Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Quality—The Key Differentiator of Success

Q. Our senior managers are disconnected from what’s going on in our business. We have many complaints from customers, and nothing improves.

A. Great leaders and their organizations are connected to both their customers and employees and understand their needs. Successful organizations have leaders who create systems and communication channels to hear the voice of the employees and the customers.

Quality is defined by the customers; if product, service, or communication quality is poor and declining, the company is on its way out of business. Leaders need to transform its thinking and turn around. This only happens when leaders pivot and focus on what’s important: quality and service. Where is quality created? It comes from the vision of the Board of Directors and a leadership team working together.

When customers complain or disappear and they choose your competitors, it’s a reflection of poor leadership, strategies, or decisions. Often, it’s easy to see the decline and failure of billion-dollar corporations to small companies. An easy question to ask is: Are the leaders connected to the needs of their customers? Or is there so much complexity in the organization that customers who try to voice their complaints or concerns are not heard? It’s a priority for the management team to understand and address the system of customer feedback. Great leaders often spend more than 50% to 80% in conversation with their constituencies. How much time do you spend?

---

Q. Where should executives and managers focus the most? On profits?

A. If leaders spend most of their focus on profits, they will lead a rapid journey to their demise. It’s a common belief to focus on making money and the bottom line. Unfortunately, that doesn’t deliver success or satisfaction. I often ask executives, “Is your company in business to make money? Is that your purpose?” A purpose for being in business is energizing, and it drives a team to deliver and serve customers. If leaders develop deep and meaningful relationships, loyal customers who can depend on an organization will repeatedly return. Think about your favorite vendors.

---

Send your leadership questions to Marcia Daszko at md@mdaszko.com. She works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to pivot, innovate, accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. A provocative keynote & virtual speaker, strategic Deming advisor/consultant for 25+ years, and executive retreat facilitator, she is the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.” www.mdaszko.com Call for her help today!

Marcia's Leadership Q&As: 3 Essential Skills That Connect Your Customers to Your Bottom Line

Q. What are the most important skills my managers should teach our new hires?

A. New hires are generally eager to learn, contribute, and make a difference. In the onboarding process, make sure you ask questions about what makes a difference for them and what do they want to contribute; what are they passionate about? The leadership team should be involved in the onboarding education.  It may be talking to new hires for an hour welcome and share the values you want to see and expect. It may be a day of education given by the CEO/President. The messages are important and relevant if delivered from the leaders.

A few essential skills that will help an organization rise above the noise and chaos of uncertainty in current work environments are: the focus on quality, being adaptable in supporting each other and serving customers, and continual improvement and innovation (two different processes.)

First, the focus on quality was paramount 20 to 30 years ago with the Quality movement. Sadly, that focus has waned, yet when leaders focus their organization on delivering quality in work, quality in communication, and quality in information, people can work together better to deliver what matters!  Second, in today’s environment, the more people can adapt and pivot and remove barriers to serve each other and customers, the better the impact of relationships—and the bottom line! Third, working together to continually improve (this means meeting and discussing, what can be better from the customers’ perspective?) and innovate with better and different response times, services, products is imperative.

My question to you: How are you doing? If you draw a direct line from what you do and what the customer experiences, do you have your resources focused in the right place? For example, if you have a service (phone service or airlines), how long is your customer on hold to get a question answered or to buy from you? Do calls get dropped? Are customers on hold for 2 minutes or 20 minutes, or two hours? If you are a leader (organization or team), what are you doing to directly allow your customer to connect and buy from you? Or do you have so many barriers you drive them away, in a limousine to your nearest competitor?