Page 58 - The extraordinary leader

Great Leaders Make a Great Difference • 35

100

82
80
Ratings of Customer Satisfaction (percentile) 60 50

40

21
20

0
Bottom 20% Middle 60% Top 20%
Leadership Effectiveness
Figure 2-5 Ratings of Customer Satisfaction

customer satisfaction. In this study, high scores indicate higher customer
satisfaction. Again, we assume that the leader does not have direct contact
with most customers, but it is the leader’s influence on the level of commit-
ment of the front-line employees that makes the dramatic differences in
customer satisfaction.
In a related study conducted by our colleague Larry Senn, he was asked
by a retail client to change the behavior of store employees to be more cus-
tomer service oriented. The company began an intensive program aimed at
changing the behavior of store employees. After months of work, it became
apparent that some stores were being successful in creating a more customer-
friendly atmosphere, whereas other stores were not. Employees in both the
successful and unsuccessful stores had received the same training, and the
employees did not appear to be any less capable or experienced in unsuc-
cessful stores. As the researchers studied the unsuccessful stores to understand
the reason for their failure, they found that managers in unsuccessful stores
tended to be operationally oriented, whereas successful store managers were
customer oriented. The operationally oriented store managers reinforced the
importance of tracking money and time. Customer-oriented store managers,