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Customer Obsession in Supply Chain teams needs to be cultivated.
Amazon is known for its focus on Customer Obsession. The entire company takes customer needs, their problems and issues as a priority. Their supply chain is designed around the primary needs of their customers.
How do we cultivate this wonderful culture in our company? In my opinion, it involves two main areas.
The first is active listening and observation of customers to find their primary needs and pain areas. This is an iterative process as customers often find it difficult to articulate it. Once we identify a potential gap, we should improve our processes to close it and check if customers are happier with the change. If not, we have possibly misread their needs. Such experimentation should be a part of the daily activity of the entire team.
The second is to avoid falling prey to the Shiny Objects Syndrome, where some teams have a solution in mind before finding out the customer needs. This should be strictly avoided.
Customer Obsession takes time to build. We should encourage behaviours of active listening, observation and experimentation.