SFHA Engagement Conference speaker interview: John Sills
Ahead of SFHA's virtual Engagement Conference on 7 September, we spoke to John Sills, Managing Director at The Foundation, who shared his thoughts on in-built biases and how understanding them can help to create a better experience for customers and tenants.
What will you be discussing during the conference and why is it an important issue?
I'll be discussing how our in-built natural biases mean that we all see the world from the inside-out, closer to our own business, colleagues, and industry than we are to what really matters to the customers, stakeholders, and communities we serve. These biases drive every decision we make in business, and understanding them can help make things better for customers whilst helping to create a more successful organisation.
How do in-built biases impact the experience of tenants?
When we've worked in a business, or an industry, for a long time, it's easy to lose sight of what matters to tenants and forget that they don't know everything we do. This can lead to a focus on the functional over the emotional, with people in organisations misplacing the humanity and common sense needed to create a great customer experience.
Going forward, what do we need to do more (or less) of to make a difference?
The most important thing to do is to maintain an outside-in perspective, staying closely connected to what really matters to customers, and gathering inspiration from other countries and industries to find new and better ways to make things better for your customers.
SFHA Virtual Engagement Conference
7 September, Virtual Conference
John will be speaking during the 'Seeing the world from the outside in' session at our Virtual Engagement Conference on 7 September.