Formerly the realm of heavy data processing tools, this kind of evaluation is a lot easier these days with social media monitoring tools like Sysomos. Even starting with a simple tag cloud — where the words that are most commonly associated with your company appear in a larger and heavier font the more frequently people use them — can help you understand how your market views you, the quality of your products and how they are using them.
Language
Starting today, you should strive to eliminate “corporate-speak” from as much of your organization as you can. True, there are some places where this simply won’t be possible because of regulatory requirements — financial and material disclosures, for example — but in most places, your words can probably be made more human.
This can even be something as simple as the use of contractions and real human emotions — “Whoa, that’s no good. I’ll check into that. Thanks for letting me know.”
Remember that your stakeholders rely on the people behind the brand to help them when needed.
Empathy
Perhaps the most important factor of building humanity into business is developing empathy. As Jayson Boyers, VP at Champlain College notes, “Though the concept of empathy might contradict the modern concept of a traditional workplace — competitive, cutthroat, and with employees climbing over each other to reach the top — the reality is that for business leaders to experience success, they need to not just see or hear the activity around them, but also relate to the people they serve.”
Early in his career, Boyers was responsible for overseeing his company’s largest division, which was suffering from poor employee morale and lack of trust in its leadership. “Rather than force my will and clean house,” he says, “I sat down with each employee to gauge their feelings about the company and talk about how to improve results. Through empathetic employee engagement, we could create a pathway to success.”
Don’t fall into the trap of false empathy, though. Many organizations undertake occasional employee or customer surveys to briefly gauge the level of happiness in those groups. Then, they do nothing with the results. Don’t use these surveys as a way of trying to fake empathy. True organizational empathy is based on action you take from what you learn. It’s worse to ask and then do nothing than to not ask at all.
Chapter 3
TOUCH Assessment
To start, it’s helpful to get a sense of your organization’s overall humanity — this quick assessment tool will give you your TOUCH score.
Technology
Do you invest in technology that makes things easier for your customers or easier for your staff?
Too many organizations use tools that help achieve internal goals (such as aiming for shorter time on client-support calls) rather than helping your clients and stakeholders with their goals. Think of the difference between Microsoft’s software (designed primarily by computer programmers and loaded with features that most people don’t use) and Apple’s software (designed primarily by human interface specialists, sacrificing some functionality for ease of use).
Our tools primarily benefit us. (0 points)
We don’t use much technology. We are customer-centric. (1 point)
Our tools benefit us and our clients. (2 points)
How many layers of technology do your customers have to go through to reach a human being with front-line decision-making ability?
Web forms, phone trees, and automated marketing certainly make the process of doing business easier, but these technologies often have the “benefit” of keeping your customers and stakeholders further away from real people who can solve problems or handle direct issues. How easy is it for your customers to navigate this technology to get to a real person?
We actively use technologies to reduce opportunities for customers to directly reach a person in our organization. (0 points)
Our processes or technologies permit contact with a staff person though only after first passing through any kind of gate (requiring a call back, entering data into a web form, prescreening on a web chat, etc.). (1 point)
Our customers can reach a real human within one contact point on their first attempt (e.g., during the same call). (2 points)
Do you write a “job description” for the technology you select and conduct annual performance reviews of it?
Smart, human organizations treat their technology reviews the same way they’d review their staff — with annual performance reviews and “bonuses” (more investment in the technology) for tools that perform exceptionally well. This annual review process helps ensure you don’t get caught with outdated technology while your competitors race ahead.
We simply don’t review our existing technologies on any kind of scheduled basis. We review them only when things go wrong. (0 points)
We do periodically or informally check to make sure the technology is working. (1 point)
We regularly review our business technology to make sure it’s still meeting the job description we have for it. (2 points)
Outcomes
Adaptability: How do you handle outcomes that weren’t part of an original goal?
3M accidentally created their famous Post-it pads when a run of glue didn’t hold perfectly well. A staffer started using this “defective” glue on small pieces of paper to attach them to reports. How well does your organization consider these happy accidents as opportunities for new products or customer service channels?
There’s no process for discovering and considering new applications that emerge. (0 points)
We have infrequently stumbled upon discoveries that have led to improved processes or new products. (1 point)
We’ve developed a regular process to escalate potential discoveries for further research. (2 points)
To what degree can each person in your organization explain the real-world human benefits you provide to your customers?
Senior executives are usually proficient at the elevator-pitch — a short description of how your organization’s outcomes benefit your customers and stakeholders. But how good are your staff at communicating this value outside your firm?
Most of our people just do their job and leave others to explain the benefits. (0 points)
Some keeners are good at communicating how we serve our customer base. Most don’t. (1 point)
We train our team members on how to explain to people outside the firm the value we provide. Any of our staff can do this effectively. (2 points)
Does your organization have a simple mantra that clearly articulates your values?
Most organizations have mission statements — unfortunately, they’re usually lengthy diatribes that wax eloquent about wanting to be “the leader in innovative products and services” or other such meaningless text. Does your organization have short external-facing text that clearly explains what the outcome of hiring your firm will bring your customers?
We don’t have any kind of mission statement, or if we do, our average employee can’t tell you what it is. (0 points)
Our mission statement is public, lengthy, and tries to be all things to all people. (1 point)
We have a simple, clear, and short mantra that articulates the value we provide to customers. (2 points)
Uniqueness