Internal vs. External Focus
“Happiness is a by-product of an effort to make someone else happy.”
–Gretta Brooker Palmer
A seasoned manager once took over the leadership of an organization knowing that it had some internal challenges, notably, poor morale. He decided to spend the first year of his new position focusing on those internal issues and then shift focus to the external issues, specifically the customer.
One year led on to two, and morale had not improved, maybe even deteriorated. Two years led to three and the trend continued. He decided he had no choice but to shift the focus off of themselves and onto their customers.
They began to make progress with their customers. The customers had sensed the neglect of the past few years and responded favorably to the renewed interest in them and their needs.
But something else happened as well. The internal issues began to fade. Morale gradually improved, and eventually became quite strong. They learned from this and re-emphasized the focus on the customer. Customers loved it, and internal morale grew still stronger.
Yes, they still had some internal issues to deal with, but the difference in the two strategies was staggering. While it was a surprise at the time, in retrospect, it makes sense. The more attention we pay to ourselves, the more discontent we become. Questions like, “am I happy?”, or “what else do I want?” tend to emphasize those things that are not going as well as we would like and those things we don’t have. As we repeatedly ask ourselves those sorts of things we become less content, not more.
But when we direct those same questions to others, our own needs come into perspective. The goal is no longer to make ourselves more and more blissful, but to do that for others.
If we continually ask ourselves what is wrong with our circumstance, we will come up with an answer, even if it isn’t real.
Consider this for your organization:
* How much time do you spend focusing on internal morale, taking employee surveys, or improving working conditions compared to improving your customers’ experiences, learning more about what your customers need, and finding out how you are doing in the eyes of your customers?
* If you or a member of your team struggles with perpetual discontent, schedule a time to meet with customers to get to know them, their needs, and how your organization can meet them more fully.
* Do you find yourself engaged in conversations about internal discontent more than about customer discontent?
“One of the things I keep learning is that the secret to being happy is doing things for other people.”
– Dick Gregory
