Is being customer “obsessed” negatively impacting employee mental health?

Language creates our reality. Words create worlds.

Organizations create and define their core values through the use & communication of words.

Everything we do inside of our organizations is done through written or spoken words. Everything.

So how does this show up & impact the employee?

Let’s look at the language we use to define our relationship with our customers…

Anticipating & prioritizing customer needs is important for any business — regardless of size, industry or maturity.

Without customers, we don’t have a business.

But guess what else we don’t have a business without?

EMPLOYEES. Our people.

It’s no secret that everywhere we turn, people are struggling with their mental well-being. Stress & burnout are at an all-time high; people are being challenged to maintain work-life balance; and many are struggling to keep up with the growing demands, change & uncertainty that they are faced with each day.

Retention is still a top concern & priority for many senior and executive leaders. Women and other minority groups are leaving the workforce left and right. Team morale is down. And performance is negatively impacted as a result.

Organizations are investing more in mental health offerings, such as behavior health technology apps & platforms and yet employees are still struggling more than ever.

The solutions aren’t working.

Or they are only partially working to solve for the real problems organizations & their people are facing today.

We must get to the root of what’s causing people to feel more stressed and burned out at work.

It’s time to take a deeper root-cause approach to solving our most urgent business challenges. And this starts with addressed the “people problems” that lead to process and profit problems. And to do this effectively, we must start with the language we use inside of every facet of our organizations.

Let’s have a deeper look within sales organizations…

Most sales teams are trained and told to be “customer obsessed.” Just google “customer obsessed” and you’ll be given countless opportunities to read why and how being customer obsessed is what you should be doing to succeed with your customers. Let’s take a quick glance at how we define the word “obsessed”…

Obsessed:

• Preoccupied with or haunted by some idea, interest, etc.: being in a state of obsession (Merriam-Webster)

• Having or showing compulsive concern (Wordnik)

• Influenced or controlled by a powerful force such as a strong emotion (Wordnik)

• Unable to stop thinking about something; too interested in or worried about something (Cambridge Dictionary)

How does that word make you feel as you are sitting here reading this piece today?

THE WAY FORWARD

Language creates our reality. Every person has a different way of internalizing and making meaning of words.

As leaders, it’s not our job to micromanage and psychoanalyze how our people interpret every single word we say. But it is our job to choose words that genuinely serve both our customers AND our employees. Especially when it comes to the words we use to define our core values as a business.

When we use words like “obsessed”, we likely communicate to our people that their needs come after the needs of customers... That customers come before everything — including their mental well-being.

Psychology and behavioral science tells us that as humans we simply cannot give to others that which we first don’t give to ourselves.

If you want your sales teams & leaders to create customer loyalty, anticipate customer needs and go above and beyond to serve customers… consider putting the employee first.

Give them a real opportunity to fulfill their own needs, to boost their personal resilience and get the individual support they need before they focus on serving customers.

1. Choose Your Language Carefully

Try this: Write down the various phrases and expressions you use regularly - as an organization and within your team. Look them over, and ask yourself what permission do you think they invoke? What behaviors do you think your employees will take on when they hear them?

If they exist, write down the legacy phrases that float through the organization. Are they healthy? Do they need erasing and rewriting?

2. SHARE the Intention Behind Language Upgrades

Once you’ve upgraded your language and erased + rewritten language to be more inclusive, supportive and employee-focused… consider having a conversation with your teams, individually and as a group.

Talk about why the changes were made and the intention behind the language upgrades.

3. Don’t Stop There

Language is just the first step. Aligned action needs to happen consistently in order for positive changes to be sustainable. Consider how your people are doing. Evaluate what they really need to succeed during this season. What tools or skills do they need to develop to support themselves and your customers - without burning out?

Burnout maybe common these days.

But it doesn’t have to be accepted as normal.

The organizations that choose to upgrade their language, evolve their employee-focused practices, and implement more effective root-cause solutions will be the organizations that retain the best talent, win customers, and succeed during economic uncertainty.