To lead is to serve. I know some people would disagree but if you really think about it, the leading businesses all have one thing in common. They all serve their customers better than anyone else.
How can you develop a business culture of service? It starts from the top. Lead by example. As the business leader you must serve your people just as much as you serve your customers.
Here are 5 ways you can improve your level of service.
1. Lead from the front- If your employees see you doing things they would not expect their leader to do it shows them that you are always willing to walk the walk. It motivates them in ways that no speech or training program ever could. It also endears them to you making them want to give more to you and your customers each and every day.
2. Accept responsibility- When someone on your team makes a mistake as the leader it is not their fault it is your fault. A true leader will always accept the blame for any short comings. When things don’t go as planned ask yourself this question. What could I have done better? Often what we find is that there may have been an unseen gap in the processes. It’s not your employees fault the gap is there. As the leader you must always seek new and better ways of helping your people to be better. If the problem is in the process what can you do to fix it?
3. Always give all of the credit- A leader never accepts any credit. They always give the credit to their people. This shows them that you appreciate everything they do, no matter how small the contribution may be. This also helps your team to build confidence so they can do even greater things in the future.
4. Continuous improvement- A leader is always seeking new ways to help their customers and employees. This means evaluating the current processes and systems to determine where inefficiencies exist. Or when you see things that are working really well, determining if the process can be replicated in other areas of the business.
5. Being open to new ideas- Most leaders think they are open to new ideas, but often they are just singing the same old song with a different tune. Change can be hard for everyone. For change to work a great deal of planning needs to be done long before the first announcement is made. This means you as the leader must choose to be forward thinking in a very proactive rather than reactive manner. When you run your business reactively it can prove to be problematic for both your customers and employees.
Finding the best ways to serve requires vision. Sometimes that vision needs to be from the outside looking in. Too Many leaders believe they are doing everything right. Then when someone shows them where the flaws are, they are shocked. Sometimes they are in denial. The best way to know for sure if you are hitting the mark or missing the ball is to get an outside of bubble point of view.
If you would like to talk about how you could be a better leader and serve your customers even better contact us here and lets talk.
