Triple Bottom-Line

Whom do you put first?

Once upon a time I was sitting in the lobby of a business hotel waiting to meet a client when my phone buzzed “Sorry stuck up in heavy rain and a long traffic- kindly wait for me” read the text from my client. What a beautiful weather, I thought, waiting for my client there, a perfect time to have a cup of hot coffee, I thought……as I sat there sipping through the hot coffee and browsing through a sports magazine, I could not stop myself from overhearing to a conversation between two people dressed up smartly and sitting on the adjacent sofa. Deep inside my heart I knew that it wasn’t a good idea to listen like this, however the content of their conversation automatically drew my attention and soon I was merely flipping through the pages of the magazine while my mind was fully attentive to the conversation they were having.

Here it goes:

For better understanding, I will refer the first person as “X” and the second one as “Y”

I don’t think that I am working at a right place, the first one (X) said. I have mentioned this many times to you, however you never seemed to agree, the second one(Y) said.

X:  I have received calls from 3 organizations in last one week, our competitors you know, all of them offering 30% hike in salary plus other lucrative benefits.

Y: What are you waiting for?

X: My salary for this month and the incentives, they are about to come and then I will put my papers. Forget about me, I was convinced for quite some time now that this is not the best place to work with, however what happened to you? You have worked here for more than 6 years and people say that you are one of the strong pillar for the organization and an integral part of the growth story. They admire you for the kind of positive impact you have on them……I wonder what happened?

Y: Yes, I have always been proud of this company, however, this is the first time that I have hit the ground, we are not meeting our numbers, the bottom line is not healthy and my leader mentioned to me that he made a mistake in choosing me for this very important role, he thinks that perhaps I was not ready for it. I have put in my heart and soul but somehow the things aren’t happening the way they should, perhaps, I needed someone to coach me in order to succeed but that never happened and the worst part is that I am broken internally after hearing those words “It was a mistake”.  I have not been able to sleep for last 2 nights pondering over where did I go wrong? Why I did not see this coming? Why did I not change this company? There were some exciting offers two years back.

X: So what are you going to do now?

Y: I have learned my lesson and realized that it was a mistake to attach so deeply with this organization. I should have taken that offer which came my way 2 years back, however, it’s not too late now.

What a pity, I thought as I listened to their conversation.

I said to myself - Not only a potential is underutilized, it’s equally sad that a heart is broken and an employee who has given his all is now feeling disengaged.

As I was reflecting on what I heard, my mind started to ponder over a concept called “Triple Bottom Line”

Some time back I read a book titled “Lead with LUV”

This book is an extraordinary conversation between Dr. Ken Blanchard and Colleen Barrett, President of Southwest Airlines. Her company succeeded where its competitors struggled. Customers were loyal, employees loved to work there, and it was profitable year after year.

Here is what Colleen said about triple bottom line:

She said that their entire philosophy of Leadership is quite simple: Treat your people right, and good things will happen. When we talk to our people, we proudly draw a pyramid on the chalkboard and tell them: You are at the top of the pyramid. You are the most important person to us. You are our most important customer in terms of priority. Therefore, I am going to spend 80 percent of my time treating you with Golden Rule behavior and trying to make sure that you have an enjoyable work environment where you feel good about what you do, about yourself, and about your position within this company. But if I do that, what I want in exchange is for you to do the same thing by offering our passengers- Who are our second Customers in terms of priority- the same kind of warmth, caring and fun spirit. If you do that consistently, our passengers will recognize how significantly different this is from the behavior they experience at other businesses, and they will come back for more. If they come back often enough and become loyal Customers, they will tell stories about us to their friends. Then we will make money, which keeps your job secure and pleases our third Customers in terms of priority, which is our shareholder- Thus a win-win for all concerned.

Even though I did not have the entire context of what exactly happened in the case of those two gentleman in the lobby, however, it was clear from their conversation that their organization and in this case their manager did not treat them in a way that builds self-esteem and make people realize that they are doing “worthwhile work”. Your people need greatest support and encouragement when they aren’t doing well, after all no one wants to fail.

So what goes wrong? Why people do not seem to understand this simple concept of treating people well, building their self-esteem, catch them doing right things and allow some room for failures.

It is up to us to reflect upon and find out what will work with our people and how can we write a story similar to the one at Southwest Airlines.

STOP AND THINK

Southwest puts their employees first, their customers second, and their shareholders third. How does your management prioritize these three?                  

How does your pyramid look like?