Strategy is only as good as the team built around it

Great customer support- the kind that differentiates your product from others- doesn’t just happen organically, it’s the outcome of an intentional business strategy, highly functioning operational capabilities, and teams that are empowered, engaged,? and passionate about executing crisply.

The third part of that mix is a vital underpinning that binds everything else into a synergy of product differentiation, customer retention and brand value.? You can develop a game changing strategy and stand up a world class operational model, but if your team isn’t in it with you to win it- if they aren’t invested and passionate- the execution will never make it all hum.??

But talk is cheap- how do you actually build the dream team you need?

Start with a clear and compelling vision unites and excites people

Articulating a compelling vision and strategy rallies teams around a common purpose, motivates them to action and is an important means to ideate together about what’s possible. Tying it to the broader company and organizational aspirations then provides a means to connect the dots between individual efforts and the big picture.

Steve Jobs famously set a vision to ”Make a dent in the universe”, and it fueled Apple to unimaginable success. Every company, every team needs that kind of inspiration. At athenahealth, we knew we were part of improving the complex systems of healthcare by building the tools for better provider and patient experiences. By extension, our support teams were critical to facilitating those outcomes by ensuring our product and services worked effectively for customers, and that was a huge motivator for everyone.

Always be building

Fostering a strong, shared muscle around recruiting, hiring developing and career pathing produces the skills, competencies, inclusive and diverse collaboration that are essential for problem solving, strategizing, communication, driving results, while being adaptive and responsive to changes when needed. As the need arises to iterate the effectiveness and outcomes of customer support through new solutions, channels, tools and technologies, a well developed and highly effective team built on these foundations is more proactive at foreseeing needs and acting with agility.

As one way to make this part of our team DNA, my team created career development blueprints for every role and every development stage, pulling in business oriented and skill based competencies, development resources and career development templates for managers and employees.? These drive continuous employee engagement around career development - employees for whom growth within roles and upward within the organization is a priority have a tangible framework to help them do that.

Change is a constant- be versatile

Building on the need to learn, adjust and pivot- managing change itself is a universally important competency, like knife skills to a chef. Understanding and making the case for change, keeping teams on board with the course and its turns, nurturing change agents and making sure all voices and perspectives are valued and included are all essential as a leader to be able to ensure the tactics, plans and strategies that the team needs to pursue continue to happen constructively.

As the world has become more prone to disruption, versatile leadership has become an increasingly important determinant of which organizations thrive versus merely hang on or fall behind entirely,?

Never. Stop. Learning

Leadership is a journey, and new ideas, best practices, perspectives, thought leadership and new voices across a panoply of experiences are constantly churning the mix of resources in the space. Availing myself to these as a regular part of my week keeps my own thinking and practice fresh, relevant and impactful. I love when I or someone on the team finds and shares an idea, article or podcast that everyone then weighs in on, as a group we bounce off each other- and when we use or adapt the idea, it connects us in a shared moment of growth.

Share your perspective: What are your go-to best practices as a leader or in building your team?? What was your most impactful “aha!” moment on your teams journey?? Share it in the comments or DM me, I’m always open to connecting and learning from others!??

About me: I am a results driven customer support executive who is passionate about customer experience and customer support as core to the product value proposition, who builds and leads high performance support organizations for new products/channels, scales organizational capabilities for in-place teams, and innovates support strategy for growing products and companies.

[email protected] | www.dhirubhai.net/in/robarmstrongpm/

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