Sounds obvious but ‘how’ do we encourage people to care about the way they show up and engage with customers? How do we get them to care about the impression they make and the wider reputation? Here were some key points:

• Clarity about expectations (e.g. behaviours, presentation) and how people can move towards more rewarding activities when they demonstrate they care, is essential. The consequence of not being conscientious is missing out on better-paid opportunities.
• Find out exactly what motivates your workers. What constitutes an incentive will differ from one person to the next so ask and make it relevant.
• Collecting feedback from customers that includes positives as much as what could be better. Gaining that feedback from staff about their experience too, is important.
• Sentiment analysis is a helpful way of understanding the emotional meaning behind customer interactions; it is a useful measure for phone-workers.

Many of the points that Jonna Mundy made in her presentation about remote working resonated with this discussion. Lencioni’s 5 Dysfunctions of a team featured; trust underpins everything – between company leaders, workers and customers.

To be involved in future discussions about better ways to resolve your people challenges and to learn from guest speakers talking about topics requested by the group, contact Tina Rosser at B4.