“Because I said so…” Not good enough!
Relationships often define our happiness and our outlook on life. We are taught from the time we enter kindergarten, that we must relate to others. We must share our toys, respect others’ space and defer to authority. College psychology professors taught us that our relationships with our parents would profoundly impact our levels of success in life. Romantic relationships open doors to new happiness or heartbreak. But the one relationship that probably affects our daily lives more than any other is the relationship with a boss.
Almost everyone has had a bad relationship with a boss drive us away from what was otherwise a good job or company. But consider how many times you have hung on to a bad job when the relationship with your boss was strong?
In customer service jobs all across America, the relationship between the frontline employee and the direct manager is a key element in the happiness of the employee. In his book “Vital Friends: The People You Can’t Afford to Live Without” Tom Rath drew from more than five million Gallup surveys and found that “when employees have close friendships with their boss, they are more than twice as likely to be satisfied with their jobs.” He also found that this level of happiness usually converts into the positive treatment of customers. Happy customers are usually loyal customers and loyal customers equal higher profits.
When we work with companies in our consulting projects across America, we hear from frontline managers that creating friendships are sometimes hard – both to create and to manage. We teach managers, once the managers understand that they can develop relationships, while “because I said so” may have worked for my dad, it does not work with today’s employee. Over the past 25 years I have found that most employees want to feel that they are adding value and having an impact on the success of the company. The best ones want to know “why” and want to be able to participate in making decisions.
The first step in relational leadership is to take the time to get to know your employees. What are their passions? What are their needs and aspirations in the job? The next step is to show your employees that their opinions and insight are valuable. Instead of demanding success, the frontline manager must coach the employee.
“More time with me”
As a consultant, I speak to customer service employees across America. When I ask them what they would like to change about their daily interactions with their managers, they most frequently say they’d like their bosses to “spend more time with me, to let me know if I am doing a good job and to help me understand how to do better.”
One of my clients recently embarked on a new program in their call center to build stronger relationships between coaches, supervisors, managers and the customer-facing agents. One-on-one meetings focused on the employee’s perspective first, with a goal of calibrating the employees’ expectations with the company’s need to satisfy customers. The Senior Manager knew that these efforts were paying off in less than 90 days when she interviewed an agent for a new team lead position. The agent had been with the company for just over a year and was anxious to become part of the management team.
She asked, “How will you establish yourself as a leader on the team, or how will you build rapport with your associates?” The agent responded, “I think it is important to really know your team. I would make an effort to personally learn who they are, who their family is and what’s important to them outside of work. That’s what makes a connection, and that’s what builds trust, loyalty and teamwork.” She knew the “relationship thing” was working when it had made its way three levels deep into the organization.
Of course there is a need to balance privacy considerations, but I am not talking about snooping into the employee’s life outside of work; I am talking about paying attention to the daily discussions of their passions in life.
Ask yourself: Who was the best manager you ever worked for? Did he or she know you as a person? Did he or she care about your success and seek to support your aspirations in life?
Take this quick quiz to test your knowledge of your team: List the people who report to you, and write a sentence to answer the question for each team member in each of these areas:
• Person. What is his or her passion is life? What is the most important event in his or her personal life in the past three months?
• Player. Is he or she a team player? What are the life skills that you can share with him or her that will allow this person to become a better player on your team?
• Performer. What can you do to help improve this employee’s skills? What is the one thing that you will focus over the next 30 days to allow this person to become a better performer?
Building relationships is not rocket science or a deep methodology for management skills. It’s merely a good approach to helping your people realize their potential. Follow in the footsteps of the great managers in your life; know your people and seek to support their successes and passions.
Take the test….
If you read the previous post, you know that I have been thinking a lot lately about the how the culture of a company or a department affects the success of the team, the morale of the team members and ultimately the experience of the customer.
I recently found a great little self-test that you can take to help you understand your culture and where you need to focus. Inc. Magazine offers the test online here: Click Here
Check it out. I plan to devote several future post on what to do about your results - how you can begin to make a shift in your culture.
What she should have said
What she SHOULD have said….
Last week I was standing in line at the Nathan’s Hot Dog stand in the Orlando airport. It had been a good day speaking at a GREAT company, Hewitt Associates. I had spent the day talking about customer service issues and how to create a culture of engagement between managers and employees and employees and customers.
As I began my order a lady stepped in front of me holding her sandwich in the little cardboard box. She flipped open the box and lifted the bun, showing it to the lady behind the counter. She said, “Excuse me; there is a hair in my sandwich.” I am sure what she was expecting as a response from the employee – perhaps, “WOW, I am so sorry!” or “I am so sorry, let me get you another one.” I was hoping for something like, “ WOW, that has NEVER happened before – I am so sorry!” Wanna guess what the response was? NOTHING – that is right – the lady behind the counter just reached forward took the box and turned and walked away.
As she left I made some lame comment asking the customer if she was satisfied with her experience so far. We laughed a bit and stood and watched the employee drop the sandwich into the trash. The employee then picked up a new sandwich, stepped back to the counter and handed it to the lady – again NOTHING – no words from her mouth. I looked at the worker and said, “I think I will just go somewhere else to order – thanks.” The lady with the hair-sandwich looked at me, laughed and said, “I don’t blame you!”
Of course, these TERRIBLE customer experiences happen every day. The reality is that the problem was not necessarily the hair (although it IS a problem); the problem was the response from the employee. Indifference – not rude, not inappropriate words – just nothing – just indifference.
John Gattorna, a visiting professor at Macquarie University and supply-chain guru conducted research on “why businesses lose customers” and reported these results:
• 4% Natural attrition (moved away - passed on etc)
• 5% Referred to a competitor by their friend
• 9% Competitive reasons (price)
• 14% Product/Service dissatisfaction
• 68% Perceived Indifference
According to these figures, perceived indifference is the single most common reason customers are lost to competitors. It sends customers away nearly five times more often than dissatisfaction with a product or service and seven times more often than for competitive reasons.
So – here is here is the question for the day….. Does this indifference exist in your business? What is the typical response to a bad situation? How many customers are just turning and walking away due to the indifference of the frontline employees?
So – if this is the problem – what is the solution? I believe the problem is the lack of a “culture of service.” I believe every company must create a culture where employees understand the value of the customer. But, this takes effort! It takes focus.
So let me ask this - how much time have you devoted in recent meetings with frontline employees helping them understand the value of the customer and the cost of indifference? Do they know the “life-time value” of a customer? Do they understand the cost associated with indifference?
We will explore these issues over the next several posts…. I believe there must be a CULTURE SHIFT in most companies. We will explore some simple steps that can help that happen.
Have a story of your own? Have you had a similar experience? Have you had a GREAT experience? What is the focus of your company culture? I would love to share you feedback with my audience!
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Bob Furniss
As founder and President of Touchpoint Associates, Inc., Bob Furniss has more than 25 years of experience in the customer service field - assisting organizations to increase productivity and profits by bringing out the best in their people. He has shared his experience in the areas of leadership and service with some of the top companies in America - companies like FedEx, Corporate Express, DePaul University, Delta Airlines, Hanley Wood and more.
Click here to email Bob direct -
Connections
