Everyone is a Leader

Dear Readers,

I’ve written this posting on “Organization Culture” based on my observation and experience at Shell Outlets in Chennai few years ago. Wish you all a very happy reading.

A strong Customer-centric culture across the levels and Outlets:

It’s always been a good experience for me to fill Fuel in Shell Outlets than in any other place in Chennai.  You must be wondering what’s so special about Shell that you don’t get elsewhere.

In Shell, you will see that you are attended to personally right from entry to exit with proper instructions and courtesy.  The moment you enter the Outlet, there will be someone to Greet you promptly in Tamil (Regional Language) first and then direct you as to which track you should take to fill Fuel.  There will be someone in each Track to greet you again very promptly and to guide and instruct you to park your vehicle properly before filling Fuel.  In case you are on the phone, you will be instructed politely not to use it for safety reasons by the attendant.  After filling the Fuel, billing takes place and simultaneously they’ll clean your windshield mirror.  Once they are done with these activities, you will be directed to the Exit or Air filling station in a particular lane. In case you are going to fill in air, you will be directed to follow proper queue and filling takes place strictly on first-cum-first-serve basis and no one solicits or takes any tips at any point. 

If you are going in a Two wheeler, you will be asked politely to put center stand and stay little away from the bike while filling the fuel.  When one of my curious colleagues asked the attendant for the reasons as to why one should stay away, the attendant was aware of the reasons and she could explain confidently without any frown or hesitation that the reason was to avoid fire accidents that might take place due to spillage of small amount of fuel on the engine.

This is the quality of service that I’ve experienced consistently in their Outlets, besides good quality of Fuel. 

It really makes me think as how Shell has been quite successful in nurturing and building such a Customer-focused Culture and that too with the workforce which is not that educated. How they are able to inculcate such a strong flawless Culture amongst each and every employee, right from the Front-line attendant to their supervisors.

My observation about Shell outlet is Everyone is Passionate about their job and they are very clear about what’s expected out of them not just in terms of work but also customer focus and satisfaction.  It’s also a “Leading-by-example” leadership style that’s being demonstrated by every Supervisor in various levels in the hierarchy. There are norms for everyone at every level and everyone is inspired to accept and follow the norms, especially when they see it being demonstrated by their supervisors and all the other peers on a daily basis with each and every Customer.

Norms are the rules and any deviation from their cultural norms by anyone at any level is not acceptable. When there is a deviation, there is a timely intervention by the immediate supervisor or the co-employees too for immediate correction.

There is also a shared commitment and understanding of the Organizations values (Customer focus and satisfaction) by every employee at all levels. Every supervisor is aware of the vision of his role and connects with the vision of his department. And every employee acts like a leader in his own role and in doing his work with proper understanding in terms of Customer focus or bigger goal of the department.

The culture is so strong that when a new person joins, he will either be part of the culture or out of it. 

Then I realized that in Shell, everyone is a leader at his own capacity.  That’s what everyone truly believes in. 

The points that we can infer are:

- It’s very much true that your competitor can copy your technology but he cannot copy your culture and the people as they are the backbone or pillars of the Organisation.

- Leading by example is always an effective leadership style to get everyone to follow the organizational norms and thus build a very strong organization culture.

- Every employee in supervisory and leadership position should share the Organization’s vision and percolate it down.  He should be a role model for the down the line employees.

- Every employee in supervisory and leadership position, whatever be the capacity or level in the hierarchy, has equal accountability not just in work-related deliverables but also in providing effective leadership to his team as well. 

- He should be a change-agent and align his team to the organizational values and Culture.

- And finally, the most important one is, every employee has to be Passionate, understand his role and align himself with the bigger goals and values and comply with the organizational norms. There is no point in hiring someone who is just good in his job but not passionate about it.

To conclude, it’s a collective responsibility to nurture and build a Culture that we want to. 

Everyone has a role to play and be a Leader.

           

Looking forward to your Comments and thoughts….