Rewards Network Case Study

Case Study - Rewards Network

Rewards Network^SM Leverages LRN's New Business Perspective and Leadership Philosophy, and Finds Advantage in HOW They Do What They Do

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Have you ever received an email or letter from your payment card company or frequent flyer program about how you can save money on restaurants or earn rewards for visiting them? Then you likely have heard of Rewards Network, a provider of frequent dining programs in North America. And consumers aren’t the only ones who benefit from the company's business: Thousands of restaurants, bars and clubs across the U.S. get valuable exposure and needed customers from Rewards Network via its frequent dining Web sites and emails. Additionally, the company provides restaurant ratings and detailed restaurant "business intelligence" as well as access to capital for industry professionals. Working with major airline frequent flyer programs and other affiliation programs, Rewards Network has more than 3 million members that receive incentives to dine at participating businesses.

A public company founded more than 25 years ago, Rewards Network has approximately 400 employees, with corporate headquarters in Chicago, an operations center in Hollywood, Fla., and branch sales offices across North America.

HOW Matters in a Crisis

After being informed of an employee's conduct in conflict with its high standards for workplace behavior and its new code of conduct, Rewards Network faced a difficult decision – how to let someone go from the organization in a manner consistent with the corporate culture it sought to cultivate. Rewards Network took what could have been seen as a hiccup to its endeavor – an employee acting counter to its new code of conduct at a time when the company was investing in engaging employees to live the code – and turned it to its advantage. In thinking about how to address the employee in violation of the code, Laura Lazarczyk sought counsel in the HOW philosophy. She investigated the details of the violation with an eye toward not only what occurred but how it occurred, pursued an approach to fire the employee once it was clear actions were taken that were not aligned with the company's values and culture, and ensured the employee was terminated in a manner that was stern but respectful. Further, Lazarczyk didn't hide the issue. Rather, she embraced the spirit of transparency and connectedness and extended trust to other employees, using the incident as a learning opportunity for the rest of the organization. Her message: We trust you to do the right thing. You trust us to do the right thing. Here’s an example that illustrates the power of trust within Rewards Network.

Challenge

Move Beyond Achieving Compliance To Focus on How To Do Business
Little did employees and executives know that a seminar at a conference could end up dramatically changing the way that Rewards Network's workers think about selling their products, relate to each other and perform their jobs in and outside of the company.

But that's exactly what happened when Laura Lazarczyk, the company's chief compliance officer at the time, attended an event in 2008 and saw LRN CEO Dov Seidman talk about the need for leaders to "live" their values, engage and inspire individuals in new ways and re-frame the company purpose to "outbehave" the competition.

Lazarczyk attended the conference at a time when Rewards Network was in the process of working with LRN to develop a customized code of conduct that reflects the company's values and standards for workplace conduct. Initially employee reaction was mixed to some of the changes in company policy and learning requirements during earlier, mandatory training efforts. Rewards Network had sought out a way to better connect with its workers using additional LRN resources.

Seidman's speech so energized Lazarczyk that she contacted LRN and was sent his book – "HOW: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything in Business (and in Life)" – which stresses that in today's hyperconnected and hypertransparent world, how companies and their people think, behave and govern themselves matters more now than ever. Through the book's ideas, real-world anecdotes, frameworks and best practices for a company seeking to live its corporate values, Lazarczyk began to deepen her understanding of behavior as the new source of sustainable competitive advantage. She understood that "outbehaving" the competition is essential to building a successful organization with an enduring legacy.

Now Lazarczyk had a way to address her new challenge: with the company's annual sales conference approaching, she needed a way to move away from a presentation employees sometimes considered "too dry and legal" and, as she said, "raise it up a notch" to inspire them to move beyond mere compliance. She saw an opportunity for Rewards Networks to win new clients and retain existing clients through employee behavior.

Solution

Leverage LRN Education Solutions and the HOW Philosophy
The themes from the book instantly resonated with Lazarczyk and also the Rewards Network executives, who dropped by her office to snatch away many of Laura's coveted copies of the book. As a company with access to more than 22 million payment card numbers and proprietary data on restaurants, Rewards Network became keenly interested in implementing the book's themes and philosophy to effectively manage its concerns about risk, legal compliance and customer data security and privacy, along with the strategies to build greater business advantage.

Another enthusiastic call to LRN directed Lazarczyk to LRN's new "HOW" interactive course, which is designed to help companies implement the HOW philosophy as a means to thrive in today's new business reality by marketing with transparency, connecting with others, building trust and earning reputations. The course opened up the possibility of sharing the message of HOW across the entire company. With LRN's educational guidance, the "HOW" book and the "HOW" course in mind, Lazarczyk and Rewards Network company leaders created a first-of-its-kind interactive training manual for the annual sales conference. They called it "Customer First: 'Outbehaving' the Competition."

The compliance officer tempered her yearly regulatory requirement discussions with a larger dialogue around HOW and "making waves" at Rewards Network. At the conference, Rewards Network company leaders "started a wave" by integrating the HOW philosophy to frame the entire event. "HOW" encourages readers to explore the metaphor of making "The Wave" in a stadium to effectively win through the power of inspiration. Using the themes from the book, the company created an environment that was engaging, participatory and communal.

Lazarczyk led training sessions with groups of salespeople to dive into the framework of HOW. The conference made use of interactive games – video clips from the "HOW" course and salespeople analyzing and re-enacting passages from the book. They also shared emotional, touching stories of the advantages found when they outbehaved the competition and when they got their HOWs right – and workers were inspired to start their own "wave" at their table and continue it at the office.

Result

A Workforce United by an Education Program and Deeper Purpose and Values
Feedback from the annual sales meeting was very positive, and many employees described it as the best conference they'd attended. A number of salespeople also said they wanted to purchase the book for their personal reference so they could strive to move beyond compliance and truly go the extra mile for the customer (salespeople have also been encouraged to embrace HOW to create meaningful connections that ultimately close more sales and help build more sustainable relationships).

Rewards Network now plans on implementing HOW concepts into every national sales conference as well as during new-hire training, which includes a session on corporate values.

It is anticipated that the combination of support from the management team and CEO, the implementation of LRN's ethics and compliance strategy and the adoption of the HOW message will result in employee unity and increased productivity and sales. There has also been a boost in acceptance and employee engagement, as the program has been positively received, and many sales employees are now inspired to join in voluntarily to learn more about HOW.

In summary, the HOW philosophy has become a major driver behind the workforce's support of the education program and corporate culture. The sales team has become receptive to the program as well because leaders at all levels of the organization have helped to embed the behavior in the culture.

And it all grew out of one speech at a conference last year.

"The education program that we created with LRN is customized to our every need, ensuring that we meet all compliance and regulatory requirements," said Lazarczyk. "However, it's the mantra behind LRN – how we do business – that has provided our company with the most value. Being able to advocate ethical and principled behavior to all of our employees using such an engaging and socially conscious book is priceless to our meetings, company growth and development, and our long-term corporate legacy."

Case Study - Rewards Network