Employees First, Customers Second Reviews
Customers first or employees first?
Putting the customer first, focusing all your actions on helping the customer doing his/her job is indeed conventional wisdom. But is it wisdom?
A couple of days ago, the following question (and related event) was posted in the LinkedIn group 'Building the Customer-Centric Organization' by Lynn Hunsaker, Customer Experience Management Strategist at ClearAction LLC:
The conventional wisdom, of course, says that companies must always put the customer first. In any services business, however, the true value is created in the interface between the employee and the customer. So, by putting employees first, can you bring about fundamental change in the way a company creates and delivers unique value for its customers?
May 23, 2011, Xpragma
Book of the Day: employees first, customers second
Why you should read: Employees first, Customers second
One small idea can ignite a revolution just as a single matchstick can start a fire. One such idea—putting employees first and customers second—sparked a revolution at HCL Technologies, the IT services giant.
In this candid and personal account, Vineet Nayar—HCLT’s celebrated CEO—recounts how he defied the conventional wisdom that companies must put customers first, then turned the hierarchical pyramid upside down by making management accountable to the employees, and not the other way around.
May 5, 2011, The Asia Career Times
Employees First, Customers Second (Nayar, 2010)
“Usually business books focus on the what,” says Stacey Randall. “This book is focused on the how – the process.” Employees First, Customers Second is a vehicle for transparency in an organization. Nayar describes the process utilized by his company, HCL, to create a successful business practice across four steps:
Feb 15, 2011, JAMcArthur
Vineet Nayar's Employees First, Customers Second: A book review by Bob Morris
As I began to read this book, I recalled again the comments of Southwest Airlines’ then chairman and CEO, Herb Kelleher, when asked to explain his company’s competitive advantage: “Our people. We take good care of them, they take good care of our customers, and our customers take good care of our shareholders.” Vineet Nayar’s concept of Employers First, Customers Second (EFCS) could be misunderstood to mean that an organization’s customers have secondary importance. In fact, as Nayar explains, customers are the ultimate beneficiaries of EFCS. Kelleher makes the same point in the remarks quoted earlier.
December 22, 2010, Employee Engagement
Summary and Review of Employees First, Customers Second by Vineet Nayar
The Ten Things Managers Need to Know from Employees First, Customers Second
1.According to Vineet Nayar, “We all experience rapidly evolving consumer needs, greater regulation, a leveling of the competitive playing field, and the ever-changing nature of risk and nature. (EFCS, 183)
2. Managers should give employees “voices” and allow them to express their opinions. By doing so, employees will feel important and will value their jobs.
October 26, 2010, Bookstove
Culture Building
According to Nayar, “A company’s performance in relation to its peers is just one factor that defines its point A. It is equally important to look at the entire landscape of the industry in which you operate and to see how it is evolving. Often, the landscape has shifted so much that the original point A has fallen off the edge of the map.”
July 19, 2010, 8ooceoread
Books I Am Reading: Employees First, Customers Second
This book portrays well my own thoughts on the importance of developing an engaging, transparent office culture. The CEO who develops a flat organization of empowered employees who all trust one another can unleash the full potential of each individual. Spread accountability throughout the organization, open the doors of communication, educate and inspire your colleagues, and recognize each individual’s worth
July 13, 2010, Tom Raffio
Reining in business by giving employees the reins
In his book, Employees first …., Vineet nayar says content employees help rake in profits
July 5, 2010, 3D Syndication
Fast and furious
You could call HCL the company that forgot to be Infosys. The Noida-based group founded in a Delhi barsati by Shiv Nadar in the 1970s was happily playing the sleeping hare in the ‘hare and tortoise’ fable, even as it grew through the next two decades, largely because it functioned as a close-knit, less ambitious, somewhat contented organisation. It lacked two things: a desire to pitch it high and turn into a glamorous brand for the stock markets, and a tendency to underestimate the significance of ‘employee power’.
July 02, 2010, hindustantimes
Six Business Books to Read on the Beach
Speaking of bosses, Nayar would undoubtedly fall in the "good" category. As CEO of HCL Technologies, an IT services giant, Nayar preaches empowerment, transparency and having management answer to the lower ranks.
Buzz phrases like "decentralized decision making" and "the ownership of change" apparently are big drivers of HCL's surging growth. Business schools have been raving about Nayar's approach for years. Consider this his playbook.
Jun 30 2010, FINS Finance
Book Excerpt: Employees First, Customers Second
In an excerpt from his new book, Vineet Nayar shows how he built up trust through transparency to create a culture of change at HCL Technologies
In early July 2005, my A team, the hundred best and brightest brains at HCL Technologies, flew in to Delhi from around the world for a three-day strategy conference. On the second day we talked about the importance of building transparency and trust throughout the company.
June 25, 2010, BusinessWeek
Valuing Employees (Really!)
How often have you heard a CEO declare, “Our employees are our most important asset.” The first clue that something is wrong is that the CEO is already referring to the employees as a thing, rather than as people. The second clue is that you notice that the organization has a “human resource department”, which makes clear that the employees are something to be mined and exploited
June 07, 2010, Steve Denning
A dancing chief executive who makes sense, with only a touch of jargon
This book's cover - which can be read the right way up or upside down - worried me. So did its subtitle, "turning conventional management upside down", as in my experience, the origin of much management speak can come from either end of a manager.
I need not have worried. This short book by Vineet Nayar, since 2005 the chief executive of HCL Technologies, the Indian IT consultancy, is mostly written in an attractive, uncomplicated and direct style with not too many lapses into management jargon.
June 3 2010, The Financial Times
Employees come first
This approach changes the way a company creates and delivers unique value for its customers..
“When the brakes fail, the change is instant and you have no choice but to try to think of options for action. But with gradual change, like ageing, you don't really notice it until something forces you to.”
May 31, 2010, Business Line
Human particles in the corporate molecule
Once we transfer the ownership of our collective problems from the supposedly all-powerful CEO to the employees, people want to transform and deal with their professional and personal lives in a very different way than they ever did before, writes Vineet Nayar in ‘Employees First, Customers Second’ (www.hbr.org). Employees then begin to see the company as their own enterprise, and start thinking like entrepreneurs, with a higher energy quotient, he adds.
“And when that happens with a critical mass of employees (usually, 5 or 10 per cent is all you need) throughout the company, it creates a kind of fusion – a coming together of the human particles in the corporate molecule that releases a massive amount of energy.”
May 29, 2010, The Hindu
Employees First, Customers Second a book review
Nayar provides a clear, well-written and frank discussion of the issues he faced and his personal thought process and learning journey during the transformation. It is rare that a sitting CEO provides such a frank and honest discussion of the company and personal journey. At 185 pages in a small format, the book is an excellent size and length for executives to read, reflect on and consider how it fits into their strategies and plans.
May 26, 2010, Gartner
At HCL Technologies, employees come first, than the customers
“Our people are our best asset” often look as empty slogans displayed on companies front office.
The Indian IT company HCL Technologies (55.000 people, 3.6 billions US$ turnover) has made it real. To the extend that the CEO of the group, Vineet Nayar, proudly state : “Employees first, customer second” (E1C2). First implemented in 2006, the E1C2 model has strenghtened since then at HCL Technologies, with success. The company is one of the most succesful IT services organisation in the world.
Global Marketing Reviews The Six Minute Book Summary of Employees First, Customers Second by Vineet Nayar
The book Employees First, Customer Second (EFCS) is in narrative form and it discusses the journey and viewpoints of Vineet Nayar CEO of a global information technology (IT) services company. The book discusses the major transformations of the company by making employees first and customers second played a big role on the success of his business
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