The values – behaviours disconnect, a cautionary tale

Christmas time is here, and with it the usual personal sprint to get all presents bought, wrapped and dispatched to the 4 corners of the globe by the start of December (lovely having an Aussie husband; great for BBQs, super trips to the southern hemisphere etc etc but not a helpful addition to one’s life when it comes to relatives living in inconvenient places for present delivery with frankly outrageously early last postage date – 5th December, honestly? Is it jumping there in a Christmas stocking?)



So, against this non self-imposed crazy Christmas backdrop of stress inducing deadlines I needed what follows like a turkey needs 25th December. 

The edited version…Having somewhat ironically signed up to Amazon’s free trial of its supposedly speedy one day delivery service, I found myself 7 days and various fruitless conversations with the delivery company’s customer services later, still without my order. Here’s my issue -  it’s not  so much that technological and human cock ups caused my order to go AWOL, it’s the fact that the company had ample opportunity to make things right, but, well, just….didn’t.  On the afternoon of the 7th day, the delivery service, much like the Lord, was resting. Nothing we can do, all the delivery drivers have all gone on their merry delivering ways, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow when off they all trundle again.  

No solution at all. 

Never mind that you’ve missed your deadline Ms Customer, ruined your week, wasted your time. Nothing we can do. Their values “Respect, Accountability, Passion, Flexibility, Hard Work and Honesty” . Hmm, simply words on a website. I think so.     

The crux of it is that many organisations are still not using their values to create frameworks of behaviours to empower their people to offer the best customer service. Or if they are, they’re not getting the message through to their people. Pioneers like Pret are leading the way and reaping the rewards as they do. We know it works.

So come on UK businesses, make 2014 the year when you use your values to create meaningful, relevant employee behaviours that are understood, lived, recognised and rewarded. Your customers will love you for it.