Believe in better: the mood from the middle at Sky

There's been a lot written recently about the importance of the "tone from the top", but maybe we need to focus just as much on the " mood from the middle" as Sky has found over the weekend to its cost. And whether the allegations of mis-selling are true or not, the reputational damage has already been done.

The Guardian reported that a group of door-to-door agents contacted them about the mis-selling triggered by commission-led sales.Their whistleblowing is pretty damning if true:

• Targeting vulnerable customers e.g. recent immigrants who don't fully understand the offer.
• Mis-selling call packages  e.g. lying about the costs
• Exaggerating broadband speeds.
• Pressure to sell, e.g. being "punished" for not selling rather than motivated or encouraged.

These are all such classic examples of both unfair treatment of customers and employees.

Apparently, from the Guardian's report, the management track the sales agents, especially the poor performers (also after hours), through their mobile and iPad promising them extra bonuses for more sales. They are constantly monitored through security tags so the managers always know where their staff are.

The root cause of all these issues seems to be the commission incentives and the bonuses available to managers for sales and of course the very competitive market place in which they operate. Sky states that it undertakes rigorous training and has management systems in place to prevent mis-selling with sales teams all functioning in-house so that it has more control.

As this blog has stated many times,the key to building trust and sustainable long-term futures for business is through fair treatment of stakeholders and transparency of business practice. The "mood from the middle" at Sky clearly shows that they are not living and breathing the strapline "believe in better" other than in relation to their bonuses.  In this way the credibility and consistency of the Sky's customer proposition is totally discredited. An organisation needs so much more than expensive marketing to get customers to believe. It needs in-depth cultural commitment to putting customers' interests first, from the top, to middle managers right through to their customer-facing teams. Then we can really "believe in better".  .