Business Models and Skills Standard

:: Context
:: Business Model
:: Skills Standard

Context
The U.S economic output is now 75% service and service related industry driven.

These service and service related industries range from hospitality to IT consulting to contract R & D. There over 25 million entry-level, frontline workers in the service economy.

A key aspect of the service economy is that more and more knowledge and information is passing between a business and its customers at every level from IBM consultants to housekeeping staff at the Mandarin Oriental. Whether it be chemical formula for outsourced research or a special order on an on-line retailer, employees are needing to interact with customers at a more sophisticated level that integrates relationship and information.

This shift, supercharged by technology, is causing a need for entirely new business models with entirely new associated skills for firms to continue to compete, innovate and grow.

The Business Model — Value Creating Relationships
In response to these market realities, businesses are developing a new business model based on Value Creating Relationships in their frontline workplaces.

Value Creating Relationships is an emergent concept in the economy that places investment and focus on frontline workers as a key to revenue generation. Firms that embody this concept have collaborative communication and team based frontlines that push decision-making down to entry level workers and allow them to create value in relationship with peers, managers and customers.

Value Creating Relationships are those which promote delight for customers, success for workers and growth for businesses. These relationships begin at the intersection of a firm’s technology-driven access to and use of information with its human capital on the frontline. These leveraged resources are the building blocks of enhanced customer experience and frontline innovation.

Value Creating Relationships are a complex mix of culture, technology and strategy. Despite this complexity a firm’s ability to create competitive advantage through Value Creating Relationships is based on a simple, integrated standard of: communication, interpersonal, decision-making and learning skills.

Firms that leverage these skills to build Value Creating Relationships among employees, managers and customers create a platform for success:

Employees benefit from: applied skills/learning; coaching; company knowledge and access to opportunity.

Managers (firm) benefit from: increased workplace productivity, reduced turnover, increased customer loyalty.

Customers benefit from: trusted information, enhanced customer experience, expectations exceeded.

Market leaders across many industry verticals are responding to this emerging customer relationship trend with a strategic focus on entry level and frontline workers as a key to business success.

Best Buy, Whole Foods, Four Seasons, Southwest Airlines, Zappos and the Container Store are among the vanguard of these firms.

Is your firm ready for enhanced frontline value? Read on and learn how to answer this question.

The Skills — Being Work Ready in a knowledge and service economy
Work Readiness is being able to add value in frontline jobs in entry level workplaces. Though creating value through relationships is complex, the foundational skills needed are actually remarkably easy-to-understand.

An integrated mix of communication, interpersonal, decision-making and learning skills and sub-skills are the key to building value creating relationships.

The National Work Readiness Council has developed a standard skills profile that provides a snapshot of these skills and related tasks as pertains to frontline work in entry level workplaces.

The Work Readiness Profile provides a jumping off point for firms that wish to explore their own strengths at building value creating relationships. Take a look and assess your frontline workplaces’ value creating opportunity. Link profile

More Information
CEOs
Value Creating Relationships Overview
Value Creating Relationships Matrix

Human Resource/Training Professionals
Costs of hiring wrong people
Entry level hiring made simple
NWRC Module Description
NWRC Skills Profile
NWRC Brochure