A different perspective on the employee experience

My belief is that the next 10-15 years will be about the employee experience, the same way the past 10-15 years have been about the customer experience.
Why? Because engaged employees provide any organization with a competitive advantage. As Richard Branson says, “Your employees are your company’s real competitive advantage. They’re the ones making the magic happen— so long as their needs are being met.”
When you think about it, the mapping and the implementation of the customer experience have given organizations the benefits of better understanding and addressing their customers’ pain points. Thus, these organizations have seen an increase in customer engagement, customer retention, and customer advocacy.
The mapping and the implementation of the customer experience have also given these organizations the opportunity to engage with their customers on a more personal level – whether by offering a variety of products or services to address different market segments, or through the usage of multiple communication channels to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time. Organizations can accomplish the same with understanding, mapping out their employees’ pain points and design a strategy to engage with those same employees.
Millennials are massively entering the workplace. By 2020, they will form 50% of the global workforce, per PwC. Gen Y seek for and thrive on brand experiences, and their employee experiences should be no different from their customer experiences.
Employee Experience Summit in Cincinnati
We believe the employee experience should be as much defined and driven by HR than by Marketing and Customer Experience teams, if not more.
Join us at eX Cincy on May 11 to hear thought leaders, brand strategists, designers and HR disruptors discuss the topic. Find out more and register here.

Some key "employee experience" take-aways from eX Indy (part 1)

eX Summit successfully launched its first event - eX Indy - last week at Launch Fishers in the Indianapolis area. We had a packed house, great speakers and panelists who provided the audience with a lot of actionable best practices (85% agreed on that).


Engagement measurement

As we already wrote about it, only 30% of the US employees feel engaged and inspired at work. It is a serious issue organizations must address, considering that increased engagement means (from Emplify's presentation):

• 22% higher utilization and productivity

• 50% lower turnover rate

• 3 times more profitable in operating margin.

Surveying employees about their relationship with and commitment to the company's mission, values and brand message is an effective way to measure their engagement. The most compelling component of engagement is the psychological conditions of the workplace: meaningfulness, safe, capacity. When an organization addresses them positively, the engagement increases. Mobile applications, such as Emplify's app, are a great way not only to measure your employees' engagement, but also to communicate and exchange in a more personalized way, versus the traditional and generic emails sent from HR.


The power of workplace design

Business Furniture, from a Steelcase report, highlighted that in order to design a workplace that is resilient and encourages engagement, organizations must create an ecosystem of interconnected zones and settings that are destinations where people have choice and control over where and how they work. This ecosystem should offer a palette of posture, presence and privacy. When organizations do this, they help people by offering spaces that support their physical, cognitive and emotional wellbeing.

When considering (re)designing the workplace, companies should:

• conduct a thorough research on workplace design strategy and best practices

• engage employees throughout the process to increase the rate of adoption 

• provide spaces for BOTH collaboration and concentration.

"Companies lose by viewing office space as something to manage or minimize. The workspace is, in fact, a crucial driver of productivity and morale." (Read: Change Your Space, Change Your Culture: How Engaging Workspaces Lead to Transformation and Growth)

How design drives the employee experience

Studio Science highlighted how organizations can use design methodologies and processes to foster employee collaboration and engagement.

Using design sprints - the same way tech companies use "dev" sprints - Nathan's team creates the space and the framework to tackle complex problems by involving multiple teams with different skills and mindsets. 

"Employees must participate in meaningful work and know that they’re impacting the world around them... A design-led culture creates positive experience by engaging employees in the meaningful creation of solutions and value, and encourages strong relationships with co-workers. It ultimately connects individuals to purpose.", concluded Nathan.

Stay tuned for "eX Indy part 2" next week.

It’s time we seriously talk about employee experience

There’s been a lot of focus over the past few years on the user experience (UX) and customer experience (CX), for good reasons.

According a recent North Highland whitepaper, a Gartner research shows that in 2016, , nine out of 10 companies planned to compete primarily on the basis of customer experience. Nothing— not price, not product—is more important than the experience you provide. Organizations that deliver compelling customer experiences have a competitive edge.

However, in doing so, many organizations have failed to focus on the experiences of their most important competitive advantage: employees. It’s now time to talk about the employee experience (EX).

“Your employees are your company’s real competitive advantage. They’re the ones making the magic happen— so long as their needs are being met.”

- RICHARD BRANSON

Companies focus on reaching out to their customers wherever they are across multiple channels, but yet fail to reach out to their employees/talents wherever they are.

Companies focus on their customer journey, drawing roadmaps to better identify how their customers interact with their brands (touch points), but yet fail to understand their employee journey.

Companies design spaces to deliver unparalleled brand experiences to their customers, but yet fail to design spaces to deliver positive employee experiences.

Companies focus on customer retention but yet fail to focus on employee retention.

Companies invest time and resources in customer research/segmentation but yet fail to spend time on employee research/segmentation.

Companies offer different services/products to address the needs of different market segments, but yet fail to address the diversity of their employee groups/segments.

Companies have tools to track, monitor and analyze customer behaviors, satisfaction and engagement, but yet fail to adopt tools to measure employee behaviors, satisfaction and engagement.

 In 2015, only 21 percent of employees globally were highly engaged. In the U.S., the majority of employees—51 percent—were not engaged. And perhaps most critically, another 17 percent were actively disengaged. (Gartner)

North Highland notices that the opportunity is there. Your organization is already offering some sort of an EX, and every employee is already experiencing your brand, but how good it that experience?

That’s why I’ve founded eX Summit, a space to debate the importance and impact of the employee experience. Our first event eX Indy will take place on September 22. Many of the above topics will be discussed. Check out our event page to see which topics our thought leaders will speak about. We hope to see you there and let’s start a true discussion on EX!

My 5 wishes for successful branding in 2016

I'm not a big fan of New Year's resolutions. Bottom line is, these new resolutions often only last the first couple of months, due to a lack of long-term commitment. If it's not part of our DNA, it doesn't last. Think of how many people sign up in January at the local gym. The first couple of months are crowded; when comes March you only see the regulars.
The same applies to brands, as brands are created by people, and in some way are living entities. People create a brand's new resolutions, and are accountable for the brand's commitment to successfully implement them in the long (or short) term. 
Going back to the gym analogy, you are more likely to stick to the gym over several months if you are working towards a goal, such as participating in a (mini) marathon in June. Chances are, by June, you will have settled in a work-out routine and exercise will then be part of your DNA. The same applies to brands as well.

Here is what I wish brands will do more in 2016 to be successful:

Show empathy
Your brand's purpose is not defined by what you do for your customers. It is defined by why what you do matters to your customers. By focusing on the why, you show empathy to your customers.

Not only do you understand your customers' needs (which leads to innovation and new product ideas), but you also understand their emotional journey and what message resonates with them (which leads to defining a roadmap for the customer experience, the foundation for your brand strategy).

Focus on insights & personalization
Many companies develop their products on what the CEO thinks his wife or children (or even himself) would want; on what the R&D team or Software development team think is cool to create based on the engineering complexity of it; or simply on the principle of what-competitors-do-and-we-can-do-it-cheaper-or-better. It sometimes works, at least in the short time, often time it does not.

Empathy for customers based on research and customer insights are so important to uncover unmet needs, understand customers’ behaviors, and define the customer journey. If you don’t focus on customers, customers won’t focus on your brand. Your brand will mean nothing to them.

Customers connect with brands who resonate with their beliefs. They expect a personalized experience and a personalized message in return. With mobile technology nowadays, coupled with beacon/location-based technology and big data, brands have the opportunity to cater and deliver an experience and a message that is personal to one individual, not just a demographic group anymore.

Successful brands in 2016 will be able to deliver personal experiences and messages in the relevancy of time and location.

Bring excitement
With a click of a button on a computer or a tap of a finger on a mobile device, customers can in real-time compare product/service offerings, prices and make a purchase decision instantly. Only 28% of consumers are loyal to their providers and brands. Because customers are more volatile than ever, bringing them excitement is critical to create than instant need and trigger to purchase. 

Excitement is a neurological push that triggers customers to make an impulsive purchasing decision. While empathy helps define how to create loyal customers in the long term, excitement helps convert a "lead" into an instant customer. The repetition of exciting personalized experiences and messages will help keep customers coming back.

Give back to the community
Successful brands are successful because they make a difference in people's lives. It's only natural for brands to continue to show empathy and to give back to the community to support other organizations making a difference in people's lives.

More than 85 percent of millennials correlate their purchasing decisions and their willingness to recommend a brand to the social good efforts a company is making. Businesses interested in selling to millennials can't afford to ignore the opportunity to create social good. The "one-for-one" model proved that companies could have profit-driven goals while integrating philanthropy into their business’s bottom line. Millennials now want even more.

Be socially and environmentally responsible
According to a recent Nielsen survey, two-thirds of the “sustainable mainstream” population (a cluster of three of the five segments) will choose products from sustainable sources over other conventional products. These consumers will buy as many eco-friendly products as they can and have personally changed their behavior to minimize their impact on global climate change. Additionally, these consumers are more likely to buy products repeatedly from a company if they know the company is mindful of its impact on the environment and society.

Millennials (age 21-34) appear more responsive to sustainability actions. Among global respondents in Nielsen’s survey who are responsive to sustainability actions, half are Millennials; they represent 51 percent of those who will pay extra for sustainable products and 51 percent of those who check the packaging for sustainable labeling.

What are your 2016 wishes for successful branding?

Things that still surprise me after 13 years in the US.

This week will mark my 8th anniversary of becoming a US citizen, and I’m proud of that.
However, while planning a trip to France next year and recalling our last family trip to my (former) home country, I realize that after all this time in the US (13 years), there still are many things that either surprise me, or simply irritate me.

1. Air conditioning. Although I do appreciate the fact that I don’t have to sweat every time I lift even one finger thanks to a full-blown air conditioned indoor environment (unlike in France on hot summer days where the only way to stay cool is to put a full ice pack under my armpits), I still have to fight with co-workers over thermostat control for who gets the right (humanly livable) temperature. Every time I go to see a movie, I need to bring my ski jacket because I feel like I’m in Antarctica.

2. The non-metric system. After all this time, I just can’t figure out the way we, in America, calculate distances or volumes. There are 16 ounces in 1 liter, there are 3 feet in 1 meter, there are 2.6 cm in 1 inch… What the heck? Why can’t Americans use the metric system like British drive on the right size of the road? Whazza?

3. How are you doing? I love the lack of formality in the US. You can call (almost) everybody by their first name even if you’ve never met them before. Maybe the fact that there is only one “you” (unlike the “tu” and the “vous” in French) makes it easier. In the French language and century-long social etiquette, you have to remember that you say “vous” to a woman you’ve never met before if she is older than you, but also younger than you if you’re much older, but it depends on the context and if you’re in social or professional setting, but also if you’re with a group of friends or colleagues that are more casual or more traditional... WTF?I’m still amazed that people in the US ask me how I’m doing, with no expectation for an answer. Sometimes, just for the fun of it, I like to respond “I feel terrible, my dog just died and my house got on fire”, because often times people don’t listen to my answer and reply “wonderful”, if they reply at all.

4. Clothes sizes. Maybe it goes with not using the metric system, but I used to wear XL or L when I lived in France, and now in the US I wear M or S, if not going to the kids section to find a pair of shorts and a T-shirt that is “fitting”. At the same time, everything is XXL in the US: cars, houses, meals… 

5. “You’re gonna love the way you look, I guarantee you”. I recall being in France and dressing up to go to the supermarket or just down the street to buy a baguette. French people are very conscious about their appearance. It’s almost like you have to wear a tie and jacket to be allowed to “enter” a bakery to buy your baguette. But I have to admit I still am picky about clothes. I rarely buy pants or suits in the US because I don’t like the style. I buy clothes every time I go to Europe.I like the fact that I can wear a T, shorts and sandals to go to the restaurant in the US, especially when it’s bloody hot and humid outside and that if I had to wear a suit and tie just to go to dinner, I would need a second set just to change as soon as I get in the restaurant. Although I still have to remember to bring my ski jacket with me, in case the AC is way too high in the restaurant. Now, that’s very stylish: T, shorts, sandals and… ski jacket!The only thing I will never do though (I still have to maintain some French fashionable style after all) is to wear white socks all the way up to mid-calves, while wearing shorts and sandals. NEVER.

6. The customer is king. Speaking of dinner, I like the fact that service is expedited in the US. In France, you must wait for 20 minutes only to get a waiter greet you at your table and bring two slices of baguette and tap water (with no ice). I love the “customer service” focus in the US (maybe it is because tips are not included, unlike in France – this is probably why French waiters are so rude and don’t give a crap about you), although I have a hard time being interrupted every 5 minutes by a waiter “is everything OK” while I’m in the middle of a conversation or have a 4-pound juicy burger stuck in my mouth that I’m trying to chew without getting all the grease taint my T-shirt (luckily I don't wear a suit), and trying to answer the waiter “mmhmm, uh mmmhmmm uh”. That’s how I learned the sign language: thumbs up, big smile (no one cares to see bits of meat and fries stuck in your teeth – all that matters if that you, as the customer, are happy), and a nod of the head.

I’ve traveled a lot abroad since I moved to the US, and every time I am in another country (even in France), I just can’t wait to go back home (the US), and still be surprised or irritated by the same things that remind me how much I love this country. Cheers!

Find new whys to do business…

What makes your organization different from the competition? What business are you REALLY in (your purpose, not what you sell)? Why aren’t more customers buying your products or services? How much does it cost you? Why should customers buy your products or services (don’t tell us they’re cheaper or better - that’s not the answer we’re looking for, neither are you)?

What do you want your legacy to be? Innovation and growth - or commoditization, stagnation, and irrelevance?

A business exists because the founder has identified an opportunity. Opportunity is the reason why a company chooses to innovate.

If you position your business just based on what your competition does, it often leads to disappointing results. Your ambition should be to transform your organization into a place where innovation and constant emulation are at the core of what you live for. 

As an organization, you need a clear purpose to connect with your employees and customers on an emotional level, in an engaging, meaningful and compelling way. 

Vision and purpose is what should drive your business, your strategy and your future. Find the opportunity to make a difference, and place it at the heart of your vision. It should provide you a direction, a roadmap of where you want to be and how you want to get there. 

WHY - HOW - WHAT???

If your goal is only to gain a few market shares, grow by X% at the end of the year, reduce costs and increase profit margins, you clearly are missing the point. This does not excite anyone but you (OK - maybe your sales people and your banker too). Numbers are not sexy and appealing. Growth is a consequence of what you do, not a purpose.

A brand is the external reflection of a company’s inside culture and core values. In order for a brand to stay relevant, be different and unique, it must reinvent itself continuously. If a company’s products or services don’t change the game regularly, they suddenly become a commodity, as unique and innovative they could have been at some point. EVERY product and service becomes sooner than later a commodity. What’s critical is for the company to keep its brand relevant by innovating and bringing to life new game-changing products or services. You must keep delivering on your brand promise, day after day.

DON’T settle for being an er-brand. Your tactics are focused on being better at the same things that your competitors do. Red flags go up whenever I hear a pitch that explains how a new offering is just like another but is small-er, bigg-er, thinn-er, light-er, fast-er, sexi-er, whatev-er.
DO find a unique brand personality that translates into a unique customer experience, enabling your brand to rise above competitive comparison. Using brand personality in this way is not simply about developing creative communications; it’s about infusing every aspect of your operations with your unique character.

You have to switch your company’s focus from being transaction oriented to emotion oriented. A product is a transaction, an experience is an emotion. That’s your differentiator. 

It is easy to create a brand and a “promise”. What is hard to achieve is to deliver on the brand promise over and over again. As innovative as the brand promise may be at some point, other brands will follow and suddenly your promise will become commoditized, again.

McDonaldization of Starbucks…

When Howard Schultz left Starbucks in 2000, his successor Jim Donald decided to automate and time the Starbucks service, from time required to grind coffee, to mix ingredients, to minimal interaction with customers. In other word, Jim Donald mcdonaldized Starbucks. When Schultz returned as CEO in 2008 appalled by the dilution of the Starbucks experience he had brought to life, he decided to revive the brand promise. He closed all stores worldwide to (re)train managers and employees on the true customer experience, leaving on the counter $7M that day. He brought the brand promise back to its origin, and has continued to deliver on the promise ever since.

A strong and inspiring vision should be framed around how the company works to change its customers' world, for the better.

For instance, Amazon’s mission is "Our [Amazon's] vision is to be earth's most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online."

This is a powerful statement as each single word is meaningful. Amazon’s goal is to be global and ubiquitous (earth’s), with a strong focus on the customer (customer centric). Although it is an online retailer,  Amazon wants to build a place (analogy to brick and mortar), where people can only find what they have in mind, abut also get suggestions and recommendations based on other buyers’ preferences or one’s past purchases.

Starbucks' mission is “to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.”
Starbucks has revolutionized the way people interact socially. Nowadays, Starbucks is the place to meet friends, conduct business, get quiet time… Your morning coffee Joe is just the vessel for the company to create the experience. The experience is what customers make out of it. Starbucks nurtures the human spirit, little by little. Think about how your life was before Starbucks?

Lego’s mission is to “inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow”. Their purpose is to inspire & develop children to think creatively, reason systematically and release their potential to shape their own future – experiencing their endless human possibility. Lego is in perpetual beta mode: term used by software developers – a product is never finished, it is in constant iteration based on user feedback.

If you think about it, the Lego movie and the Lego theme parks are only devices to carry their mission. It is all about using your imagination and Lego sets to carry your imagination…

Culture

Smart business leaders shape the culture of their company to drive innovation. Success and constant positive results come from the implementation and execution of strategies, business models, structure, processes, technologies and incentive systems that encourage innovation.

"In today's reputation economy, what you stand for matters more than what you produce and sell", says Kasper Ulf Nielsen, Reputation Institute's executive partner. "People's willingness to buy, recommend, work for, and invest in a company is driven 60% by their perceptions of the company and only 40% by their perceptions of its products." The study shows that in order to win support and recommendations, a company needs to tell its story in a way that connects with stakeholders on a global level. "This is a challenge that even the best companies struggle with", Nielsen says. Building a strong reputation takes time. "You need to live up to your promises and be relevant in the local and global context", he adds. 

Looking for Apple’s mission statement (as you’d think they have a great mission statement given the number of game-changing products they have released), this is what I’ve found.

According to Simon Sinek, “if Apple was like everyone else a marketing message might be: We make great computers. They’re user friendly. Want to buy one? …Here’s how Apple actually communicates: everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo, we believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use, and user friendly. We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one?”. Although it is a bit simplistic, Sinek brings up the “why” a company chooses to do business, which should drive the how they going to accomplish their goals, and what they’re going to provide to the customers.

In an about.com article, it was widely reported that a famous quote from Steve Jobs in the 1980's was the Apple company mission statement: "Man is the creator of change in this world. As such he should be above systems and structures, and not subordinate to them."
The "official" mission statement on the Apple corporation website, however, is not really a mission statement at all, but rather a list of products and past accomplishments. As stated, Apple's "mission" is…
"Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices."
Apple ends its press releases with a statement that resembles what a traditional mission statement is expected to be…
"Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings."
In my opinion, this latter statement, although it does not name specific products, still is very commoditizing, not inspiring. Maybe this explains why Apple has struggled so much the past few years to bring to market game-changing products and has focused more on improving existing products.

According to the Economist, Steve Jobs' mission statement for Apple in 1980 was: “To make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind.”
Now, this mission statement sounds more like what drove Jobs and Apple to change the world…

What do you think?