The Happy Customer – Happy Employees Connection

“If the employees come first, then they’re happy…. A motivated employee treats the customer well. The customer is happy so they keep coming back, which pleases the shareholders. It’s not one of the enduring great mysteries of all time, it is just the way it works.”

Herb Kelleher – Co-founder, Chairman Emeritus and former CEO Southwest Airlines

Which came first? The happy customer or the happy employee? Is there even a connection?

Let’s find out…

(photo of Herb Kelleher hanging out with Southwest employees)

Read the following excerpt from a recent interview with Herb:

I’m going to tell you something that I have a theory about. We held Corporate Day for many, many years, and we had a good many companies that came in. And they basically wanted to know how we hired, how we trained, and how we motivated. And so we would tell them. And many of them, I think, were looking for some formula, you know, that you could put on the blackboard. The concept is simple, but the execution takes a lot of work and a lot of attention. If you’re going to pay personal attention to each of your people, for instance, and every grief and every joy that they suffer in their lives, you really have to have a tremendous network for gathering information.

We want to show them they’re important to us as who they are, as people. And by the way, one ramp agent — I have not disclosed this — sent me a note one day which I’ve never publicized, and I think you’ll understand why. He said, “Herb, I finally got it. You’re making work fun, and home is work.” [Laughter.] I think you’ll understand why I did not publicize that widely.

It’s not formulaic. The way I describe it is this huge mosaic that you’re always adding little pieces to make it work. And it’s not a job that you do for six months and then you just say, “Well, that’s behind us.” It’s something you do every day.

And what happens in bad times? You have still never had a furlough or layoff at Southwest, correct?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. We’ve never had a furlough. We could have made more money if we’d furloughed people during numerous events over the last 40 years, but we never have. We didn’t think it was the right thing to do. And you know, one of the disciplines is not furloughing. I didn’t realize this at first, by the way, so it came as somewhat of an insight to me. You know, suddenly a little synapse clicked, and I said, “You know, not furloughing is really a great discipline with respect to hiring.”

Here are my takeaways from a lot of study on Southwest and other companies that are great places to work and that create enormous value for shareholders.

  1. Happy Employees Come First – Even if you are the first employee, if you can’t find a joy in what you are doing that will inspire others, just quit. Whatever you are doing, however much money you plan to make is not worth wasting a life doing something you do not love.
  1. The Investment in Happy Employees Delivers Great Returns – Think about it. When was the last time you received amazing service? Was the person delivering that service truly joyful in their work? Do you think they liked their job? Have you ever received amazing service from someone who did not enjoy their job?
    It is your responsibility to find people who will love the work your organization does. It is your responsibility to make their work fun or to at least give them the freedom to make it fun. It is also your responsibility to quickly dismiss anyone who sucks the life out of your workplace. You are doing your organization and the people who work there a disservice when you keep unhappy people employed. Release those employees to go find a place they will love to work. Clearly, it is not where they are at now.
  1. A Great Workplace Requires Really Hard Work – Great workplaces just don’t happen. They require lots of hard work. Hard work that you could easily spend putting out other fires or finding more customers. We all have plenty of things on our list that we could prioritize over building an executing a great hiring process or making the time to know what our employees dreams and goals are. Putting employees first is hard. It does not come naturally to most company builders. That is why companies that do create great workplaces are so extraordinary.

Next week, we’ll dive into some of the disciplines for creating a great workplace that will create incredibly happy customers, which will drive your financial results.

For now, know that the happy employee comes first because they deliver the service that makes your customers happy.

Are you ready to get started? Contact us now via our website or just give us a call at 229-375-5613 and we’ll help you get going.

Thank you for being a part of our values driven community!

Image courtesy of http://www.rightattitudes.com.

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