As we continue our series on “win together,” let’s take a look at the fact that a major characteristic of winning together is the overcoming of one particular fear: the fear of transparency. Some employees fear that if they and their functions are fully transparent, they will be “seen for who they are” and easily replaced. This fear not only happens in sales, but everywhere including tech.
This fear is an incorrect mindset, because win together means creating value. The more you as an employee create value, the less replaceable you are. Who wants to replace a valuable asset? The only way you should fear being replaced is if you’re not producing a valuable product or service for your organization, but being paid for something you’re not doing. The more valuable you are, the more you’re not replaceable.
The louder someone cries about having to be transparent—about “big brother” or some such concept—I always ask what kind of value they’re creating for the organization. For why would it be harmful for the company to know how a salesperson, for example, is talking to a customer? If it’s something incorrect, the company can take measures to correct it. If the salesperson is doing a great job, it is easily seen and management will know it.
Without transparency, digital processes are not possible—and no company can succeed today without digital processes. They are the only way to reach true efficiency. Start with small steps, and reach for bigger ones. That leads to productivity. Another way to look at it is to find the broken links in your processes and repair them. None of this will happen without all those steps being clear—that is, transparent.
Today the larger companies record and monitor every moment of an interaction with a customer or prospect. This is done to ensure that the support or salesperson creates a positive experience for the caller. Because all calls are recorded, they are used to evaluate the employee’s job performance.
Whatever you want to say about it, this kind of operation almost guarantees winning together. It’s a win for the customer or prospect, for the company, and the employee.
Just as a side note, while some may object to my saying so, winning together actually makes the concept of a union obsolete. Today companies are increasingly recruiting knowledge workers, because we’re moving away from the workforces of the past. Automation has taken over most of those functions.
Today computer-driven machines are so powerful that they require knowledge workers to handle them. Being as valued as they are, a knowledge worker would never act in a way calculated to work against their employer. They don’t need a union dictating to them, and I see unions as obsolete for the future.
Make Yourself Irreplaceable
When you bring a valuable skill to a company, a real win together is created for the company, and their prospects and customers. That company will go to great lengths to hang on to you, and your positive performance will, in the end, lead to promotion.
Win together begins with a mindset. Let go of the fear of transparency, and realize that the more you bring value to the customer, the better you will do. Constantly work on your core competence—what you do well, always do it better. And if for some reason you’re doing something you don’t like, find something you want to do better. But don’t blame others.
You can even take your performance one step further and take an entrepreneurial approach to the problems of the prospect or customer. When you do so, you are making it possible for the customer to win, and for you to win also. You solve a customer issue, and both sides win.
Summary
So winning together means:
- Losing your fear of being transparent
- Doing what you like to do
- Constantly improving yourself
- Making yourself more valuable so you are promoted and make more money
- The company is winning because they have a loyal employee
- The customer wins because they get the best service possible
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