I have been writing recently about how I think leaders need to treat their employees as customers and that all employees need to enhance their internal customer relationships. As I have stressed, I am not suggesting that we forget the customers who pay the bills, but I am suggesting that the key to both personal and organizational success is the development of your internal customers.

As a leader, if you buy into the concept of internal service cooperation and that developing relationships with internal customers is important for driving customer loyalty and top- and bottom-line results, then I’d like to have you think about the following idea.

If you truly want to create a work group, team division, or organization that produces world-class results, you have two primary roles:

1. Treat your employees like celebrities.

2. Remove obstacles to high performance.

Now, I know what many of you are going to say: “You’re crazy, why should I treat my employees like celebrities?” But I’d like you to suspend your judgment for a moment.  

Most organizations spend an extensive amount of time, energy, and financial resources to recruit and hire the most talented candidates. Your job as a leader is to develop your employees’ talent and, yes, treat them like celebrities.

We have all seen the way a celebrity gets treated when they enter a place of business, whether it be a restaurant, a store, or boarding an airplane. Think about the experience that is created for them.

• Everyone is happy to see them.

• Everyone knows their name.

• They all get exceptional service and everyone around them works as a team to serve them.

Now imagine if you were treated like a celebrity at work. How would you feel about that experience? Or, better yet, how do you think your employees would feel if, as their leader, you treated them like celebrities?

Think about how much personal information people know about a celebrity they are interested in. Most people know where they live, what college they attended, who they married, how many children they have, and the names of their children. Now, let’s turn it around. Do you know any of the above information about your employees?

If you get to know your people beyond the job they do, you are supportive and involved in removing obstacles to serving the customer, and you recognize them like rock stars, I guarantee you will produce significant and sustainable results. I challenge you to give it a try.