LOVE is one of the core values for FocalCXM. The concept may sound warm and fuzzy but I personally feel that it is critical and will have a deep impact on my team, our customers,the products and services we deliver. The inspiration behind this is a spiritual education centre that I am part of; every sunday, as a teacher, I get to spend time with a few 7th/8th graders and discuss human values such as Truth, Love etc. Every time we discuss the concept and talk about the sub values of love such as forgiveness, kindness etc, I feel that these values are absolutely applicable to the corporate world but for whatever reason, often ignored or not talked about.
My belief is for the following reasons.
- I come from a product development background. My whole life, I have been building products for marketing and sales professionals across various industries and markets. If there is one lesson that I learnt, it is all about how important EMPATHY is and how it can help organisations deliver great products. A Product Owner, UI designer, an Engineer, a QA team member, every scrum team member should absolutely understand the pains of their end users. For example, the life of sales professionals is so tough. All through the day, they are in the field meeting customers, capturing valuable feedback and are usually worn out by the time they are home. A software team member who can empathise with the real users can actually deliver much better software than those who cannot and without the element of love, empathy cannot exist.
- At work, we often run into production issues that are difficult to resolve and need multiple perspectives from various team members. Of course, a disciplined approach and process are important to solve them. However, I believe that a strong “service” oriented culture filled with a true desire to help customers is an intangible force that will significantly expedite delivery and ensure customer delight. Again, the service attitude can only shine when there is love.
- Magic happens when teams work together and drive towards a common goal. Typically, enterprises have folks with various skill sets. When senior management nurture , correct and treat all employees with love, fairness, respect and true concern, the effect will be incredible. That culture will ensure that the overall happiness index is high and in turn, the deliverables turn out much better.
- Some time back, I had to fire an employee because of integrity issues. It was a tough call for me as I was never in that situation before. However, I forced myself to give him multiple chances, took time to explain the rationale and made sure he left the company on a positive note. Very often, we see layoffs and other unpleasant situations and it is such a shame to learn about the way they are done. Of course, there are few organisations which are outstanding in their execution and I really respect that culture.
Now for the challenging part. How can I build an organisation that imbibes the right spirit? As part of the reviews, I intend to take 360 degrees reviews of each employee on a set of sub values of love such as approachability, kindness, forgiveness, tone and empathy. I am hoping that constant evaluation of these attributes will ensure that I am building a great team that respects LOVE, values LOVE and evangelises LOVE across employee, partner and customer eco system and together, we can truly deliver remarkable experiences.