Employee Engagement Webinar - February 2014 - Beyond Philosophy

Employee Engagement, Ambassadorship
and Customer Centricity

Michael Lowenstein
Thought Leadership
Principal

Colin Shaw
Founder & CEO

www.beyondphilosophy.com

Who Is Beyond Philosophy?

Customer Experience is
Customer Experience is
all weall we do! 2002!
do.. Since

We focus on the emotional
side of customer experience

© Copyright Beyond Philosophy 2002 -2014
All rights reserved

We work globally with offices in
London and North America;
with partners in Africa & Asia.

‘Secrets of a Successful Global
Customer Experience Program’ –
Palgrave MacMillan 2013

beyondphilosophy.com

Thought leadership is our
differentiator

Evidence based consulting
& training

2

Organizations we have worked with…

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3

Defining the Customer Loyalty Behavior
Landscape
Today’s B2B and B2C customer is more mobile, contentseeking, impatient, and independent than at any time in
history. Even with all of these new decision dynamics, the
fundamentals of trust and perceived value have become
increasingly powerful drivers of loyalty and bonding.

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4

Why Customer Loyalty Is At Growing Risk
!
!
!
!
!
!

Companies aren’t current with rising consumer expectations,
need for personalized value
Loyalty programs are passive, miss mark
Digitization/mobile makes everything transparent and
accessible; companies arent omnichannel
Overfocus on rational, functional touch points and
transactional value rather than overall experience
No unique relevance or innovation for consumers; everything
becomes a price-based commodity
Customer-centricity, and especially employee engagement and
ambassadorship, are key ‘back to basics’ elements of value
delivery missing from many organizations

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5

Becoming a More Customer-Centric Enterprise:
Moving from Naïve to Natural
• 

• 

• 

• 

Customer Awareness – customers known, but in aggregate; the
organization believes it understands customer needs; measurement of
stakeholder behavior is rudimentary, if it exists at all; hierarchical
management model; chimneyed communication, with little teaming
Customer Sensitivity – customers known, but still mostly in
aggregate; service more in evidence (focus on problem/complaint
management); measurement is attitudinal and functional, with little
emphasis on emotional drivers; traditional management hierarchy
Customer Focus – customers both known and valued, down to
individual level; customers recognized as having varied needs; service
and value provisions are enterprise priorities; more proactive
communication and collaboration with customers; more horizontal
management structure
Customer Obsession – customer needs and expectations are well
understood throughout the enterprise; everyone provides value; loyalty
behavior is paramount, and optimal relationships are a key priority, with
service a vital, and profitable element of delivery; management is
extremely horizontal, with emphasis on customer inclusion and teaming

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6

Seven S Customer-Centric Direction

Structure

Shared

Values

Strategy

Skills

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Systems

Style

Staﬀ


7

Customer-Centric Linkage of Stakeholder Groups
! Customers
who
ac'vely
(vocal,
level
of
favorability,
reduced

considera'on
set,
etc.)
express
their
personal
commitment
to
a

supplier
can
be
strongly
posi've
(advocates),
neutral,
or
nega've

(saboteurs).

! Employees,
similarly,
can
signiﬁcantly
impact
customer
loyalty

behavior
toward
their
employer
through
a
range
of
a>tudes
and

behaviors
on
behalf
of
the
brand,
company
and
customer.

These

a>tudes
and
behaviors,
like
customers,

can
range
from
highly

posi've,
to
indiﬀerent,
to
highly
nega've.

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8

The Role of People…
Why They Can Be So Critically Important

68%

41%

…of
customers
LEAVE

because
of
poor
employee

aCtude

…of
customers
are
LOYAL

because
of
a
good

employee
aCtude

Source:
Parkington
and
Buxton,
Study

of
the
US
Banking
Sector,
Journal
of

Applied
Psychologyy

Source:
MCA
Brand
Ambassador

Benchmark

70%

…of
customer

brand
percepGon

is
determined
by

experiences
with
PEOPLE

Source:
Ken
Irons,
Market
Leader

UK
retailer:

1%
increase
in
employee
commitment
=

9%
increase
in
monthly
sales

Enterprise
IG

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Customer-Centric Enterprise Examples

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10

Customer Value is About Much More Than
Money – It Is the Overall Experience
! Value
=
Customer-‐perceived
raGonal
(funcGonal
and

tangible)
and
emoGonal
(intangible
and
relaGonship)

beneﬁts
supplied
+
soluGons
provided
-‐
what
is
required

by
customer
to
obtain
beneﬁts
and
soluGons

! Today,
emoGonal
components
of
delivery
have
greater

impact,
in
both
B2B
and
B2C
products
and
services

! The
Kano
Model

!   Expected
-‐
Failure
to
deliver
will
result
in
likely

defecGon

!   One-‐Dimensional
-‐
Desired,
standards
of
compeGtors

!   A?rac@ve/Surprising
-‐
PosiGve
and
unanGcipated

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Kano Model

Eﬀects
of
Experience
and
InteracGons
With
Employees
on
PotenGal

Commitment
and
Advocacy
Behavior

Figure
1:
Kano
Analysis

The
lower
curve
of
the
model
reﬂects
basic

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13

Employee Research Approaches

Employee Attitudes and Behaviors Research

Employee
Satisfaction,
Values, and
Loyalty

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Employee
Engagement and
Alignment


Employee
Commitment and
Ambassadorship
(Advocacy)

14

Definitions of Employee Research Concepts
and Methods
!

Employee
Sa@sfac@on
and
Loyalty
–
Iden'fies
employee
a>tudes
and
behaviors

leading
to
job
sa'sfac'on
and
employer
loyalty

!

Employee
Engagement
and
Alignment
–
Iden'fies
employee
a>tudes
and

behaviors
leading
to
agreement
with,
and
belief
in,
overall
company
mission
and

objec'ves,
as
well
as
‘fit’,
or
alignment,
and
produc'vity
within
organiza'onal

culture

!

Employee
Ambassadorship
–
Iden'fies
the
most
ac've
level
of
employee

commitment
to
the
company’s
product
and
service
value
promise,
to
the

company
itself,
and
to
op'mizing
the
customer
experience.

It
is
linked
to,
but

dis'nc've
from,
the
produc'vity
and
empowerment
elements
of
employee

sa'sfac'on,
engagement,
and
alignment
research
because
its
emphasis
is
building

customer
bonds
through
employee
interac'on.

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15

OpGmizing
Customer
Experience

and
RelaGonships

Linking
Customer
and
Employee
Commitment

to
Business
Results

C

U

S

T

O

M

E

R

R

E

S

E

A

R

C

H

Employee
Commitment

and
Ambassadorship

Customer
Commitment

and
Advocacy

Now

Strong

CorrelaGon

Employee
Engagement
and

Alignment

Customer
Loyalty

1990’s

Now

Weak
and
IntuiGve

CorrelaGon

1990’s

TQ
and

SaGsfacGon

Employee
SaGsfacGon
&

Loyalty

1980’s
and
earlier

E

M

P

L

O

Y

E

E

R

E

S

E

A

R

C

H

1980’s
and
earlier

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16

Many Ways to Define Employee Engagement
Analysis conducted by The Conference Board in 2006 showed
that, among twelve leading engagement research companies,
there were 26 key drivers, of which eight were common to all:

-‐

Trust
and
integrity
–
How
well
do
managers
communicate
and
'walk
the
talk‘?

-‐

Nature
of
the
job
–
Is
it
mentally
s'mula'ng
day-‐to-‐day?

-‐

Line
of
sight
between
employee
performance
and
company
performance
–
Do

employees
understand
how
their
work
contributes
to
the
company's
performance?

-‐

Career
growth
opportuniGes
–
Are
there
opportuni'es
for
growth
within
the

company?

-‐

Pride
about
the
company
–
How
much
self-‐esteem
do
the
employees
feel
by
being

associated
with
their
company?

-‐

Coworkers/team
members
–
How
much
inﬂuence
do
they
exert
on
the
employee’s

level
of
engagement
?

-‐

Employee
development
–
Is
the
company
making
an
eﬀort
to
develop
the
employee's

skills?

-‐

RelaGonship
with
one's
manager
–
Does
the
employee
value
rela'onship(s)
with

manager(s),
and
is
there
trust
and
credibility
between
the
levels?

Typically, little or no mention/inclusion of ‘customer’ or ‘customer
focus’ in measures or analysis of employee engagement. Though
customer experience, and resultant behavior, is impacted by
engagement, it tends to be more tangential than purposeful in nature.
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17

The Three Components of Employee
Ambassadorship
Commitment to Company - Commitment to, and being positive
about, the company (through personal satisfaction and an expression
of pride), and to being a contributing, and fully aligned, member of the
culture.
Commitment to Value Proposition - Commitment to, and alignment
with, the mission and goals of the company, as expressed through
perceived excellence (benefits and solutions) provided by products
and/or services
Commitment to Customers - Commitment to understanding
customer needs, and to performing in a manner which provides
customers with optimal experiences and relationships, as well as
delivering the highest level of product and/or service value.

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18

Employees That Score High on Commitment to
the Company, The Value Proposition, and the
Customer Are Considered Ambassadors

Company

Value

ProposiGon

Ambassador

Customer

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19

Employee Ambassador/Saboteur
‘Swing Voter Analysis

uncGon
Analysis)

(Discriminant
F

What
turns
indifferent
employees
into
ambassadors?

Employee

Ambassadors

Indifferents

Saboteurs

What
turns
indifferent
employees
into
saboteurs?

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20

Looking Under the Hood
A Detailed Ambassadorship Case Study:
Employee and Guest Research Results
for Major Las Vegas Hotel/Casino

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21

Employee Ambassadorship Levels
Overall and High/Low Divisions
N

Employee
Ambassadors

Positive
Loyalists

Passive
Contributors

Disinterested
Seatfillers

Employee
Saboteurs

2,622

23%

28%

25%

15%

9%

Sales Convention

101

47%

28%

19%

4%

3%

Fitness Center

37

40%

30%

14%

16%

-

Marketing

43

37%

33%

12%

16%

2%

Valet

53

36%

40%

19%

6%

-

Pool Bars

40

35%

40%

13%

10%

3%

Retail

57

35%

25%

18%

21%

2%

Banquets

204

29%

28%

20%

11%

3%

Restaurant

69

6%

19%

36%

17%

9%

Security

76

8%

17%

33%

22%

20%

Housekeeping

170

9%

19%

27%

25%

16%

Bell

47

13%

13%

17%

26%

32%

Casino Bars/Lounges

129

16%

14%

29%

25%

17%

OVERALL
HIGH

LOW

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22

Overall Satisfaction with Job Aspects
Except
for
work
safety,
extent
of
diversity,
and
immediate
supervisor,
there
tended
to
be
very
high

concentraGons
of
high
job
environment
saGsfacGon
among
Ambassadors.

NegaGve
feelings
about

immediate
supervisor,
hotel

management,
and
opportunity
advancement
were
strong
and
spread

beyond
Saboteurs,
in
other
words
there
was
more
pervasive
negaGvism
among
employees.

% of Ambassadors (Top Box) / % of Saboteurs (Bottom Box)
The hotel as a whole

49% (9%)

The hotel management as a whole

65% (16%)
75% (11%)

34% (19%)

My immediate supervisor

51% (25%)

25% (20%)

The extent of diversity among my
co-workers

Ambassadors

33% (9%)

The safety of my workplace

47% (24%)

36% (9%)

Overall work environment

Saboteurs

53% (22%)
75% (13%)

41% (14%)

Opportunity for career
advancement

65% (15%)

25% (25%)
0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Percent Score
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23

Employee Ambassadorship Diagnostics
Customer Focus
Empowerment, though showing a high concentration, is not associated with ambassadorship
as much as other factors. A relatively low concentration of Lack of Recognition among
Saboteurs extends beyond saboteurs suggests that this problem is pervasive in other
employee segments as well.
% Ambassadors (Top Box % Agreement) / % Saboteurs (Bottom Box % Disagreement)
53% (17%)

Employees receive the training
needed to serve guests

30% (13%)

We regularly use guest
feedback to improve our work
processes

54% (17%)
34% (14%)

á

Ambassadors

á

47% (25%)

I feel empowered to solve guest
problems

Saboteurs

32% (12%)

My department has clear
objectives for helping improve
the guest experiences

56% (22%) á
37% (12%)
56% (17%)

Employees are recognized for
delivering outstanding service to
guests

á

0%

10%

20%

26% (21%) á
30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Percent Score
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24

Employee Ambassadorship Diagnostics
Business Alignment
Motivation to help the hotel be successful and clear understanding of hotel mission, though
receiving high agreement, were not particularly strong in their association with Ambassadorship.
The negative effects of poor ratings on information about the hotel having tools and technology,
encouragement of diverse perspectives and decision participation likely extend beyond Saboteurs.
% Ambassadors (Top Box % Agreement) / % Saboteurs (Bottom Box % Disagreement)
I am motivated to help the
hotel be successful

47% (36%) á

á

á

63% (8%)

53% (26%)
58% (8%)

The hotel is a leader in its field
á

I have a clear understanding of
the hotel’s mission
I am kept well informed about
what’s going on at the hotel

á

Diverse perspectives are valued
and encouraged in my dept.

á

I am encouraged to participate in
decisions that affect my work

á

0%

10%

20%

51% (23%)

32% (12%) á

á

I have the tools, technology,
and equipment to do my job

(33%) á
55% (6%)

46%

33% (14%) á

á
á

30% (21%) á
40%

Saboteurs

51% (23%)

32% (16%) á

30%

Ambassadors

50%

58% (21%)
57% (20%)
60%

70%

80%

Percent Score
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25

Employee Engagement/Ambassadorship
Workshop Will Also Cover….
! Management Effectiveness – diagnostics which
address supervisor/employee interaction
! Career and Growth - diagnostics which address staff
opportunity for accomplishment and advancement
! Morale and Culture - diagnostics which address
personal value, work environment, and relationships
throughout the enterprise
! Cohesion - diagnostics which address levels of
support, teamwork and cooperation, within and
between groups

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26

Hotel Ambassadorship Swing Voter Analysis
Classification of Attributes
In swing voter analysis, key hotel drivers are divided into three groups
depending on their unique contribution to employee growth and/or risk.
These are:
• 

Delighters: Improving performance on these attributes will move swing
voters into the ambassadors group while declining performance on them
has little impact. These delighters tend to have impact if there is good
employer performance where good performance wasn’t expected.

• 

Dissatisfiers: Declining performance on some attributes will move swing
voters into the saboteur group while improving performance has little
impact. These dissatisfiers tend to have impact when there is poor
performance where good performance is expected.

• 

Dual Effects: These dual effect attributes show improved overall feelings
about the hotel in both directions, i.e. they are associated with moving swing
voters into the Ambassador camp with good performance as well as with
moving swing voters into the Saboteur camp with poor performance.

The following charts show selected attributes that are either Delighters or
Dissatisfiers

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27

Swing Voter Analysis

Importance
Scores
for
Selected
Anributes

(“Swing
Up”
To
Ambassadors,
“Swing
Down”
To
Saboteurs)

Swing
Up

Swing
Down

I trust the hotel

28%

4%

My work gives me a sense of personal accomplishment

8%

4%

The hotel is focused on attaining the highest quality possible

7%

-

Overall value of service provided

6%

23%

I very much enjoy doing my job

6%

10%

I feel a lot of stress at work

6%

6%

The hotel is very loyal to its employees

6%

2%


4%

-

The hotel will do whatever it takes to makes guests happy

4%

-

I have a clear understanding of the hotel’s mission, goals, and objectives

2%

13%

-

8%

2%

5%

The extent of diversity of co-workers
I am very committed to my work
Delighters

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Dissa'sﬁers


Dual
eﬀects

28

Delighters

(Opportunities for Ambassadorship Growth)
Building employee trust and pride in the hotel (viewpoint that the guests believe
Las Vegas Hotel/Casino has their interests at heart), pride in their work and their
accomplishments at work, clear supervisory direction and training, and a clear
view to the potential of a promising future at Las Vegas Hotel/Casino all can create
a higher proportion of Employee Ambassadors at Las Vegas Hotel/Casino.

Primarily upside diagnostics (in order of importance):
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

I trust the hotel
My work gives me a sense of personal accomplishment
The hotel is focused on attaining the highest quality possible
The hotel will do whatever it takes to make guests happy
Guests would continue to stay at the hotel because of the high level of personal service
they receive
Diverse perspectives are valued and encouraged in my department
The safety of my workplace
My supervisor makes it clear what I am expected to do
Employees receive the training needed to serve guests
I feel I have a promising future at the hotel
How likely do you think it is that you will be promoted next year?
Trust, pride in hotel, pride in self, supervision, growth

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29

Dissatisfiers

(Risk
of
Ambassadorship
Decline)

Feelings of low self-esteem because of the perceived worth of their jobs, feelings
of isolation from the Las Vegas Hotel/Casino mission, its management and fellow
employees, feelings that they are not adequately enabled to carry out their
respective tasks, and beliefs that Las Vegas Hotel/Casino is not a leadership resort
all contribute to turning neutral and disenchanted employees into Employee
Saboteurs.

Primarily downside diagnostics (in order of importance):

!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!

Overall value of service provided
I have a clear understanding of the hotel's mission, goals and objectives
The hotel is committed to providing equal opportunities for all employees
I am kept well-informed about what's going on at the hotel
I have the tools, technology and equipment I need to do my job
There is team work between management and staff at the hotel
The hotel is a leader in its field
I have a sense of closeness with other employees at the hotel
Employees are recognized for delivering outstanding service to guests

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30

Some Mirroring Diagnostic Elements
(Top 2 Box Scores – 7 Point Scale)
!

Employee Ambassadors were dramatically more likely to rate hotel/casino
highly when compared to Saboteurs, but employees often out of sync – and
sometimes significantly so - with Guests
All
Employees

Guests

Employee
Ambassadors

Employee
Saboteurs

100%
90%

Percent Top 2 Box

80%

82%

81%

79%

82%
73%

72%

70%
60%
50%
40%

49%

49%

46%

48%

32%

40%

39%
36%

38%

37%
31%

25%

30%
20%

15%
9%

10%

14%

10%

6%

0%

The hotel will do
whatever it takes
to make guests
happy

All rights reserved

The hotel
has the
guests best
interest at
heart

The hotel will do
what it takes to
resolve any
problems the
guests have


The hotel
trends
guests as
valued
customers

The hotel
exceeds
guests’
expectations

7%

Guests feel they
have a personal
relationship with
the hotel as their
Las Vegas
destination

31

Summary of Key Employee Ambassador
Behavior Implications for Hotel
!

Hotel had a stronger employee ambassadorship profile than the
service industry in general (ambassadorship is the likelihood of
employees to be so positively disposed toward hotel that they actively
promote it as a place to work).
!   There is a significantly higher percentage of ambassadors among hotel

employees (compared to service industry employees in general);
!   however, several hotel departments had high percentages of saboteurs,
including restaurant, security, housekeeping, bell, and casino bars,
lounges

!

Hotel employees had significantly lower one year from now
employment likelihood scores compared to the service industry as a
whole.
!   However, their higher likelihood to recommend hotel as a place to work

suggest reasons for leaving may be less driven by dissatisfaction than one
would expect and more driven by expected career changes or by the
availability of several alternative employers for the same jobs in Las Vegas

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32

Summary of Key Implications
for Hotel, contd.
! “Swing Voter Analysis”
!   Trust and personal accomplishment are primary delighters

(drivers of ambassadorship)
!   Perceived value of services employees provide is a major
dissatisfier (driver of prospective sabotage), especially
among key customer-facing groups, followed by having a
clear understanding of the hotel mission, vision, and goals
!   Primary dual effect attributes (both driving ambassadorship
and saboteur status) are stress level and job enjoyment,
perhaps two sides of the same coin.

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33

Nine Ambassadorship and Customer Centricity
Employee Best Practices
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!

Build a climate of trust and authenticity
Train, train, train (and cross-train in customer sensitivity and
value proposition)
Make certain everyone has a career path
Provide frequent evaluations/contribution reviews
Seek to inform, seek to debrief, and be transparent
Recognize and reward customer-focused initiative and
proaction
Don’t just ask employees what they want, provide it
By all means, have fun
Hire the ‘right’ employees in the first place

Source:

Customer
WinBack,
Jill
Griﬃn
and
Michael
Lowenstein

Will be broadly covered in ambassadorship workshop

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34

Customer-Centricity Is About More than
Structure, Strategy, and Systems….
!

!
!
!
!

Most brands and corporations get by on macro, passive, and
transactional approaches to customer relationships: service
speed, price promotions, merchandising gimmicks, new
product offerings, etc.
Customers, as a result, see no brand personality or brand-tobrand differentiations
Experience of brand is non-engaging and one-dimensional,
easily capable of replacement
Customer has no personal investment in choosing, or staying
with, one brand or supplier over another
Per Raj Sisodia and John Mackey (Conscious Capitalism): “…
many corporations seem to exist primarily to maximize the
compensation of their executives and secondarily to create
shareholder value, rather than to optimize sustained value creation
for all stakeholders.”

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36

…It’s About Emotions, Humanity…and Profit
!
!
!
!

!

“Being human” – Not just a buzzword, especially in brandbuilding and leveraging customer relationships
To better understand customers, enterprise must think in
emotional and human terms
To become more trusted, organizations must connect with
customers through branded experiences
Emotional connections in all elements of value – service,
advertising, packaging, billing, products, etc. – should be
thought out for consistency
Sisodia, Sheth, and Wolfe (Firms of Endearment): “What we call
a humanistic company is run in such a way that its stakeholders –
customers, employees, suppliers, etc. - develop an emotional
connection with it. Humanistic companies seek to maximize their
value to society as a whole, not just to their shareholders. They are
the ultimate value creators. They create emotional value,
experiential value, social value, and of course, financial value.”

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37

Based on Ambassadorship-Based Strategic
Research, What Customer-Centric Actions Should
Companies Be Taking?
!

!

!

!

Employees, at all levels and in all functions, need to have a thorough
understanding of what is important to customers so that their actions
match customer expectations and performance requirements.
Within a customer-centric enterprise, employees’ behavior needs to
be aligned around positive customer experiences and customer
loyalty; driving employee engagement, enablement and energy,
components of ambassadorship, should be stressed
Management must build processes, technology, training, reward,
recognition, and organizational/cultural practices that support
employees being able to optimize customer experience.
Companies should evaluate the effectiveness of key metrics
associated with delivering customer value – financial and nonfinancial performance, addressing customer life cycle, amount of
cross-functional collaboration to support customers.

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38

Employee Engagement
Course
4 live interactive webinars
60-90 mins in length
Homework
Exam for certification
30th April – 21st May 2014
Advertised price $ 599

$ 50 off

$ 549
All rights reserved


Use promotion code:
WEBINAR50

39

What You Will Learn in Employee Engagement
and Ambassadorship Workshop
!
!
!
!
!
!
!

How to assess, and build, the enterprise culture to focus on customer-centricity
How to have a better understanding of customer life cycle, and how employees
influence it
How to assure that employees, at all levels and in all functions, have a thorough
understanding of what is important to customers
How to align employee behavior around positive customer experiences and
customer loyalty
How to build processes, training, reward/recognition and cultural practices that
both support employees and optimize customer value and experiences
How to apply contemporary and actionable metrics, through employee emotional
connection and behavior that drive value
How to sustain employee ambassadorship within the enterprise

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40

Thank You/Q & A
! Beyond Philosophy Employee Engagement and
Ambassadorship Workshop:
http://www.beyondphilosophy.com/training-courses/
employee-engagement
! Contact information for Michael Lowenstein:
michael.lowenstein@beyondphilosophy.com

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41

Employee Engagement Webinar - February 2014 - Beyond Philosophy

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