Human Leadership Is Also The Answer To A Better Customer Experience

When we talk about human leadership, we focus more on its impact on the employee.

Customer experience (CX) is a top priority for organizations, since experiences and services customers receive are essential to running the business.

There is a crucial link that often goes unseen here – the link between employee engagement

The employee engagement – customer experience dependence

Every human relationship is either a success or a failure, dependent on our level of genuine connection. It is human connection that realizes our greatest potential for growth and development.

Effective business leaders know that they, their teams, and their customers are all searching for connection. According to a Gallup study, having highly engaged employees helps companies outperform the competition by more than 150%. Additionally, such companies see a 10% increase in customer satisfaction. It is evident that connection and engagement for employees lead to better results for the customers.

Hence, if you want to give your customers a great experience, you have to start with your employees.

Why leaders need human leadership

Although employee engagement is clearly important; for some reason, most businesses are not able to meet this standard. The lack of connection is alarmingly high between leaders and employees. 55% of leaders are unable to connect with their employees, according to the Winter 2022 Edition of Potential Project’s Human Leader study. It is a statistic that has consequences relating to both employee burnout as well as satisfaction levels. In light of the strong link between employee engagement and CX, this is a major issue.

Leaders can start to look at improving employee engagement as a way of improving customer experience, in addition to the usual CX strategies. Human leadership can guide the way:

Choose connection over evaluation

Employee disengagement isn't always the result of a lack of effort on the side of employers. However, if your solutions are too dependent on surveys and ratings, they’ll have the drawback of reducing people to data points.

Act as mentors, take the time to learn about your employees' skills and goals, provide both subjective and objective feedback, and employees will notice the difference.

Switch from reviews to feedback

You're missing out on 364 days of possibilities to connect with your employees if you rely solely on annual reviews. According to SHRM, a new approach to employee performance at Deloitte resulted in a 10% increase in employee engagement.

Make taking input from employees a part of your culture. This necessitates collecting frequent feedback and converting every touchpoint into meaningful discussions. When you understand what motivates and matters to your employees, as well as how their perspectives change over time, you’ll be able to create a whole network of engaged employees that unlock another level of CX.

Focus on wellbeing before outcomes

Leaders must recognize the ups and downs of their employees’ journeys and find the compassion to help make their road easier. When you focus on employees’ well-being rather than just outcomes, you pave way for a future where their growth becomes part of the organization’s growth. Simply put, if you invest in engagement and show your employees that you care about them, they are more likely to help you invest in CX.

You'll have a hard time moving the CX agenda ahead if employee engagement isn't at the top of your priority list. Keeping your customers happy and keeping your employees engaged are two sides of the same coin.