In a dramatic play, the director ensures that all the actors know their roles and that all the parts are working well for the desired outcome of the production. If meticulous care is taken to set the stage, the end result will be realized. Similar to a play production, all companies, firms, businesses, or organizations have three common elements: 1) A specific purpose, 2) that is accomplished by people, and 3) using a deliberate structure.
The alignment and interrelationship among your purpose, people, and structure distinguishes you from the competition, and can make the difference between your organization operating as a well-oiled, lean machine that performs as planned, or a squeaky, rust-bucket that falls apart at each challenge. Let me share an example of how these three elements can work together to create greater results.
When Mobil launched the Smiles customer rewards program on Guam several years ago, they employed an international advertising firm to help with the promotion. Even though they’d spent millions developing the software and point-of-sales system that would integrate the program with other stations, the success of it depended on the ability to get people to sign-up for the program and start using it regularly.
The promotion included full-page ads in the local paper, radio advertising, and other media support which the ad agency could fulfill well. However, the advertising firm failed to adequately set the stage for people to actually perform by signing customers up for the program at the service stations. People were hired to greet the customers and encourage them to complete the forms during their massive media promotion, but the results were less than stellar, considering the population and amount of money spent to create public awareness.
So when Mobil decided to launch the Smiles program on Saipan, they didn’t want to use the same company to organize the effort to recruit and train the people who would greet and sign up customers. My company had done some work for Mobil in the past and I was approached about heading up the effort locally. I was too busy with some other commitments, so declined their first offer, but subsequently decided to work with them after negotiating the terms, and determining what should be done to improve the sign-up rate.
The first step was to determine the purpose of the promotion and what metrics would be used to measure success. In your business, do your employees know the purpose and goals that need to be achieved? Do you have a shared vision of what success will look like when it’s achieved?
About 25 people were needed to adequately man the service stations, but instead of just hiring warm bodies, we had criteria that helped us determine who we were looking for. After interviewing prospects we chose our candidates and then put them through a half-day training session to ensure they understood the purpose and the importance of their role to display the proper attitude when interacting with customers.
We structured the group to arrive at a specific time and sign-in with the attendant on duty each morning. I also made the rounds at each station in the morning to make sure at least two people were at each station. Individuals rode in the car with me each morning so they could step in if someone didn’t show up for work that day. It was grueling work standing all day for 12 hours, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that almost everyone showed up for work on time and only two people couldn’t work the entire time, due to legitimate reasons.
There was also an incentive to not miss a day. Mobil was going to pay them a specific rate per hour for the 100 hours they would be working, but I lessened it by $1 and gave a $100 bonus if they weren’t late nor missed a day of work. Only one missed a day during the entire promotion because of a funeral.
We also had a mystery shopper that would go around to the stations periodically and rate the performance of each worker to ensure that the standards we set during training were being met. One of the talented workers wrote a song about the promotion, and I paid for her to go into a professional studio to record it.
When the event was over, we invited all of the workers to a breakfast where we praised them for what they accomplished, played the song written by one of the workers, gave certificates of their involvement and paid them for their fantastic work. Several told us they had fun and asked if they could participate in future promotions.
Even though Guam has twice the number of gas stations and almost three times the population of Saipan, we were able to sign up significantly more Smiles card holders in the same promotional period. The success of the program was based on setting up a well-defined program, training the individuals, having consistent follow-through, and having closure at the end so people felt good about their role and involvement.
Does your business have a deliberate structure that effectively utilizes people to achieve a clearly defined purpose? If your employees aren’t performing at a level that would cause a standing ovation, you might want to step in as the director and set the stage so that everyone understands the overall purpose and their specific role to cause the audience to return for future performances.
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