The inner and outer worlds are indivisible and if you are to make a sucess of yourself as an individual, you need to think of both. When it comes to work, companies also have to think about these worlds, in relation to employees and customers. We have to think about how we, as individuals, bring our best to how we live and work every day. Leaders of companies need to think of how to enable this, so the most important stakeholder of a business is satisfied: the customer.
How to optimise a strategy for personal and company success
1. Start with yourself first and look inside
We are often tempted to focus on externals. Material things, how we look, how we attain wealth, etc. Thats because these may appear more tangible and easier to quantify and handle.
But it would all be for nothing if we are not happy and healthy, and this work starts first on the inside.
Start with your thoughts and take care of them. As Buddha once said, “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.”
Thoughts give rise to emotions so you are best placed to start with thoughts, but emotions are also highly spontaneous and can be leveraged or managed for successful living.
All these thoughts and emotions go to creating an inner set of beliefs and values over time and help mould your purpose.
2. Monitor your lived experience
No man is an island, as John Donne famously penned in a poem and no plan survives first encounter with the enemy as German field marshal Moltke the Elder once said.
Unless you want to become a hermit or are debilitatingly introverted, you have to interact with people.
The way you come across is a reflection of how you see and value yourself.
Being acutely aware of your interactions and the impact your personality and identity have on others when you are interacting with them is fundamental for success.
The behaviours you display and elicit are a reflection of you and ultimately effects the experience others have with you. And this needs to be understood and evolved as you do, and change based on the feedback you get.
3. People power
Few companies and leaders understand the importance of their most important asset – people. A lot of lip service is given to employee well-being, but still not enough is done.
With the advent of technologies like AI, automation and robots, there is also a danger that people are overlooked for these sexier alternatives.
But that is changing. Many are now realising the importance of the employee experience and the impact this has on the bottom line and ultimately, the company’s success.
Employee experience is the culmination of efforts a company takes to ensure the well-being of employees while optimising their capabilities around a company’s strategy and execution.
The outcomes, if managed well, are higher levels of productivity and therefore business performance and a positive company culture which has material impacts on the same.
In essence: The Key to Happy Customers? Happy Employees.
4. Customer Success
Customer success is when your customer reaches their desired outcomes while using your product or service.
Assuming this happens, you will have satisfied customers and satisfied customers tend to want to stick around and continue using your company’s products and services.
Now there will be many more factors at play than just the people generally responsible for ensuring the customer is successful with your product or service. Things like systems, processes, methodologies and technologies.
But it is when the people efforts (all people and all efforts, not just of those with customer success in their titles), all come together and connect to make exceptional customer experiences, that you have magic.
This connection, the middle bit of the diagram above, is something I am writing a trend report about and you can find out more about it by clicking on the link below.