a CEO do this? Why did this person serve scoops of ice-cream in the place he just bought and during peak season? More importantly for me was not so much the why, but we’ll come to that, but also the how.
How did I observe this CEO executing his temporary job? Well, he was sweating, trying hard to be as fast as all the other students and employees, wearing the same T-shirt as all the others and without a retinue of admirers, without any press presence, without any influencers to advertise his presence. I looked at the press this week, trolled the internet, no mention of his presence in this place. The relation with colleagues appeared to be one of equals, he helped them as much as they helped him. And that struck me as important, as something worth noting. Congratulations to him. @Marck Coucke
So why was this CEO doing this. Many reasons come to mind but let’s concentrate on what I believe is the most important.
He was learning as much as he was conveying a message. To the current owners, he was showing commitment and continuity. We all know that this CEO will not be able to stand in the shop the same way the previous owner was, but he made an effort, he showed care for the business he just bought himself into.
To the staff he was also showing humility as well as conveying continuity. This is very much part of a strong company culture. And that is exactly the role of the CEO, of the board of any company : from Topfloor to Shopfloor as far as company culture goes.
Customers will also want to know that their beloved product wasn't going to change.
The feedback from the floor is essential for fine-tuning operations, for checking relevance to the customers but the example-setting is essential when talking about company culture. It is essential for any good C-level to remain in touch with the base, to listen to employees and customers, not just hearing the noise. The captain of any ship needs to embody the company culture, he/she needs to live by the values advertised by the company, he/she needs to set the example by which employees and customers alike can see that it is real, not just words on a board somewhere. The captain sets the course, shows the organisation where it needs to go and equally importantly he also tells (shows) others how he expects the organisation to achieve the objectives that have been set. When I researched for my book (Make Hospitality Your Company Culture, @ Amazon) I found many companies lacking in the public information they share about how they want to do business, what is important to them as a company in their environment. Mission statement, purpose, objectives are generally clear and values are mentioned but not so much how this is achieved. As a good example, I want to mention the yearly report of Legal & General (https://group.legalandgeneral.com/).
We all know of corrupt, no other word for it, leaders that try to steer an organisation I towards a certain objective but these same leaders show or do things very differently than what they ask of their employees or very differently to what they show on their socials. These organisations are always performing less than others, will always be suffering from corruption and self-preservation from within, will probably be short lived.
Let’s look at Nusr-et, by Salt-Bae. The model was based on show, on theatre and Salt Bae managed to create an empire around his signature dishes : great meat, great customer experience and his signature salt sprinkling. From humble beginnings in Turkey, he managed, through cunning exploitation of social channels and the use of influencers, to open a chain of restaurants. He has a huge following, with over 53 million followers. Rich and famous flocked to his restaurants. But his personality wasn’t without controversy, crashing parties, crashing football events he showed a different side of himself. The management style with staff also conflicted with cultural values in some of the theatres he operated in. In Europe and US his alleged authoritarian stye didn’t go well with the staff. Lawsuits over discrimination and misuse of tips have been introduced by staff in both UK and US. Several settlements with staff have taken place. Several places have shut down since. Not surprisingly, his expansion today is focused on countries where work relations are not (yet) of the same high standards as in Europe or the US. There is a direct correlation to the success of any business and the example set by the top. How can one promise fantastic and unique customer experience, when staff are treated badly, have to sue to get their salaries or tips paid.
When we deal with clients around company culture, we stress the fact that treating the customer well goes hand in hand with treating the staff well. They are your first line of sales but also your first line of defence. At some point in the past we had a mandate for a high luxury brand of cosmetics. They asked us to help them with the customer experience. Our discussions and interactions pointed out that the staff received very little attention, very little onboarding and wasn’t really knowledgeable about the needs, the wants of their customers. One of the first things we did was to try to convey to management the importance of having their staff experiences in line with the expected customer experience. Give staff as much attention as the customer. That included taking select staff to experience luxury and demonstrating what luxury meant for their customers, often HNWI. From a mandate of customer experience, we ended up supporting the company with the definition of their company values and how to articulate these for the customers and for the staff. We also supported the company in developing their existing HR cycle and incorporate the values and activities to support these. As an example, training were longer done after hours in a backroom (sometimes storage room) but staff were taken to a luxury or select setting (Spa, Hotel, Restaurant, Venue) where they were treated as well as the company expected them to treat their customers. The outcomes of this mandate were fruitful for the brand : they opened several more outlets where, not only were they selling their products but also were they providing moments where customers could actually experience the products, see how they were used and how these products needed to be taken care of. Staff motivation grew and as a consequence staff retention improved massively, creating better and longer lasting relations with their customer base.
#hospitality #Orizon Advise #companyculture