There is a saying that goes, "If you want to improve customer experience, you need to start with employee experience." As simple as that seems, it is amazing how often it is overlooked. Companies miss that their employees are their first customers, and don't pay adequate attention to creating better experiences for them. Dr. Michael Lowenstein has spent a career examining the employee experience and customer experience linkage, demonstrating how we need to put employees first. Michael shares his experience working with organizations that prioritize both employees and customers, citing examples like MBNA America, Costco, and Market Basket. He explained how companies like Virgin, Baptist Healthcare, and Ritz-Carlton have successfully transformed their cultures to align internal and external focus, moving from employee satisfaction to engagement to commitment and ultimately customer advocacy. We also talk about his new project with Tamar Cohen, involving a book and course framework, to convince leaders that it all begins with employees.
I’m back from my vacation with the kids, which we took in Lake Placid, New York. For those of you with kids, you know that vacation with kids is never really a relaxing time. It is more of a relocation, but with more spending and trying to keep people entertained. Despite those challenges, I had a good time, even though I feel like I need a vacation to recover from my vacation. Instead of getting that, I came home to one of my dogs having developed Lyme disease and had to take him to the vet. Thankfully he is responding well to the medication (albeit $200 plus dollars later).
Also freaking me out a bit is that it is nearly August. How the year is over half over is beyond me.
The end of my vacation means that August is nearly here. When August is nearly here, it also means that the new school year is nearly here. And that eventuality means a shift in my work. I’ve had a productive summer of writing the UN-WOW book manuscript. I now need to continue that work while shifting to my other work of (hopefully) educating young minds.
It feels like I divide my life not into months, but phases of work. Probably you do too. We can think about our year in which financial quarter we are in, the tempo of our work projects, the phases of required work reports. Work dictates our sense of time, or how we think about time, which speaks to the significance that work plays in our lives beyond simply providing an income.
Dr. Michael Lowenstein has spent his career understanding the impact of work and workplaces on employees, focusing on the relationship between employee experience and customer experience. In my employee experience course, I actually use his book “Employee Ambassadorship,” which focuses on how to create cultures that turn employees into brand ambassadors. Or put more simply, “What is the likelihood that your employees would recommend your company to others?”
He is working on a new book project and course framework with Tamar Cohen that further demonstrates the links between customer experience and employee experience, emphasizing that if you want to do well by your customers, you first have to do better by your employees.
Michael and I talk about the importance of stakeholder integration in your strategic planning, that you have to create alignment before taking action. Michael shares his experience working with organizations that prioritize both employees and customers, citing examples like MBNA America, Costco, and Market Basket. He explained how companies like Virgin, Baptist Healthcare, and Ritz-Carlton have successfully transformed their cultures to align internal and external focus, moving from employee satisfaction to engagement to commitment and ultimately customer advocacy. We also compare different organizational models, including B corporations, private companies, and public companies, in terms of their effectiveness in fostering employee-customer linkages.
I’ve known Michael for a long time, having done presentations and other events together. It was great to catch up with him, as well as capture his insights and experience on the podcast.
Michael Lowenstein on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaellowenstein/
“Employee Ambassadorship”: https://www.amazon.com/dp/163157664X