The View from Under the Bus

http://www.cafepress.com/under_the_bus.87530543

Good morning, I’ve been elected to speak to you on behalf of the group – those of us you’ve thrown under the bus, in the course of running your business, managing your team or otherwise trying to control the tiny little bit of commercial territory you’ve been allotted.

You said that you wanted us on board, and at first, we believed you.

We wanted it to be true.
We were excited about the trip and we thought that we understood the route we’d take to reach our destination.

But somehow we didn’t make it on board. We ended up under the bus, and now, covered in tread marks, I’ve been deputed to say: Ouch.

Maybe you didn’t realize we weren’t on board.

Maybe you shut the door before we boarded. You put us in a dead end job. You ignored our ideas. You put us in our place and told us to just “do our jobs.”

And when we did do our jobs, maybe you failed to notice. You failed to show any sign of gratitude or appreciation. You made us feel as though you believe we exist to fulfill your ends, and as though the privilege of doing so should be reward enough.

Maybe you had good intentions but failed to deliver with employee development and training. Maybe you just didn’t train us at all.

Maybe, since you evidently believe that our jobs aren’t as important as yours, you made us feel like interchangeable, expendable tools. Maybe you were threatened by our enthusiasm and so chose to protect your own position by hoarding information and depriving us of opportunities to contribute in more meaningful ways.

Maybe you confined us to particularly unrewarding tasks, leaving us bored and deprived of any spark of creative renewal. You painted a picture of opportunity then failed to engage us, at all.

Or maybe, for your own reasons, you nudged, or shoved us directly under the wheels.

You blamed us when things went wrong. You didn’t stand up for us when co-workers or customers came after us. You took credit for our work. You made sure we knew that we could never, ever truly please you. You couched your compliments in criticisms. You made us feel like enthusiasm is a mockable quality.

For one reason or another, here we are, under the bus.

Well, let me tell you something: It’s quite a view we have from down here. 

If we look down, we face the prospect (pun intended) of being dragged along the pavement, with a closeup view of the road and all its hazards.

But when we look up, we see everything. 

We know exactly how your bus works. We see all of the dirty, grimy, greasy and oily working parts. We know what’s broken and we know what’s about to break. You might be able to talk a good game to people on the outside, or even other people in the bus, but We. Know. Better; you aren’t fooling us, not one little bit.

What’s more, most of us have probably tried to tell you, more than once, about the problems, flaws, broken and about-to-break things that we’ve seen. You didn’t do anything about them, or you didn’t listen or worst of all, you told us to shut up, ignore it and “get back to work.”

Eventually you’re going to lose us completely – and this might be painful for one or even for both of us. 

At some point, you might even realize that you lost a truly vital part of your ‘engine,’ something necessary to customer comfort or care – not to mention the deep pools of untapped skills and devotion that could have been at your disposal, had your promise matched up to the reality of our experience with you.

Or maybe you don’t really care about what your customers, employees and coworkers experience during their ride at all, so long as you collect your fares.

If that’s true, let me share one last word of collective warning from all those of us under here: Eventually someone will come along who’ll offer a better ride to your customers and your employees, and you’ll find yourself broken down on the side of the highway, wondering what went wrong.

***

Do you know what this has to do with marketing? Only everything. Your business is not the products or services you sell or the building or website from which you do so. Your business is made up of people. Real people. With feelings, ambitions, dreams, needs and wants – on the inside and out.

On the outside, these people are your customers, prospects, vendors, investors and other stakeholders. Given their roles and how important you perceive them to be to your business, it’s likely that you listen to them more than you do to those “people” who make up your business from the inside: Your employees and co-workers.

It’s ironic that once you get someone on the inside you stop considering their opinions. Because who has more vested interest in the success of your business than your employees – the people whose livelihood and future depend upon it? I’ll tell you: no one.

Your customers may “love you” but they’ll get along just fine without you. It might hurt your vendors if you went away but they’d find a new relationship too. But your employees are the ones with the most at stake. Your employees are the people closest to the problems. Your employees are the people most capable of coming up with creative solutions.

But it’s really hard for us to help you from under the bus. 

Need more convincing? 

Here’s how important your employees and co-workers are to the success of your business:

• Want more profit? Lost productivity due to actively disengaged employees costs the US economy $370 billion every YEAR; and part of those billions are lost right in your business.
• Think customer service matters? 70% of engaged employees have a good understanding of how to meet customer needs, but ONLY 17% of non-engaged employees say the same.
• Like referrals? A mere 13% of disengaged employees refer others to their company, whereas 78% of engaged employees happily and readily do so.
• Like problem solvers? Only 3% of disengaged employees say their job brings out their creative side, vs. 59% of engaged employees.
• Think hiring is difficult and expensive? 75% of people don’t leave their ‘jobs,’ they quit their bosses.
• Fewer than 1 in 3 employees worldwide are ‘engaged.’
• Companies with more engaged employees experience dramatically lower rates of turnover, absenteeism and even a 50% reduction in reportable incidents (workers comp). Think those things impact your bottom line?

And even though 90% of business leaders say that employee engagement impacts their success, 75% of them have no – nada – zero –none – no engagement plan or strategy, at all. 

(‘Human Capital and Corporate Culture’ http://www.thesocialworkplace.com/2011/08/08/social-knows-employee-engagement-statistics-august-2011-edition/) 

Now that we’ve got your attention, what are you going to do about it? Roll merrily along and wait for the whole thing to come off the wheels? Or will you take time now to make things right – or at least make them better!

You only have today and the time is now to make sure that all the people who could and should be most invested in the success of your business are in a position to feel engaged, satisfied and even happy as a result of the employment relationship with you. Now is the time for you to ask the hard questions and be open to the realization that maybe you don’t have it all figured out, after all.

Now is the time for you to decide just where this bus is going to take all of its passengers, and set out to get there, together!

***


Elizabeth Kraus is the author of 365 Days of Marketing.

If you want to build a business which provides the maximum when it comes to customer and employee satisfaction and loyalty as well as profitability, change the way that you  understand and use marketing.  365 Days of Marketing is available on amazon.com or save $5 off the list price when you use the Code USH9VPJG and purchase on my site at 12monthsofmarketing.net.