Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM NOVEMBER 2019 44 I n the 2000 film Cast Away, Tom Hanks survives four years on a deserted island where he has an ongoing conversation with a volleyball he names Wilson and where he protects an un-opened FedEx box. He's been a rule-follower and type-A personality before he's stranded, so the intact box he finally delivers is the one remnant from his previous self. He doesn't get to fulfill FedEx's famous tag- line, "When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight" (not by a long-shot!) but it certainly seems he's internalized some level of brand promise or customer service: he won't open the box, and it's a promise he will keep to deliver it. It's an extreme Hollywood movie example, but we really want our employees and team members to internalize our philosophy, our purpose, our mission/vision/values. When they do, they make daily, minute-by-minute decisions based on what we want, and we can trust them to make good decisions on our behalf. This is the marker of an intentional commitment culture 1 where people do things because they want to rather than just because they have to. You can use the following Compass Questions to identify someone's level of commitment to this internalization of the core elements important to your organizational culture. CQ1: How does this contribute to the success of my organization? Every company has measurements of success. These can be financial, quality, service, or market percentage. If your employee is faced with a decision and is able to see the relationship between what they are doing (or not doing) and the measures that matter to you, they will be contributing to overall performance. CQ2: How does this impact my ability to contribute to fulfilling the mission or vision of my organization? What is the mission and vision you have communicated to your team? If they know, they can align their decisions, activities, and tasks with that mission. If your mission is to create great relationships in your community, then the decisions your employees make need to be supporting those relationships. If your vision is that every customer feels special in every transaction, then the simplest of interactions matter. CQ3: How will the outcome of this create a win-win and up- hold our organizational values? Whether we want high- performing teams, the most innovative designs, or loyal customer relationships, your team members are living the company values they have internalized with every action and task. How they resolve issues or "make things right" shows you whether or not they've internalized the values that are the most important to you. CQ4: What if I don't do this? We want smooth hand-offs between departments, timely follow-up calls, and ethical decisions. We want our people to weigh the consequences and assess the risk, whether they are practicing safety and quality measures, or taking ownership and responsibility for the quality of their work and collaborations. We want them to say "yes" and "no" at the right times and in alignment with the practices we would do ourselves. On a recent visit to my family in Southern California, my brother- in-law wanted to cook dinner for me after a long week and long flight. Not too far from their house is a small Mexican grocery that makes the very best carne asada, marinated and ready for the grill. Scott navigated afternoon traffic and a bunch of errands only to arrive just as the owner was locking the door for the night. He recognized Scott and said, "carne asada?" My brother-in-law tried to wave him away saying it was okay, he was late and the store was closing for the night. The owner put his key back in the lock and said, "I've got three pounds left." "I'll take it!" said happy Scott. That owner knows Scott will drive through traffic again and again to come to his little store. And, what he really wants to know is that anyone who works for him would've made that same decision, too: a 10-minute investment yielding many more transactions over the coming years! 1 Read my book The Influencing Option: The Art of Building a Profit Culture in Business, chapter 9, about commitment cultures and the hidden costs of compliance cultures! THE COMPASS QUESTIONS: INTERNALIZING CULTURE Libby Wagner Culture Coach RO Libby Wagner, author of The Influencing Option: The Art of Building a Profit Culture in Business, works with clients to help them create and sustain Profit Cultures www.libbywagner.com

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