We are a lucky company. We get to spend quality time helping clients with their strategic planning process and the fourth quarter of the year always finds us busy.
During a recent planning session with a client’s leadership team, I was once again listening to the view that the company needed a more “customer-centric” approach to their planning. I sighed deeply and thought, here we go again.
Companies tend to think of a solar system type of planning with the customer fulfilling the role of the sun and every decision orbiting around its intense gravitational pull. Something as big as the sun does not share its center of attention. When asked for my input I said, your approach is only half right. The center of your strategy is actually a shared space. Though we all love our customers, they don’t sit there alone. In fact, the customer as a single focal point will almost always fail. Yeah, it will go supernova on you.
How can you hope to deliver this legendary customer-centric impact unless you are FIRST team-centric? It’s a simple way to think. How can you create a laser-like focus on the client if your team can’t deliver your strategy? Do they have the necessary skills? Do they know the goals? Are they held accountable for their successes and their failures? Can they connect your culture to the client? Without these types of key questions entertained the hopes of a client-centric strategy is just a nice thing to think about.
Every success starts someplace. If you want a customer-centric company shares the space with your teams. Give them everything they need to provide you with your goals and what will follow naturally is a delighted client!
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