Article originally published in the American City Business Journals on May 7, 2019
The Holy Grail of any company is to become the preferred provider of products and services to its market. That is, the company that customers and clients want to go to first before any other provider. Companies that have traveled the journey to become the preferred provider have delighted customers/clients, enjoy a higher market share and higher profitability compared with competitors.
How does a company become the preferred provider to its market? It starts with effective leadership at the top of the organization.
An effective leader has the following traits:
- Communicates the vision and mission of the company focused on delivering a great customer/client experience, and shares with employees their role in achieving the vision and mission.
- Sets the right tone at the top and nurtures the right culture based on ethical behavior, integrity and trust.
- Sets expectations, holds people accountable for results and doesn’t micro-manage.
- Empowers people and allows them to learn through failure.
- Rewards performance and parts company with employees who do not perform or who do not fit the culture.
- Allows employees to develop a sense of ownership in what they do.
- Possesses high emotional intelligence.
- Grows future leaders by encouraging them to get out of their comfort zone.
- Has a strong commitment to continuous improvement.
- Listens to employees and values their input.
- Hires people with common sense and good critical judgement and allows employees to violate policy when it is in the best interests of the company to do so.
- Recognizes the serious damage that a tyrant causes their direct reports and the company and will not tolerate this type of manager within their organization.
The adage “people are everything” is true. No company can become the preferred provider to its market without recognizing this. The traits listed above and below apply to both the leadership of the company and its employees.
An effective leader attracts, hires and retains employees who:
- Will act with high ethics, integrity and transparency, and can be trusted by their colleagues and customers/clients.
- Are self-starters, who don’t need to be told what to do.
- Take responsible risks and learn to de-risk their decisions.
- Will meet their commitments.
- Are people that customers/clients will want to do business with.
- Will challenge paradigms and long-standing ways of doing things and does not accept “that’s the way it has always been done” as a reason to avoid change.
How do you find people with the traits outlined above? Use pre-employment testing and assessments as a guide to indicate traits. When interviewing candidates, involve other employees in the interview process. Ask the candidate how they have handled various challenging situations in the past, the mistakes they have made, and how they have learned from those mistakes. Perform in-depth reference checks with people beyond those on the list of references submitted by the candidate.
The best way to retain employees is to encourage them to feel part of something worthwhile, something they can feel proud of when they come to work each day. These employees are fully engaged in their work.
So, what is one of the prime cultural norms of companies on a journey to become the preferred provider to its market? Its employees have a shared purpose – to delight the customer/client in the use of their product/service, and if they are in business, help them be successful at what they do. Hire the right people to become the preferred provider. You will gain a significant competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Stan Silverman is founder and CEO of Silverman Leadership. He is a speaker, advisor and nationally syndicated writer on leadership, entrepreneurship and corporate governance. Silverman earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering and an MBA degree from Drexel University. He is also an alumnus of the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. He can be reached at Stan@SilvermanLeadership.com.
