Customer centricity can be guaranteed through deliberately communicating and emphasising on the shared beliefs of an organisation with its customers
Recently, I was in my garden, armed with equipment, ready to wage a war against the weeds that had overgrown during the rains. I often do this, as gardening is my hobby. Invariably, I have always encountered one type of weed that has tiny oval leaves, about 0.5 cm diameter in size, a thick growth indeed, spreading like a carpet on the ground, and when not removed for a long time, bears small purplish flowers. I was determined to get rid of this weed – it was so resolute, that any number of times I removed it, it sprung right back up. I don’t know the botanical name of this weed nor the local name. I tried to find out its name from various sources and asked many friends and relatives but nobody could help me. It is an interesting weed, but a stubborn and nasty one. 
Inspired by the famous story of Chanakya, that underlined if you want to get rid of weeds and thorns forever, you have to remove them from their roots – ‘destroying the problem at the root’. In accordance with this strategy, I was prepared to dig out the roots of the weed and end the menace once and for all. I took a sickle and started removing the weeds, literally digging rather than just pulling them out. In my attempts at grasping the roots, I noticed something unusual. The roots of one plant were linked to that of its neighbours! And the roots of these plants, in turn, were linked to their neighbours, all interconnected and woven together to form a mesh-like structure of the roots, spread unendingly, with intermittent roots going deep into the ground. I removed one, two, three… no, there was no end. The weed had formed a huge network of roots that supported each other. Then it hit me like a lightning bolt! The reason why these weeds sprung up even after repeated removal was that the surrounding roots nourished it and helped it grow! Sharing and caring for each other, supporting every small root to grow and prosper into a new weed and sustaining them for long years under any unfavourable conditions. A number of attempts to uproot them failed and the weed thrived due to its shared support and ability to reach out as a single unit.
Witnessing this phenomenon of interconnectedness observed in the behaviour of the roots of this weed, motivated me to think of a parallel with the sustainability of organisations. The roots of the organisation, just like the roots of this weed, and the interconnectedness within organisations certainly is contributing to the sustainability of an organisation. Just the way this weed can sustain itself for years together and bounce back every time it is uprooted, the organisation also would be in a position to have strong sustainability, if it has a strong interconnectedness within itself. This would allow it to survive any adverse situations and turbulent times, any amount of stiff competition and unfavourable market forces, for years to come without much difficulty.
Shared beliefs:
The roots of an organisation are the shared beliefs that an organisation harnesses to form a unique and psychological environment within the organisation. The value of the core beliefs, the seriousness attached to it and the extent to which the belief system is shared by the management and followed among the employees of the organisation, will determine the strength and interconnectedness of the roots of any organisation in its true sense. The top leadership commitment towards core organisational beliefs and their efforts to share the same beliefs across all in the organisation is a must for it to form a strong network of its roots.
Furthermore, what the organisation believes, it has to deliver the same value to the customer. For an organisation to ensure long-term sustainability, what belief is shared with the internal customers, needs to be extended and shared with the external customers. It is essential for an organisation to communicate and demonstrate to customers that it shares their beliefs, consistently at every point. This has to be done with a conscious effort by every employee and at all levels of the organization. All should sing the same song of organization’s core belief and strive to reinforce the fact that they believe what the customers believe, thus creating value for customers.
For this to happen, in the first place, an organization should seek to strengthen and unify its core beliefs. Many organisations are not aware of the importance of employing a belief system and may not have a belief system operational, nor is any attention paid to this aspect. Whereas many other organisations simply take beliefs for granted and later discover that beliefs are not same, but in fact, vary widely across cross-sections within the organisation. Similarly, different departments or groups within the organisation may hold sub-cultural beliefs that differ from a unified core belief system, that the organisation is supposed to nurture. This is not simple to fix, however, awareness of these challenges can take an organisation a long way in this direction.
Shared beliefs, coupled with values and attitudes make the culture of an organisation. In other words, organisational culture is a common view or perception held by the members of an organisation, which provides an emphasis of shared purpose. And there is a direct link between the organisational culture, employee satisfaction and between customer satisfaction and improved financial performance. Though it looks simple, it’s not a simple task. To improve employee satisfaction and in turn, customer satisfaction is always a challenge, and building shared beliefs is the main way to improve it.
Shared beliefs do work:
There are many organisations which work in this direction fully focused on building strong shared belief systems within the organisation and extending shared beliefs with its customers.
At Unilever, the organisation is unified by a shared belief in the purpose of their business. Their purpose is very simple. In words of Harish Manwani, Chairman, Hindustan Unilever Limited, it is – “To make sustainable living commonplace. We work to create a better future every day, with brands and services that help people to feel good, look good and get more out of life. This common purpose has remained largely the same since the 1890s and it unites all our employees across the Company so that no matter which part of the world we work in, we are working towards a common goal. From the worker on the assembly line making Lifebuoy soap or Pureit water purifiers to our marketers and brand managers, from our newest recruits to our most experienced business leaders, this is the invisible glue that holds the Company together.” And Unilever is equally vociferous in communicating these shared beliefs and values with its customers. Many other reputed organizations work hard on shared beliefs and in demonstrating to customers that the organisation shares customers’ beliefs and values. Apple customers firmly believe that Apple is continuously going to release the most innovative and best quality products and that they (customers) themselves are going to be equally innovative to use these products. The company partakes in the belief of the customers by always introducing innovative products and seamlessly manages to live up to customers beliefs.
Maruti Suzuki customers believe that the company believes in after sales convenience and comfort of the customer along with ease of accessibility to a service station within a reasonable distance. And the company rightly provides the same to fulfil customers’ beliefs by way of providing a sufficient number of easily accessible service stations and the availability of genuine and cheap spare parts.
Nike customers believe and are convinced that the company believes in the power of sports and it exists to provide the best to each athlete. And the company lives up to these beliefs and expectations of customers by providing quality products to athletes at all times.
Dell customers believe that maintenance and care of their machines are easy, quick and hassle-free. And yes, the company provides service within 24 hours and no-questions-asked replacement of faulty parts immediately.
Disney customers believe that they will experience happiness and joy and get value for their money and time spent. Disney too believes that their existence is to provide excellent experience and joy to customers in every encounter they have with customers, and aptly adhering to their belief, every employee strives to create ‘moments of magic’ with every encounter they have with customers.
For organisations to have strong, interconnected roots, and thus sustainability, it is essential for them to have a strong shared belief within the organisation. Further, they should constantly and consistently communicate their belief system with their customers, what it stands for and what it does to meet those beliefs. This has to happen at every level, every employee deliberately communicating and emphasising on the shared beliefs of the organisation with customers to ensure true customer centricity
