What is a culture of heroics?
A working definition from MIT Sloan
culture of heroics (noun)
An organizational norm that forces employees to go above and beyond for customers, because the company lacks sufficient processes and systems for support.
A constant push to give customers new and exciting products and services can drive revenue and growth. But it can also be unsustainable, leading to burnout and devastating employee experience. Instead of depending on heroic employees, companies should focus on processes and systems that can deliver for customers consistently and solve more complex problems.
“Let’s figure those things out, and then let’s embed those into our organization, either through technology or through behaviors or through new metrics. That connection is much more systemic,” said Kristine Dery, a research scientist at the MIT Center for Information Systems Research.
A few ways to get there:
- Integrating operations across silos to make it easier for employees to innovate and deliver on the customer experience.
- Allowing seamless access to data and information about customers, putting power into the hands of employees to do what technology can’t do.
- Digitizing work, which allows for employee mobility and employee self-help.
- Using employee platforms, which allow employees to search for information and ideas, easily share knowledge, and reduce duplication.
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