Why it’s time to forget the pecking order at work

This is the title of Margaret Heffernan’s latest TED Talk and I was reminded of it at the weekend as I sat in my hairdressers. To be specific I was reminded of the importance of great customer service or as I prefer to call it customer treatment. The salon is currently under renovation so in the meantime they are using a far less sophisticated venue where the units are not as pretty, there are no lovely massage chairs and the lighting is too bright, however the staff are as welcoming, happy, talented, polite, friendly, and professional as ever. At every ‘station’ there is are artists’ impressions of what the new salon will look like which I thought was very smart idea. And the salon is as busy as ever with customers like me who share their excitement for the new premises.

This experience got me thinking about how an organisation builds this sort of great customer service. Customer service does not stand alone, it is part of the overall culture of an organisation. I can see that the staff at my hairdressers don’t just treat their customers well, but they also treat each other this way. So how do organisations build these sort of corporate cultures?

I was in London recently catching up with one of our speakers Margaret Heffernan, Author of ‘Wilful Blindness’ and ‘Beyond Measure’. I love meeting Margaret, she makes me think, reflect and she inspires me to do things differently. I don’t suppose she knows she has this impact on me as we are not talking about me or my business but rather about her experiences in other organisations. Her belief in the importance of strong open cultures rubs off on me. I am sure I am the luckier one coming out of these meetings. Margaret travels around the world sharing her knowledge and helping organisations with corporate culture challenges and changes. She truly believes in open communication to enable innovation, creativity and organisational development. In her latest book ‘Beyond Measure’ she discuss how organisations can create seismic shifts by making deceptively small changes. In my opinion she talks complete common sense and I would recommend anyone who is interested in this topic to take a look at her latest TED talk ‘Why it’s time to forget the pecking order at work’ which you’ll find on Margaret’s profile under videos.

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