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10. Leaders have a great opportunity to transform service organizations into sustainable, profitable enterprises that are positioned as employers of choice, where the best people want to work and more importantly stay.
I've been an executive coach for a long time now, and I've coached many people in service firms over the years. During that time, I've observed our major service firms putting in place
policies and procedures that are meant to address many of the issues I've raised here today.
But for those policies and procedures to work, the leadership culture must align with those policies.
I sense some senior professionals have agreed to these policies and procedures because they think they ought to, but on the available evidence, I can only conclude that their heart's not in it.
And that refusal to accept that the leadership culture has a role to play in maximizing the performance of our greatest asset, our people, is costing us money, and impairing our competitiveness.
Our clients are not interested in our people and culture policies and procedures, they just want really good people providing services at cost effective rates, when and where they want them.
If we are to be nimble and competitive in a buyers market, we need motivated, engaged staff, who are committed to providing outstanding customer service, and that won't happen when staff are tired, frustrated, bored and cranky, because they think no-one is listening to them.
It takes personal courage to resist group think, and strike out in what are, if you'll excuse a bad pun, unchartered waters, but the great leaders of service firms will seize the opportunity to transform their organizations by exercising that most basic of leadership attributes, and leading by example.
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