Unhappy staff = Unhappy customers

Keep reading to find out why you need a culture code before you create a customer service code. 😉

Ever heard the phrase, “If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy?”

Let me edit this a bit to fit my own style — “If your team ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”

The latter statement is true in the average organization — employee engagement and customer satisfaction are completely intertwined.

Too often, I see organizations who have been very clear about how team members need to treat customers without any sort of agreement on how team members should treat each other.

Communication about expectations is a TWO-WAY conversation. An initiative simply focused on customer service can fail if employee service standards are not met.

In my work, we create culture codes for our clients. Think of it as a dress code for how we’ll treat each other. And instead of the decisions being pushed down from leadership, think of it more as a loop — everyone in the organization has an opportunity to provide input. We address specific behaviors.

Notice: It’s not those board-pleasing or website-worthy core values.

We talk about real stuff. We hone in on these behaviors so it’s unmistakable what it means to be KIND at this construction company or OPEN-MINDED at that financial institution.

And then we make the code stick. We train on how to hold each other accountable to the code. We point out what will be barriers to upholding the code.

This common language has my clients admitting that they have “broken the code.” Something that they would have never had words for before. Once we know where we’re not meeting the expectations of our teams, real change begins.

Do you have a culture code? Would you find this kind of work helpful? Read more about what I do on my LinkedIn page (and feel free to connect with me there too😊).