case studies...

Employees. How to motivate? How to empower? How to remove Senior Management's 'babysitting' role?

Multiple Clients, Multiple Industries.

Many of our clients approach us with concerns about front-line associates and front-line managers requiring too much of Senior Management’s attention. Often we are asked something like, “How can we get them to govern themselves?” Medium-sized client’s bemoan the fact that they have grown their business, and now they can’t escape – they are forced to “Watch the shop” each and every day. Further concerns revolve around hiring the right kind of employee, one who will take initiative and do the right thing, even if no one in management is watching.

By installing Mindshare™ our clients are now able to get immediate daily input from their customers. The point-of-sale receipt for each meal includes a printed offer to call a toll-free number and receive an incentive. Customers call the number, answer a few questions via the telephone keypad, and receive a redemption code good for the next service.

In addition to the quantitative response, each customer also may leave a verbatim voice recording of their feelings about the service received.

Customers have now taken on two additional roles 1) They have become an ally to management in the measuring and monitoring of front-line associates, and 2) they provide a quantitative feedback mechanism to help employees improve their performance. The ‘right kind’ of employees are motivated to stay with the organization, because they are pleased to have their performance objectively measured, rather than arbitrarily handed down from management. Employees who don’t want to play by these rules leave the organization.

Front-line managers and associates have begun receiving daily feedback from customers who are, in effect, monitoring service and product delivery. Problems are solved at the source, and don’t need to bubble up to senior management for resolution.

By empowering employees and providing them first-hand customer feedback, employees ‘self-select’ into or out of the organization. Clients end up with top-notch employees who are pleased to be measured objectively. Quoting from one Client directly, “One candidate we interviewed for a front-line job backed off and said to me, ’“I don’t know if I want to work for you, you set the bar too high.’” Another Client said, “My ultimate goal is to surround myself with employees who want this information, so they can improve.” Problems are resolved quickly and training can be provided to ‘teachable’ employees who are motivated to work in this environment.