Perhaps more important, MBNA was a people-first culture, with an array of approaches to benefit the experiences of both employees and customers. When the company became part of Bank of America, the MBNA employees publicly thanked Charles Cawley, who founded the company, for all he had done on their behalf (see above). When have you ever seen such a mass valentine card from to an executive?<\/p>\n
In my\u00a0recent employee ambassadorship webinar<\/a>, three seminal books which offer strategies and stories were identified: Firms of Endearment (2007), Conscious Capitalism (2013), and Everybody Matters (2017). These books emphasized the important linkage between customer experience and employee experience; and they are all strongly recommended. In part, he authors built on ambassadorial ideas expressed in two editions of The Customer Comes Second (1992 and 2002), by Hal Rosenbluth and Diane Peters. At the time of its writing, Rosenbluth was the CEO of Rosenbluth Travel, one of the largest private travel management companies in the world (now part of Amex Travel Services); so, he had plenty of first-hand, well-informed immersion in both customer experience and employee experience.<\/p>\n Per Ralph Walkling (professor of corporate governance and accountability, LeBow College of Business, Drexel University), having a stakeholder-centric culture suggests that management considers the well-being of every entity touched by the business \u2013 employees, shareholders, suppliers, customers the community, etc. \u2013 when making decisions. In doing so, positive relationships can be maintained, while achieving attractive economic, social, and cultural results.<\/p>\n Stakeholder-centric companies:<\/p>\n \u2013 Prioritize the influence of each group. This often begins with employees<\/p>\n \u2013 Identify and evaluate the needs and interests of each group, through\u00a0targeted surveys and group processes<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2013 Harmonize the interests of each group, to minimize conflict<\/p>\n \u2013 Develop strategies for each group, so that measurable outcome value can be created<\/p>\n For me, the real meaning of \u2018people-first\u2019 stakeholder-centricity was expressed in The Customer Comes Second: \u201cCompanies are only fooling themselves when they believe that \u2018The Customer Comes First.\u2019 People do not inherently put the customer first, and they certainly don\u2019t do it because their employer expects it. We\u2019re not saying choose your people over your customers. We\u2019re saying focus on your people because of your customers. That way, everybody wins.\u201d Companies able to consistently do this have gotten the culture and operations right, and can keep them right by staying on course, on Labor Day and everyday.<\/p>\n Republished with permission from <\/span>CustomerThink.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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