Leading the Way in Servant Leadership: The Importance of Treating Employees as Customers

The phrase “Servant Leadership” gets thrown around quite a bit. Every leader (myself included) likely list this leadership trait at the top of their resume. But can it really be said that everyone is a servant leader? What in actuality is servant leadership?

Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy in which the leader's primary focus is on the needs and well-being of the team or their employees. It is about putting the needs of others first and leading by example. Now, let's ask ourselves, how can we apply the principles of servant leadership to ?create a work environment where employees feel valued, respected, and heard?

?In my quest for answers, I reflected back on a question raised recently by a fellow manager on a conference call, she asked: Should Managers be trained to treat employees as they would customers? I found this to be a profound thought and decided to dig deeper. But first, I wanted to poll for opinions, so I set up a LinkedIn poll where I asked the same question almost verbatim: Should Managers be trained to treat their Employees as Customers? 60% of respondents agreed that the answer is a resounding yes! While I recognize that the response rate for the poll was low and the results cannot be considered to be representative on the larger population, one can only wonder what the results would have been with a higher participation rate. That notwithstanding, the idea of treating employees as customers is rooted in the philosophy that the most valuable asset of any organization is its people. Employees are the lifeblood of any business, and their contributions and engagement are essential to its success. Therefore, it is essential to create a work environment where employees feel valued, respected, and heard. It is my sincere belief that treating employees as you would a customer is not only good for business, but essential for thriving in today's competitive environment.

I crave your indulgence to be patient with me as I cannot truly do justice to this topic with a short essay, so this will be a little longer than my typical writing. But I promise it will be worthwhile. Now let’s get started.

To truly appreciate the connection between the concept of servant leadership, which due to its popularity has almost become a cliché and the idea of dealing with our employees as though they re our customers, we must first consider some basic principles of customer relationship management.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) as a concept is the process of building, maintaining, and improving relationships with customers. It's a strategy that companies use to acquire, retain, and grow their customer base. A key aspect of CRM is understanding and addressing the needs of customers, which leads to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. At its very core, the objectives of a good CRM process are simple and straightforward, namely: Improving customer service, increasing sales, retaining more ‘paying’ customers, higher efficiency, Better knowledge sharing and more transparency (Source: CRM.org). Next, lets now discuss each of these objectives and apply them to how we manage employee relationships.

Improving customer service equals Improving employee experience through engagement and empowerment. For our customers, we are always available with rapid response to questions and problems when they arise. This makes the customers feel valued and confident that they can count on us as a trusted partner. When it comes to our employees, they are the foot soldiers who deliver on the products and services that generate revenue for the company, ?it makes sense then to give the same level of attention and dedication to employees experience. ?So, by understanding and addressing the needs of employees, we can create a culture of trust and understanding. This will lead to increased engagement and satisfaction, employee loyalty, increased retention, attraction of top talent and ultimately improved bottom-line results.

Increase in sales equals Increase in productivity. What would you do to increase your sales by 50%? Or perhaps a better question is what would you not do to increase your sales by 50%? For most business leaders and sales professional, we would do whatever it takes under the boundary of law and ethics to grow sales and increase our position. We will make all the right investments, cold-calling and cold-emailing, etc. Same with our employees, we want to get the best out of them for all the investments we made and continue to make in them. When employees feel valued and respected, they are more likely to be invested in their work and committed to the success of the organization, resulting in increased productivity, higher job satisfaction, and ultimately, a more engaged and motivated workforce. Now you have people who are willing to go above and beyond for you and your customers, resulting in a win-win situation for all.

retaining more ‘paying’ customers equals attracting and retaining top talent. ?In today's job market, competition for the best and brightest is fierce. People who work in sales or any customer-facing role understand that they must constantly deliver superior products and /or services to make a case to the customers Why they should choose you and why they should stay with you. Only when you do that can you guarantee success for your business. Likewise, attracting and retaining highly motivated and productive employees is critical to the success of any organization, as it not only saves on recruitment and training costs but also ensures a stable workforce. Organizations that are able to create a culture of engagement and empowerment where employees are invested in their work and committed to the success of the organization will be more successful in attracting and retaining top talent and will thrive better than those that take the traditional approach to employee relationship management.

Higher efficiency equals healthy and productive workforce. A healthy and productive workforce is essential to achieving long-term financial success. The primary goal of every business leader is to build an efficient product/service delivery processes that meet the needs of the customers at the best speed and at the lowest cost possible. To achieve that, you must invest in the right technologies, ensure a healthy and sound value chain and build a reasonable redundancy in your process to be able to respond to uncertainty while avoiding supply-demand disequilibrium. Treating employees as customers helps to foster a healthy and productive workforce, giving them the necessary tools to be productive, fostering a work-life balance culture and avoiding micromanagement will result in better physical, mental, and emotional health, leading to fewer absences and a more productive workforce. This, in turn, leads to improved bottom-line results for your organization.

Better knowledge sharing equals employee development and growth.?With customers, better knowledge sharing allows us the opportunity to be proactive in understanding and solving their pain points before our competitors do. We stay close to the customers, checking in from time to time, seeking for new ways we can help improve their workflow, save cost, avoid risk, etc. Similarly, we can do the same for our employees by investing in their development and growth. This includes providing opportunities for training and professional development, as well as creating a culture of continuous learning and growth. This means treating them with the same respect and attention that you would give to your external customers. It means listening to their needs and wants, addressing their concerns, and taking steps to improve their work experience.

More transparency equals open, effective communication and constructive feedback. No customer wants to do business with a company that is reluctant or slow in sharing information or worse still is not receptive to feedback. To build a strong relationship and remain relevant with customers, businesses must be willing to be transparent in sharing data and actionable insights that help the customers make informed decisions about their businesses. At the same token, must be willing and open to accepting feedback, even actively soliciting such feedback. ?In some cases, information or feedback being shared are not always positive or even well received, but they must be shared. Similarly, a transparent leader is an empathetic leader who listen more than they speak, and by “listen”, I mean active listening with intent to understand and follow up with appropriate actions! By actively listening to employee concerns and addressing them with empathy, you can create a culture of trust and understanding. You also will not hold back in providing feedback even when they are unpalatable. But by all means always be gracious and publicly acknowledge and appreciate your employees when they have major accomplishments. Be sure to allow them take credit for their work. Finally Encourage and support problem-solving and empower your employees to take ownership of their work and contribute to the organization's success.

Of course, there are also those who argue that employees and customers are fundamentally different and therefore cannot be treated the same. They argue that treating employees like customers may lead to:

1.??????Employees being too demanding or entitled

2.??????Employees neglecting their job responsibilities

3.??????Lack of differentiation between employees and customers

4.??????Lack of effective management

5.??????Loss of authority and control

While it is true that there are some areas where the approach may need to be slightly different when dealing with employees versus customers, the core principles remain the same. Employees, like customers, want to be valued, respected, and treated with dignity. Furthermore, it is important to note that treating employees as customers does not mean neglecting or undermining the management hierarchy. It is about finding a balance between empowering employees and maintaining a clear chain of command. By fostering a culture of mutual respect, managers can create a positive work environment that benefits everyone.

Finally, I strongly encourage leaders to adopt this practice in 2023 and beyond. Treating employees as customers should not be seen as a mere leadership style, that are practiced by some leaders and not others. It should be a new paradigm that is institutionalized and embedded in our management practice across the board. I will even go as far as to coin a new concept?- “Employee Relationship Management (ERM)”. ?There you have it! ERM is not only good for business, but essential for creating a healthy and productive workforce – It is an effective model for business success. I will conclude by saying that those leaders who treat employees as disposable resources today will pay hefty prize for this mistake in the long run. Let us continue to lead the way in shaping the future of work by embracing ERM!

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts and insights in this area. Share your thoughts and experiences by using the hashtag #employeeexperience #employeeengagement #employeeretention #toptalent #customerservice #productivity

Let us continue to lead the way in shaping the future of human resources management.