When was the last time your VP or CEO paid a visit to your department or call center?
Most employees when asked that question, say they rarely see, or have never seen, a member of senior management pay an informal visit to their place of work.
That's why I was so impressed when Dennis Gowan, Duke Energy's VP of Call Center Operations mentioned that his office is located in Duke's call center in Charlotte NC. Dennis was one of the participants in my Intentional Coaching Boot Camp Workshop in Tampa Florida two weeks ago. He's a modest, self-effacing man who as a hands-on leader understands that being present and accessible to his employees makes a difference in their willingness to go above and beyond for the customer and the company.
Personal contact with senior management is a key driver of employee engagement. According to McKinsey's 2009 global study of 1047 executives, managers and employees, the two most effective non-financial motivators were "Praise and commendation from immediate manager" and "Attention from leaders." The study found that 63% of managers frequently praised their employees, but only 41% of senior leaders did so. The report found that when leaders don't have frequent one-on-one contact with employees it "...creates a highly damaging void that saps employee engagement."
There is another reason to encourage your VP or CEO to pay you a visit. It's an important reality check. When senior managers have the opportunity to observe their front-line service providers doing what they do so well, they see first hand the job's complexity and the personal effort it takes to provide customers with an outstanding service experience.
These informal visits help senior managers understand that focusing too much on metrics such as reducing average handle time, isn't what drives customer satisfaction. What does matter to today's customers is the quality of the experience they receive from the service representative. When employees feel valued they make an extra effort to make their customers feel valued.
In the last analysis, when you strip away all the metrics and measurements, customer service is pretty simple - customer service is the business of people helping people.