Who’s the focus of your organization?

I’m not talking target audience. I’m talking internally. Some say, “The customer is always first.” Others counter that employees should come first. But is there another option? After working in many different environments, it has become evident to me what the focus of an organization should be. But before I say, let’s look at the common symptoms of an organization that focuses too heavily on just one part:

1. Customer-Centric:

This is by FAR the most common focus of Org and it’s easy to understand why. Customer purchases make up the bottom line. So why wouldn’t this be the most important thing to focus on? Glad you asked …

Symptoms of Overdose

1. High turnover – If all the focus is on the customer, employees (mostly front-line or customer-facing employees) will start to feel it from the top of the organization down to them. This forced focus from upper levels often turns employees off of the organization’s mission and vision. Employees no longer feel valued and feel like an easily replaceable piece of the machine. Research has shown that a top reason people leave jobs is that they don’t feel valued or of value to a company.

2. Poor customer service due to disengaged employees – All you have to do is call almost any large corp’s customer service and you’ll find many disengaged and sometimes disgruntled employees. Of course, this is not applicable to all corps, but we’ll get to that.

3. Lack of/slowing innovation – Often when a company is solely focused on the customer, they will neglect other parts of the company including product. If a company creates a product and no longer is seeking to develop it or add to it, it will quickly find itself losing market share and customers.

2. Employee-Centric:

This kind of organizational focus has become a hot topic in the last few years. This focus strategy puts greater importance on the treatment of employees with the hopes they will then focus on the customer. While I believe this is a MUCH better philosophy and strategy, it’s still missing a key element.

Symptoms of Overdose

1. Loss in profit – If too much attention or resources are allocated to HR without proper guidelines and ROI and KPI set in place, waste is a natural outcome.

2. Poor customer service – If an org is too focused internally, it will often become upward focused instead of downward. This is due to the fact that employees will prioritize pleasing their boss over pleasing the customer.  (I will explain this more in a future post.)

3. Loss of direction – Again, if employees are the ultimate focus, the original vision will be forgotten and no longer the ultimate goal. This can easily steer an org into dangerous direction and ultimate failure.

Now you’re asking, “Okay, so if those two aren’t ideal, what is?”

Well, here’s the simple answer: Brand-Centric.

3. Brand-Centric:

After digging into the principles and motivations of the above philosophies, it seems clear that the combined goal of the Customer- and Employee-focused organization is a motivated employee base that is focused on the customer and product – ultimately the Brand. But let’s unpack that a little.

What is a brand?

According to Margie Clayman, “A brand is the encapsulation of a company’s mission statement, objectives, and corporate soul as expressed through the corporate voice and aesthetic.” This definition illustrates what businesses are actually looking for – a brand, which includes a culture for its employees and an experience for its customers.

What does this look like?

A brand-centric focus is holistic and helps an org avoid the trap of a single-sided “focus overdose”. Since a brand encapsulates the culture, the experience, and the product, this focus strategy distributes the attention throughout the organization around one goal. Let’s look at what it looks like when you “overdose” in this kind of focus.

Symptoms of Overdose

1. Drop in turnover – Organizational culture will be a priority and employees will be shown their value and given opportunities to contribute. Employees will see that they are able to bring value and are needed by the organization. This intrinsic value often is worth much more to employees than monetary incentives.

2. Outstanding customer service – If your employees are happy, empowered, and passionate about the product and experience, they will provide excellent front-line and back-end services.

3. Consistent innovation – As part of the pursuit of better experiences, an org will focus on constantly improving its product and utilizing customer feedback in order to maximize the customers’ experiences.

This focus strategy is not a foreign concept and is currently being utilized by many organizations around the world including Apple, Google, Airbnb, Red Hat, Facebook, and many others according to Glassdoor company reviews.