Fireside Chat with Clive Turner

My recollection of Clive during the Nokia APAC years was how he implemented significant, high-impact change and improvements to products and process. He has been working in both technical and management positions across print, telecommunications, automotive industries, and consultancy. He has spent some time as a management consultant and partner at Synatus.

Nicole: What are your passions in work and business?

Clive: I really enjoy problem solving, particularly when it results in change for the business and improves the customer experience. I tend to work better in a chaotic shifting environment than in a static factory-like one. I really enjoy learning new things especially in technology, or in psychology as it applies to CXX.

My passion? People, being able to help people within a work or a private context, to understand something or to find a way to do something is just the greatest experience.

Your front-line staff are the ones who deliver your brand message. Train and empower them

Nicole: In the years you have been looking and working on customer care, what are some golden rules or tips you can share with us?

Clive: In my experience there are no bad employees, only bad managers, and this applies in the customer service environment too. The front-line staff of any business are usually not in a career they chose, but rather ended up in that role, and yet C-suite and middle management seldom consider that when defining strategy and brand.

Tip 1. Remember that the front-line staff who deliver your brand message are likely to be the lowest paid, and least qualified to do so. Train and empower them. Staff turnover is a valuable metric here.

Tip 2. Customer Satisfaction is an expression of how well the business met the expectation of the customer. The customer expectation is always formed before the experience. Manage the expectations to be less than your ability to deliver! (The title “Customer Satisfaction Manager” is a terrible misnomer; because you cannot manage customer satisfaction which is only measured post-experience).

Nicole: After this era of digitalization and transformations, what do you see as a next big hurdle for companies / nations globally to overcome?

Clive: Great question! As digitization and the shift towards a renewable future happens, there are three major concerns I foresee.

The first is that of understanding. We already see this with climate change protestors who protest the oil-based economy because of the emissions from transport and energy, and yet they fail to understand that oil is needed for the plastics used in insulation, the polymers used in textiles and healthcare, and in the making of things such as bicycle tyres. Coal (carbon) is used for steel making, and for healthcare (e.g. carbon filters for clean water/air). Failure to understand that even moving to a renewable energy future still requires oil and coal could easily lead to serious supply issues, and to economical and healthcare crises.

Real Risk of Dissociation and Pace of Change with Digitization and Transformation

The second is related and is that of dissociation and the “I’m alright Jack” mentality. We see this in the older no-longer-at-work generation in the UK who voted for Brexit for their own reasons, despite the harm that it causes to the younger generations. Broadly speaking, entire nations are dissociating themselves from the rest of the world. “It’s not MY problem” is the phrase most often associated with this, along with “someone should do something about xyz!” (but it’s not themselves).

As digitization and transformation take place, there is a real risk of dissociation causing people, nations and entire groups of society to be forgotten, to be left out and not taken care of. There are already a lot of people in the world getting left behind as they don’t know how to access and use the technology, but no one cares. This is the result of dissociation.

Figure 1 dissociation at work

The last is the pace-of-change getting ahead of the ability of humankind to keep up as AI comes of age. There are already signs that human beings are not able to keep up with the rapid pace of change that is now taking place in the world. In the past, transformational change took place over periods more than 25 years (one generation). In the 21st century change has accelerated to outpace a single generation; that is, by the time a generation has been educated and prepared for adulthood in the modern society, what they learnt is already uselessly outdated. Banking, entertainment, banking, types of jobs, content of jobs.

Take an electrician – an electrician born in 1980 and fully qualified and working by the year 2000 has already found tungsten and halogen bulbs, fluorescent lighting, and devices over 2000 watts outlawed by E.U. legislation, and must learn installation of E.V. Charging equipment, battery storage devices, and heat-pumps.?The auto-mechanic learning his trade now will see the end of the internal combustion engine by 2030, and the plumber will see the death of the gas-fired heating systems within 10 years.

AI will replace much of the mundane work, and many office roles during the next decade. These changes will lead to challenges of upskilling, retraining, but also of protest and hatred.

Those responsible for introducing new technologies and change also bear the responsibility for ensuring society can cope. This redefines the purpose and intent of Corporate Social Responsibility.

Nicole: In your work in IoT and transformation, what would be the most unexpected along the way or as an outcome?

Clive: There are two factors for which the world is unprepared (as there is denial about the reality, they are not expected to happen). The first is that AI becomes self-aware. The other is that we experience a Carrington event. Either of these would create a paradigm shift in society, either advancing us rapidly to a better future, or alternatively causing the collapse of civilization as we know it. These are unexpected outcomes.

More simply, within my work and in digital transformation, unexpected would be a leap-frog technological innovation which devalues all existing technology instantly. Another would be the collapse of old-fashioned banking and finance as blockchain and cryptocurrency evolves.

Finland can teach people how to reconnect with nature and understand its balance with society

?Nicole: What do you think is an area of improvement for Finland to grow its economic presence in Europe and internationally?

Clive: I believe Finland has the internal resources available to create a dynamic shift through the use of intellect and the natural forests and lakes. Increasingly, people need to reconnect with nature and Finland has this knowledge and capability, but it is not used except for tourism. This understanding of nature and balance with society may indeed be the most important and most valuable thing for Finland to bring to the rest of the world. I believe that, in general, Asia has lost this connection and the importance of it.

Nicole: What advice can you give to mid-career professionals who are looking for their next challenge?

Clive: I would advise not to be afraid of asking for help, and make sure that people in your network are aware that you are looking for a new challenge or something additional.

Find a life coach. Work on your goals, but most importantly make sure the ‘people in your corner’ know about your plans. Talk to your family and closest friends, listen to any concerns they have and take the time to consider and address those concerns – they have your best interests at heart.

Nicole: Which are the areas where you could help others in the Kaato group?

Clive: I am well connected on LinkedIn and I work at Vodafone in the UK, so if there are opportunities for Kaato members to leverage mutual interests, I can help make some connections. You’ll need to convince me first of course.

I have a deep understanding of process and technology, and of how these relate to the CXX world. I am able to provide consultation on challenges of CXX strategy and implementation, and of changing culture within a business.

I am a life coach and my services are available to anyone within Kaato.

Nicole: What would you suggest are the top 3 skills or capabilities that are most important for young adults to manage and thrive in our very dynamic working environment today?

Clive:

1.??????Understand others, be prepared to listen – truly listen – to what concerns and worries them

2.??????Understand yourself. Know what matters and what you personally stand for

3.??????Be prepared to start over again at least three times in your lifetime, that everything you know for work today in your early twenties will have been entirely replaced by your mid-thirties.

Nicole: What is your pet project or something you like to do??

Clive: Pet project – I think that’s ‘helping others’ as a life coach, and in the technology field it would be developing solutions for sustainable energy use in the domestic market, integrating better the use of solar technologies and energy storage for people in their own homes. I continue to invest in and develop my skills as a mentor and a coach, and I typically spend between 2 and 10 hours a week on helping others using these skills.

Outside work, I’m a radio amateur, and I volunteer as a school governor, and in the UK’s 4x4Response organisation supporting search and rescue & providing backup for the emergency services. Something I like to do – I think if I could afford it, I would take up studying psychology and change career to counselling and coaching in the field of change management.

Thanks, Clive, you have given us a lot to ponder over. From transformation and its impact on society, to understanding multi-tiered implications and the pace of change.

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