Organizational Democracy

Nearly every person who works at a company is excited, confused or frustrated about relationships with coworkers, company policies, and/or their work process day-to-day.

The needs analysis starts with a conversation with the person or people who hire me.  Usually they feel responsible for what’s happening at the company, whether things are good or bad.  And they have a vision or a goal.  Usually this is some way to raise revenue or lower costs. 

Maybe they want to reduce marketing costs by a third, or boost sales, or reduce turnover, or get press in the NY Times, or implement a new computer system for better customer satsifaction, or get 200 customers to be on a focus group panel, or stop department in-fighting, or have teachers change their teaching methods, or change a pension plan, or raise funds for a new building.

Using my experience as an executive coach, I try to check that this goal is “real,” that this is something you really do want, and not a way to avoid something else you want even more which you think you can’t get.  Your goal becomes the core of my mission, what I’m accountable for helping get done.

There are always relationships, policies, or work that excites or confuses or frustrates the person who hires me — that’s why you hire me.  So we talk about these things. 

Maybe sales guys waste two hours every day talking at the water cooler instead of selling, or maybe you don’t know how to talk to the guys in IT, or maybe the company’s growing really fast and you’re not sure how you can keep doing the work you loved when the company was smaller.

That’s your personal wish list of things, if you could close your eyes and a genie would make it happen, you’d have.

As we talk, I try to figure out what work you most want to do.  What actions excite you, and you’re also great at?  These actions are your responsibility.  As I hear what your coworkers’ wish lists are, I’ll try to see what they might do for you, and what you might do for them.

After I talk with you, I go around and talk with your coworkers.  Every conversation is casual in a way that I’m great at.  Sometimes it’s such a relief for someone to tell me what’s been frustrating them about working at your company for so long.  The thing is, there needs to be an agreement that I’m doing my best to help them get what they want too.  That’s really important to me.

Usually there are a few people who can really clearly articulate what is so exciting about working at your company.  That’s so important!  Because their enthusiasm, which has often been hidden, then can spread and inspire coworkers and, if we share these conversations through video or text with customers, can inspire customers too.

When many people describe a company, product, or service, they create a full picture which one person, even an expert, couldn’t even begin to create on his own.

Needs analysis of the work experience at your company gets coworkers excited and inspired about working together, shows a full picture of what’s working, what’s not, and how to move forward.

Something I’m great at is finding where everyone’s needs overlap.  Nearly every time, I find that people who work together, even if they’re fighting now, want the same thing, deep down.  Sometimes they want trust and communication.  You can’t create trust and communication from thin air, so the next step is to work on a project together in a way that builds trust and communication.  Unlike teambuilding where you go off-site and find new ways to express yourself, the incremental project management I do always helps coworkers do work at the company that they have wanted to get done.

As I took photos at Sephora, I watched shoppers.

I was surprised to see so many returns and exchanges. By definition, returns happen because customers get buyers’ regret. After shoppers purchase, Sephora needs to reassure customers that they made the right choice.

There are manipulative and non-manipulative ways to reassure customers.

A manipulative way would be for sales associates to ask customers, “Are you sure that’s the product you want?” or “Are you sure that’s the package you meant to buy?” Shoppers would check what they bought, then defend their choice. Basically, associates would get shoppers to justify to themselves that they made the right choice.

But since shoppers play with and try on so many products while shopping at Sephora *before* they choose their purchase, a natural and helpful way to reassure shoppers will be for sales associates to show shoppers new ways to play with and use their purchase, *after* they make the sale.

Here are the blocks of the shopping process, step-by-step, so you can quickly identify your store’s trouble-spots and what to do.

Knowledge.
Based on what shoppers know before they decide to enter your store, provide an action they do which is “a way in” to get started shopping. Classify shoppers into groups: who do you want to shop in your store and what do they need to know to get started?

Restaurants display menus in the windows. Even before you come inside, you know what they sell and how much it costs. Some clubs do the opposite with exclusive guest lists so you have to be “in” before you can get inside.

Purpose.
In any store, shoppers are usually there for one of three reasons:
- If they’re starting out, provide them with a starter kit to introduce them to your full range of products.
- If they’re buying for an event or a special outfit, provide them with memorable products.
- If they’re buying for their ongoing collection, provide them with products they need to add or replenish over time.

Attract.
The shopper’s eye can only be attracted to one thing at a time. At Sephora, you can tell when a shopper will browse a display by whether or not her eye is instantly attracted to a single sign or package.

Display your products so they visually stand out.

Touch.
Make it easy for the shopper to physically reach and touch the attractive product.

Sephora keeps all makeup, perfume and other products within arms’ length.

If your goal is to display products out of reach or behind glass cases, provide *something* shoppers can subconsciously reach to and touch to make a closer physical connection to your product before they start to browse. Uniqlo has shirts and mannequins many stories above the ground and behind glass cases, but always provides clothes on lower shelves which you can reach instead.

Browse.
Browsing is like playing. You can:
- try the product on,
- look at yourself in a mirror,
- show the product to a friend or sales associate for their advice.

Characterize.
Instead of shoppers being overwhelmed by too many choices or confused about what to do, you want them to decide which product they want to buy.

To decide, shoppers need to compare between the product choices, characterize differences between the products, and choose “the right one.”

Within any one display, provide no more than eight choices at a time. Highlighting the most popular product per category often helps shoppers decide which to buy.

Check.
Once the shopper has chosen her product, she usually checks that the price is right, the size is right, the color is right.

Make sure your product is easy for the shopper to take to the checkout line.

Checkout.
The checkout line should be a different experience from shopping. It should be an oasis, where you can reflect on your shoppping experience and come to accept that you want to buy this product.  My favorite kind of checkout experience is when I get into a great, seemingly spontaneous conversation with someone while I’m waiting in line — it’s relaxing and it’s fun.  Some store managers and associates are great at “moving the line along” by talking with customers while they wait.

Pay.
Paying feels right when the shopper knows price corresponds to value. When customers say your products are too expensive, you need to provide more value to their life throughout the shopping experience.

Wine tastings bring knowledge about the world of wine into the world of the wine taster, so you’re willing to pay more.

Receive purchase.
After you pay, you receive a gift — your purchase, the sales receipt, the bag with your product inside.
Shoestores let you wear your shoes out of the store. During Christmas, many stores wrap your gift. Mail-order stores need to pay special attention as to how shoppers receive their purchases in the mail.

Evaluate.
After you receive your purchase, shoppers will get buyer’s regret unless they are assured they made the right choice.

Sales associates can quickly educate shoppers with discoveries on how to use their product in new ways.

Use.
Instruction manuals, unwrapping the product, warranties, and especially using the product is usually the longest-lasting stage in the sales process.

How satisfied a customer is by using their product is key in getting them to return to your store.

The best way to fix a step in the shopping process.
Generally we overcompensate what we’re bad at or skip by overdoing the next step — so Sephora offers a 60-day try-and-return-for-any-reason policy. Fix Sephora’s Evaluate step. Stop buyer’s regret by reassuring shoppers, and Sephora won’t need as many product returns.

Be sure each step contains the best of every other step in miniature. Because Sephora shoppers spend so much time browsing, Sephora should let customers browse while they Evaluate whether they made the right purchase. To do this, sales associates can show shoppers new ways to use products *after* they buy.