Source | www.forbes.com | Dan Pontefract
It’s the middle of a client meeting. There are six of us. We are discussing the rather dismal results of a team’s level of engagement. The conversation includes long-term measures and changes needed to fix things. It started late because the leader was not exactly punctual. Suddenly her phone rings.
“Just a second,” she quickly states, “this call is important.”
The leader disappears for 20 minutes clenching a mobile phone as if it were the Holy Grail that Indiana Jones was once after. I wonder what could be more important than her team’s level of engagement. Perhaps it was her boss. Maybe it was an irate customer.
Whatever it was, she left in a flash.
The team she leads is the first line of defense. They are the front-line employees tasked to interact with customers every single day. If those employees are not engaged—and demonstrating a sense of purpose in what they do in their roles—customers will continue to be unsatisfied, as they have indicated in recent customer satisfaction surveys.
When the leader returns and sits down in her now lonely chair, the next sentence she utters is telltale.
