Top 10 (actually 30) Highlights – Chat with the Xperts #6 – Omar Ghanem

Leading an organization is not something trivial. Leading to deliver great business results and Great Customer Experiences is even more difficult, but Leading to Create a Culture and to Leave a Legacy is even more complex. Let’s learn a few tricks from our Guest, Omar Ghanem, on how to do it as part of your Mission or even to become your Purpose. Please find below the main takeaways from our Webinar #6 on our series “Chat with the Xperts”

1)   Never forget to thank the people that helped you to get to where you are today. Their effort helped you on your journey.

2)  When you are at the frontline, dealing with Customers, you need to keep in mind that you are in the Stage and not simply at work. Those who truly have a Purpose to Serve, never leave character and stay on the role as long as the action is on.

3) Your people come first. How can they deliver a happiness they don’t have? The Customer must be in the center of everything your company does, but your people come first.

4) Your personal life influences your life as a Leader. If you like to receive guests at home and you really care about making them feel good at your place, you will likely be a great Customer Experience driven Leader.

5)   To deliver Great Customer Experiences you need to have People that like People.

6)   Legacy is when the “doing right” stays even after you leave.

7)   Some Customers require a very special type of Service and can afford the associated cost, so it is better to have a different brand to deliver that type of service to those special Customers, instead of trying to deliver the same to all Customer, even the ones that cannot afford.

8)   Becoming the reference, the benchmark in your industry is good for the recognition of your success, but it is also good because you can monetize this position, as this status will appreciate your business. Don’t be afraid to let others come see what you did, even your competitors, because if they don’t have the same people or the same attitude, they will only spend money to copy what you did and they will tank. If they do have what it takes, they will be the pressure you need to become everyday better. No matter how you look at it, you win.

9)   An effective way to implement a Culture of Customer Experience is for the Leader to become some kind of Ombudsman to hear the complaints and collect the shortfalls to connect the people that can solve the problem quickly. Show that he/she cares and that every gap must be addressed.

10)   There are fundamentally 2 drivers of the Customer Experience attitude. One is familial, driven by the heritage, what you learn at home, through the example of the parents. The other one is from Learning, via training, reading and experiencing in real life. When the first one is present, it is much easier to deliver Great Customer Experiences. Learning without the example is difficult because there is no parallel to the concepts being learned. Difficult to relate to.

11)   Customers want to talk more to the providers hiding from their failures. The ones who show their face and are not afraid of facing the Customers to apologize and solve their issues are more respected by the Customers and not sought after.

12)   Taking good care of the Customers today, means keeping the business running, in good shape, for the long run.

13)   To further develop one’s ability to deliver Great Customer Experiences, one must learn more about Disney, Starbucks and Rolim Amaro (TAM) as sources of inspiration and example of how to delight the Customers.

14)   The Purpose of the Leader must be the same as the Organization. The secret of success is Hiring the Right People. In this case, the Right People are the ones which purpose is the same as the Organization’s.

15)   “Serve your Customers the way you would like to be served” … well … not really …. ”Serve your Customers the way THEY would like to be served”.

16)   Agility, YES! But Customers want the agility on the Transactions and not on the Experiences. For agility you need good processes and procedures, plus great training. For Experiences, training is not enough!

17)   Use technology to be agile, but do not lose the Human Touch.

18)   Use technology to be agile, but do not lose the Human Touch.

19)   Don’t push the Customer problem forward. Solve it! Customers want a one-stop solution.

20)   Be on-Stage to collect compliments and off-stage to collect complaints.

21)   The last 15 seconds of your interface with the Customers are highly memorable, so add some Drama to your Good Byes!

22)   High Customer Segmentation helps to address different Customers demands. Kids crying all over the place is not a good thing for the business.

23)   Never lose sight that the team is always watching the boss on stage!

24)   You develop your people so they can leave, but you take good care of them, so they want to stay. But, if you can’t keep them, you should be flattered that others want to steal your people from you. It means you did a great job on hiring them and helping them to grow to the best version of themselves.

25)   It is great to get complaints from other businesses saying that your Customers are asking them to be treated the same way you treat them.

26)   Cordiality – either you learn at home, or it is very difficult to learn.

27)   Neuro-linguistics is important to create a Culture. Never use the word “Problem”. Replace it with “Challenge”, so people stop focusing on the Problem.

28)   Characteristics of today’s Leader of success:

–       Have a Purpose aligned with the organization;

–       Good at Relationships;

–       Understands the role of the Leader (Provide Guidance, Develop the Team, Provide the Resources and Remove the Roadblocks);

–       Feeds the Continuous Improvement;

–       Attention to Details;

–       Great Communication Skills;

–       Has Energy and Thankfulness;

–       Leave the Ego aside;

–       Truly Listens;

–       Makes himself/herself available;

–       Develop the Team for them to be better than their Leader;

–       An influencer;

–       Empowers the Team;

–       Brings out the best on each member of the Team.

–       Understands the True Meaning of Service.

–       Truly a Servant Leader.

29)   The leader must educate the team.