For the past two years, I have had the honor of serving on our homeowners’ association board. Because our neighborhood is a relatively new development, we inherited 11 vendors from the developer-controlled board.
Reflecting on these past two years, I realize we have replaced five of those 11 vendors — all for the same reason: poor quality of service. Price, although important, was never the reason we parted ways with any of them.
I am grateful, though, for two things from one particular vendor we fired: a pair of cycling socks and a pretty cool beverage canister they gifted me. While both are high-quality items, the only thing I dislike is that they have the vendor’s logo plastered all over them.
The beverage canister not only bears their colorful icon but also spells out words such as “integrity,” “innovative,” “leaders,” and “excellent,” along with many others. The graphic is creatively painted on the side of the canister and therefore has no detrimental impact on its functionality.
But I must admit — seeing these words makes me sick to my stomach every time I take a sip. I never once saw those aspirational adjectives come alive during our two-year tenure of working together. Not once. I have never been so unimpressed with a company in all my years as an employee and now as a business owner myself.
And therein lies the lesson for all organizations: It’s not about the flashy giveaways to try and entice customers to join you and stay with you. Free giveaways don’t sustain a business — quality of service and value for money do.
This is evident with one of our other vendors. Their people are humble, their service is exceptional, and they are proactive. They are always on time and on or under budget. If they mess up, they apologize. We’ve not only kept them as a valued partner but have since referred them to others, helping them win more business as our part of paradise continues to spread to where the Californian sun sets. This vendor partner simply said, “Thank you,” and that’s all we wanted. No cycling socks or beverage canisters needed.
Many organizations create a set of very admirable values, such as those on my beverage canister, usually as a result of a leadership off-site or mountaintop-style retreat. I’ve never once heard of an organization arriving at a set of values like “be mediocre,” “be slow to respond,” “lack accountability,” or — my personal favorite — “don’t care.” Like, never.
So, where’s the disconnect between the brainstorming session held by the top brass months earlier, the creation of all those branded tchotchkes (you know, the free giveaways), and what actually happens at the coalface of daily operations?
I believe it comes down to two aspects: leadership and an employee’s free will.
When I think about this one key vendor we fired, I see a failure of leadership at all levels — from our primary contact right up to their boss’ boss. All three levels demonstrated a lack of leadership competence (what they did) and a lack of leadership character (who they were).
When I think about the front-line people we interacted with at this vendor, it’s fair to say that the vast majority demonstrated a consistent lack of proactivity, personal responsibility and attention to detail. I say “the majority” because two of them were actually superstars. The one who remains is someone I hope they can keep, because this vendor desperately needs her — though my prediction is that she’ll leave. The other superstar has already walked out the door.
The moral of this story is that leadership must model the way — without it, the people perish and clients leave. That said, the cycling socks and beverage canister are pretty awesome.
Paul Butler is a Santa Clarita Valley resident and a client partner with Newleaf Training and Development of Valencia (newleaftd.com). For questions or comments, email Butler at [email protected].
