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How a 9-5 changes the world
Posted by: David Willans
One of Seth Godin’s recent posts got me thinking. He writes about how much better a customer’s experience is when employees care. One way to get people to care is to help them take pride in their work.
One way to do that is to make the link between what they do in their 9-5 and a big issue they care about crystal clear.
More and more companies are doing something about these big issues. Whether it’s third world poverty via fair-trade and community investment schemes, our own health via organics or the environment.
Unfortunately, most of them are missing a trick (see my earlier post on Great green stories). You've got to make these links cut through all the rest of the messages they are being bombarded by. The best way is to tell stories. But, if you don’t tell these stories well, no-one is going to notice them. If they don’t notice them, they aren’t going to feel proud about the contribution they are making. Your customer service won't have that extra sparkle. It's quite simple, feedback is crucial. Everyone likes a pat on the back.
A great example is Abel & Cole. They have a great ethos, clear links between the food they provide, the environment and the health of their customers. This results in friendly staff and great service.
A quick word of warning though. If you are going to talk about the things you are doing to try and give people a bit of pride in their work, make sure you’re being honest. It’s easy to fall into the trap of greenwash (have a look at our guide for more info) even if you mean well. No one likes a hypocrite.
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I do think that companies have a major challenge on their hands to work with employee pride. In order to have pride in anything, you must start with pride for self. In the end, this is where we emotionally understand and connect with pride. Examples; I am proud to work for, I take pride in, I am the proud owner of; and so on. Companies may not want to risk developing self pride as this may also encourage people to ask those difficult questions or change jobs or companies. I see this all the time in the work that I do as a CSR cheerleaader and Coach. In relaity, the risk is well worth taking as happy, motivated and proud people do stay in their jobs, do deliver the best service and are a joy to encounter in the work place, both as an internal and external customer.
I agree with Chalks - the reticence of business to encourage employees to develop pride in themselves is obviously the first barrier to change. I suppose the spoonful of sugar should always be that 'although you can do better than this rather mundane job - you are a great person and this rather mundane job is very important to making a better world' - and when this cannot truthfully be said (e.g. peddling cigarettes) then we start to see the divide and while the market leans ever more toward CSR heroes then the divide may well be the sorting of the wheat from the chaff!