I had the opportunity to work with a group of 30+ Latinos on behalf of one of my clients who wanted to enhance the customer experience. While the primary goal of this engagement was simple and clear, it presented a number of challenges.
- The “customers” were primarily English speaking families; a mix of kids and adults of different ages.
- Staff was a multi-generational group of native Spanish speaking people who were dedicated and long-term employees. However, they did not necessarily understand the bottom line benefits of delivering first class customer service, especially to kids!
My assignment was complex: Successfully reach out to a diverse staff, culturally and generationally, on behalf of delivering a fabulous, in person, customer experience to an equally diverse audience – parents and their children.
Among other things, the Needs Assessment phase of this engagement unveiled that there were two older gentlemen on staff – patriarchs of two local Hispanic families whose children and grandchildren all worked for my client.
I immediately requested a meeting with the two patriarchs which turned out to be the best thing I could have ever done as they understood the clients’ goals, embraced my involvement, and supported the initiative 110%.
The end result was that those two gentlemen, as leaders of the two families that comprised my clients’ workforce, ensured that every member of the staff enthusiastically attended every meeting; understood and supported our collective roles and responsibilities; and were committed to delivering a first class customer experience. Without their support, my job would have been a lot more challenging – and difficult – to accomplish.
Reaching out to staff, establishing a mutually beneficial – and respectful – relationship along with creating buy-in to the end goal was imperative to the success of this initiative. It remains one of my fondest professional achievements and most enjoyable life experiences to this day.