“The more things change,
more things remain same.”As e-mail, voice mail, and technology allow people to conduct business without ever seeing each other, competitive edge can very well be re-creation of conversation -- specifically conversation that allows people to feel a “family” connection. It’s a connection that recalls fact that commerce was traditionally an intimate affair.
My great-grandfather started a shoe store, first account Florsheim shoes ever had. Farmers would hook up their horses and trot into York, PA. By learning about customers from his father, my grandfather knew their type of farm, their family members, what kind of shoes they needed. In short, business knew its customers and customers TRUSTED that a product or service would be delivered “as promised”. Reineberg’s Shoe Store was known for “fitting feet” not just selling shoes. Business was conducted on a family-like connection.
The same was true of employees. Employees TRUSTED that company would listen to them as if they were members of an extended family. Employees knew that my grandfather would value their individuality, understand that personal and business life were connected, and pay a fair wage for a day’s work. He also never asked more of others than he asked of himself.
Times have changed. But it’s not too late to develop family “trust”. However it’s not easy.
Customers abandon companies they do not trust and so do employees. Trust develops over time and can be dashed in an instant. But improving organizational trust is more difficult and subtler than installing new software. Research conducted by Leonard Berry, author of Discovering Soul of Service, and professor at Texas A&M concluded that successful companies tend to act like extended families. They display these “family traits” in five ways:
Family Gatherings: These are events designed to share, console, help, celebrate and communicate. Enterprise Rent-a-Car and Midwest Express Airlines routinely hold all-hands meetings to answer employee questions, give awards, and keep everyone up to date. It’s rather like long forgotten family councils, circle of tribal elders. Information is freely given and encouraged. Sessions like “Stump CEO” are held with prizes given to employees who ask most difficult questions. One advertising agency holds “HELP!” sessions that can be called whenever a team member needs advice and ideas. The stand-up-and-talk gathering is spur-of-the-moment, brings all hands around, and is over in less than 15 minutes. And family member who asked for HELP! walks away with new ideas and insights.
