Edition 14: Surprise and Delight

Welcome back to the Leader Curations newsletter. I am an organizational psychologist, executive coach, speaker, and author. I publish this newsletter about once each month to help you optimize your leadership impact and career satisfaction. Thanks for stopping by. You can learn more about me and my work by clicking here.

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This week, I had the most delightful experience, highlighting the direct connection and reciprocal nature of customer experience and employee experience. My small business needed a new professional liability and errors and omissions insurance policy. I asked friends for recommendations, but none seemed overly impressed with their current servicer, so I did my research and chose Hiscox USA . I did this partly because I loved the ease of interacting with their website (I could make the application online in one step, without the annoying follow-up 15-minute call during which you discover that the premium will be double what you expected). And partly because the company name ended with my last name. Petty! :-)

I felt a connection. The delight and surprise came later. I realized that I needed to add a client to the policy as a named insured, so I called the customer service line, and the agent was so happy to help, so informed, and so businesslike that the update to the policy took only a few minutes. Most of that time, the agent asked clarifying questions to ensure I got what I needed. She was delightful. She said I would have the updated documents no later than 24 hours later, and I got them within 30 minutes. That was a delightful surprise. But wait,  that’s not all. A couple of days later, I got an email from the CEO (I know this was a form letter, but it still packed a punch!) that said,

“Thank You! At Hiscox, one of our core values is our focus on the customer, and we believe that providing great service is good for business – ours and yours. I hope you experienced the level of service we aspire to …

Signed: Kevin Kerridge, Hiscox USA CEO

Dontchatknow! I was delighted and surprised! This is what it feels like to your customers when your employees are engaged. Focus on engaging your employees, and who knows what could happen to your business.

Mind blown. Not only will I continue to do business with Hiscox, but I will also recommend this company to my friends.

Research Snack

When clients look for “flavor-of-the-month” solutions to support employee retention, I often scratch my head. There is no substitute for human-centered leadership. (If you know something that matters more, let me know). We have long known that manager behavior has an outsize impact on employee experience. [Ref: Beck and Harter (2015, April 21). Managers Account for 70% of Variance in Employee Engagement. Gallup). That hasn’t changed, even though the workplace has been disrupted.

And now Emily Killham at Perceptyx reports that 24% of employees say they are working for their worst boss ever! Employees in this study described bad bosses as incompetent, unsupportive, and disrespectful. The scariest thing is that the bad bosses don’t realize they are missing the mark.

When it comes to employee experience, forget about fads. Focus on leadership development, emphasizing coaching models and methods. If you can’t hire a leadership coach for each leader, implement a peer coaching model. For employees’ sake, let’s help managers become better bosses!

Good News Nibble

OK. So doing this leadership thing is complex and not always a winning proposition. But then, along comes Caroline Stokes, CEC , with some great recommendations for any new leader or a leader who needs to restart your boss game. If you are one of those “bad bosses,” the Perceptyx report mentioned, maybe her tips will help you escape old habits. These tips will help you with the one thing most employees need; listening. Here’s to you!

Action Nugget

I told you before that I have made many career pivots: journalist, consultant, professor (adjunct), executive coach, speaker, and author. Most of my career choices were built upon and related to the others. However, writing a book and becoming a professional speaker was my most difficult pivot; I had to develop new skills in new domains very quickly. Guess what powered that pivot? I was driven by a “WHY” - by a purpose. That purpose was to help make workplaces better so all could thrive. You need a "WHY." So my questions to you are:

(1) what change do you want to see in the world, and

(2) what will you do to be a part of that change?

Answer these two questions, and you will be on your way.

You can watch my #TEDx, “Yes … And  Careers,” to learn more about how you can build the impactful life you want. And yes, you can use this approach INSIDE of the organization where you already work—no need to get a new job to live a purposeful life.

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I wish you continued success as a leader – in all the ways you define success.

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