Why customers count but taking care of your team counts more

Yoshikazu Tsuno | Getty Images

​Have you ever worked for a leader or an organization where the culture was focused on satisfying the customers, clients or board of directors rather than the employees? Were you engaged, going above and beyond on work assignments? On reflection, assuming you left to join another company, how valued did you feel by the leaders of the organization?

I'm not saying that customers and boards are unimportant. I am saying that you won't truly satisfy your customers or achieve your board's strategic priorities if your employees play second fiddle to them. I've debated this perspective with countless leaders. Although I haven't been able to convince every leader to drink the water, many have switched the way in which they looked and approached their leadership.

Here's why taking care of your team should be your number one priority:

1. The quality of their engagement with your customers is a reflection of the quality of your engagement with them. Even as adults in a professional setting, we are still prone to emulating the behaviour modelled by our leaders. If you treat your team as though they are a means to an end, as though their opinion doesn't count, or as though they are disposable, your team will view your customers with the same lens. They will also treat your customers in a way that echoes the sentiment of the treatment they receive from you and your organization.
   
   Think you're too busy to meet one-on-one with your team? If you don't make time for your employees, they won't have time for your customers either. How many times have you tried to get assistance at a store only to find the person is fully engrossed in a text conversation or TikTok marathon?
2. Your brand differentiator and market growth depend on them. Your team and larger group of employees are your organization's brand in the market. They are also the catalyst to innovative ideas that have the potential to create such momentum and energy that you are first to market. As intelligent a leader as you may be, it's important to remember that no one person has a monopoly on ideas, talent or expertise. You need your team's support, energy and diverse skills and perspectives to generate ideas, overcome obstacles, and develop solutions to achieve your vision.
3. They can take care of you. We've all heard the saying that goes something like, "If you take care of your employees, your employees will take care of you." If we're able to reflect honestly, as a leader, we've all had our less than stellar performances. We forgot to follow up a meeting with an important client, or lost track of a project's cost/scope/progress, or we have one of those classic foot in mouth situations. We all need someone to have our back. Many years later, I can still hear a fellow HR practitioner say to me after I returned from my holidays, "Cameron. You promised them a level nine. Your notes pointed to it being a level eight." My jaw dropped. I had never done that before. After the shock wore off and I realized he wasn't joking, I apologized profusely. He stopped me and said, "Don't worry. I handled it." What a relief! If I didn't go to bat for him in the past, he never would have taken care of me when I needed him to satisfy the client, ensure the integrity of our job evaluation plan and, quite frankly, help me save face!

Your team is the gateway to the quality service (or lack thereof) your customers receive, the innovative product line, and the brand/reputation your organization's name/symbol/tagline stands for. If you take care of your team, your team will perform in ways that satisfies your customers, clients, board of directors, and members or shareholders. 

Your customers count but taking care of your team counts more.

What was your best employee experience? Share it with me in the comments.

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