Judgment on the Front Line: How Smart Companies Win By Trusting Their People

by Noel M. Tichy, Chris DeRose II, Chris DeRose

Front-line employees who deal directly with customers are the face of any organization. Not only do they have the most impact on how a brand is perceived, but they are also the most valuable source of insight into what customers want and how to give it to them. Unfortunately, as management experts Chris DeRose and Noel M. Tichy explain, most organizations don't know how to evaluate the risk of giving employees more autonomy. Many of those who are willing to try haven't even invested resources in ensuring that-once the shackles are off-front-line employees make good judgments. Tichy and DeRose offer powerful examples of front-line leadership, such as: How Zappos trusts its people to do anything in service of a customer, including providing free product or reimbursing for mistakes How Mayo Clinic of Arizona enabled its nurses to challenge the hierarchy in order to improve patient care

Genres: Leadership, Management, Business, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published February 16, 2012

About the author

Noel M. Tichy is an American management consultant, author and educator. He has co-authored, edited or contributed to over 30 books.

Reviews

[Steve Craven · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book which needs to be in the personal library of any manager (of whatever level). It is easy to read, avoiding the pitfalls of jargon and overly academic discourse, building the case with clear, real-life examples to illustrate points and bolstered with exercises for the manager to use in evaluation and defining next steps for personal development.

It is easily one of the most powerful business growth and improvement studies I have found.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read. Authors use real examples from their own consulting experiences, of companies - both big and small, known and unknown - who are doing things the right way. The overarching thesis of the authors is that the best organizations only become the best by: trusting their employees; providing top-notch training; hiring the right people (i.e. knowing what type of person you WANT to hire); and to the extent possible, decentralizing decision making so that so-called frontline employees and managers have maximum flexibility and authority to effectively deal with customers and create longstanding loyalty to the company and/or the product. "Frontline employees are your most valuable source of customer knowledge and creativity."

[Lora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting case studies and nicely broken down. Noel Tichy's class is better than just reading the book, though.