Too many leaders seem to wish that culture change would just happen organically, effortlessly. In their minds, all they need to do is develop a well-worded mission statement and a vision for the future that fits on a nice PowerPoint slide. Get the organization to understand the statement and buy in—maybe even involve some employees in crafting it—and then put it on wallet cards, posters and the company’s intranet. Maybe they’ll buy some Lucite paperweights to place on employee desks to remind everyone of this new perspective each day.
And then these leaders move on to the next issue, the next crisis, the next budget meeting, hoping that the organization will change now that everything is so well articulated and prominently displayed. But, as we all know, that’s not how it works.
Culture change requires hard work and patience. You not only need a clear vision of the future, but you also have to define the new set of behaviors people will have to exhibit. Maybe more important, you need to create mechanisms, processes and policies that reinforce those behaviors. You must find ways to ensure that decisions are aligned with the company’s objectives and values, and craft procedures to make the new behaviors easy to adopt, which often requires technology or process support. There are dozens, even hundreds of details to address.
So who does all that work? Most successful Net Promoter® companies create a central team that leads the effort. This team goes by different names in different companies. One NPS® Loyalty Forum member calls their company’s team the Advocacy Program Office, while another calls it the Customer Champion Organization. Whatever the name, this group provides the expertise that supports a robust Net Promoter System®.
In our latest episode of the Net Promoter System podcast, Herman Miller’s Pam Carpenter returns to talk about the office furniture maker’s NPS implementation. We’ll discuss the roles of a customer advocacy office and the progress that Herman Miller is making in selecting a technology vendor that supports their Net Promoter System. Listen in and hear about their progress.
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