This article contains an unedited excerpt from our new book, Leading the Customer-led Revolution, due out on 24 May. We hope you enjoy it!
Culture eats strategy for breakfast
It’s a famous quote + one we know is used often, but it’s a good one.
Truth is, you can have the best strategy in the world, but unless your people are onboard with it + get behind it, you’re destined to wander off the path.
The same goes for creating a customer culture. That is, one that places the customer at the heart of everything you do. You can have a great customer strategy in place, unlocking the power of each of the elements within the Customer Strategy Framework. But, without your people embracing it as their own, as part of how they think day-to-day, it becomes another one of those great pieces of work that sit on the shelf.
Check out an excerpt from our book, Leading the Customer-led Revolution below, where we get into the detail of creating a Customer Culture, the pitfalls along the way + give you an approach to set you + your team up for success.
What is Customer Advocacy?
[Excerpt from Chapter 26 of our new book]
Culture is in the fabric of every organisation. You can choose to ignore it or embrace it. The high performers know this + use it as one of their truly sustainable competitive advantages.
It’s the glue that binds everyone in the team together + establishes ‘the way things are done’.
Sumantra Ghoshal, a leader in organisational culture, describes it beautifully as ‘the smell of the place.’ You know when you walk into a shop or an office, your ‘spidey senses’ pick up on the vibe of the place within moments. In your own business, you can get so used to it, you stop noticing altogether. Same with your team. It becomes so imperceptible that you forget about it entirely, only re-engaging with it when something goes wrong or your called to notice.
Strong cultures never lose sight of the smell of their place + continue to focus on it over time. It becomes a strong mesh that guides people on what they do, who they do it with + how they do it.
Customer culture is the living outcome of how well your customer-led vision, values + behaviours are working for or against you.
So then, what is a customer culture? It’s when the customer is consciously embedded into the way things are done, at all levels. It showcases how important customers are + how they are perceived within the organisation. Customer culture is the living outcome of how well your customer-led vision, values + behaviours are working for or against you. A robust culture will guide your team, even when you’re not there. A weak culture accelerates inefficiency at all levels, with good people leaving – both staff + customers!
This article is an unedited excerpt from the upcoming book from authors Sueanne Carr + Peter Turner (aka the Dynamic Duo of Customer-led Transformation) titled, Leading the Customer-led Revolution, due out May 2023.
Written for courageous leaders who are in charge of or charged with making their organisation truly customer-led, it provides a simple + powerful roadmap to making it happen.
Secure your copy early, signed by the authors, at our pre-purchase page here.
