Show appreciation to your people
BY RICH SCHMITT
Management specialist
I have seen a bumper sticker that laments the driver’s situation: “Same Stuff, Different Day.” Well the bumper sticker really didn’t say “Stuff” but my editor won’t allow me to quote the bumper sticker precisely. You probably get the idea. Many people’s lives are pretty much the same just about every day and their “Same Stuff” is not very exciting and might even be miserable.
I consider myself quite fortunate in that my job has plenty of variety. Some days it is a challenge to keep everything straight but that is a small price to pay for the interesting topics that I get involved in. Most owners, senior managers and outside sales people enjoy this same luxury. Each day has new challenges, emergencies and opportunities. While we all might “complain,” it is a pretty great life.
So if you think about it, this ever-changing interesting existence might not be the case for many of your customers and a bunch of your frontline people. The warehouse and counter people do much the same thing every day. Often they are dealing with difficult bosses (many first-line supervisors in our industry got their training and people skills from, Attila the Hun.), grumpy customers (their spouse is giving them grief at home and so they take out their frustration on your inside sales team) and unsupportive manufacturers (“Why does the customer need product pictures and specs...you must have some pretty stupid customers.”). There are infinite variations on this theme but the bottom line is: Their day is not filled with picnics, pony rides and puppies.
Even though this is often the case, we expect our frontline people to smile, suck it up, bend over backwards and serve the customers. We expect the job to be done enthusiastically, accurately and efficiently every day for every order to every customer. And in most cases, we only talk with them about their performance when there is a glitch. “Hey Bill, you screwed-up this order to abc Plumbing, what were you thinking?” Often we don’t remember that Bill has done a pretty fair job filling umpteen orders over the last several months without a lot of major problems.
So I want to dedicate this column to the people in the trenches who shape 80% (probably more) of our companies’ relationship with our customers. Often there is not much that can be done to change their job duties. Customer service involves service and customers so there is little that can be done on that front but there are a bunch of things we can to make their situation a little better.
Appreciate their contribution to the company verbally in private — Tell them sincerely and regularly that you really appreciate the job that they do. Look them in the eye and thank them for what they do. Tell them you understand that their job is not easy. Tell them you understand that, every day, they chose whether to be adequate or excellent at their jobs. (If you are thinking and acting like those people should feel lucky just to have a job, I’ll bet you have a lot of people in your organization who are choosing to be “adequate” as they perform their job. Doing just enough to stay off the bottom layer of the team but not one bit more.)
If you can only do one of the activities that I mention in this column, this is the one to do. Most people want to be appreciated and feeling appreciated helps them to get up tomorrow and do the “Same Stuff” with a smile.
Appreciate their contribution to the company in writing — A simple handwritten note has a significant impact on people. A couple years ago, I saw a person who had worked for me several levels down in a Fortune 100 company. She said, “You know, I still have the note that you wrote to me after the Doe Co. project. I really appreciated that you took the time to write it.” At the time, it had been about 20 years since I had written the note. I remember writing it, but I don’t remember what I said. It was an important reminder to me about the power of a thank you note or a note of appreciation.
Appreciate their contribution to the company in an e-mail — I think this has a lesser impact than a written note because there is so much other garbage in our “In boxes” every day. Sometimes a quick e-mail is all that there is time for so it is better than missing the opportunity to say thanks.
Appreciate their contribution to the company publicly — Public recognition is a difficult double-edged sword. On one hand, most people like to be acknowledged publicly for what they do. Plus it helps to show the rest of your team what they should be doing or striving to do. The other side is that your team may perceive the individual to be a butt-kisser who really doesn’t deserve the recognition. So you have to ask yourself whether the team will acknowledge and agree with the recognition.
Listen to them — I think in sales one of the most important skills and one of the best ways to show a customer respect is to listen to them. It is the same with your team. Take time to understand what they do and to dig into the good, bad and ugly parts of their job. Even if you can do nothing to change their situation, it matters that you listen. As you listen, make sure to give them your undivided attention. (Turn off the cell phone, hold your calls and close the door to prevent interruptions.)
As always, take notes as a sign of active listening and respect. Ask them about the problems they face in their jobs. Ask them what needs to be done to better serve the customer and to surpass the competition. I’m talking about the procedures, policies, coworkers, computer problems, competitors and other issues that sap their energy and make their job less fun or even miserable. Whenever they describe a problem, ask them if they know the answer or the solution. (Sometimes they have given a problem considerable thought and already know how to solve the problem...but nobody ever asks them.) As appropriate ask them if they would be willing to be a part of the solution. It is also important to tell people, up front, that you will not be able to solve all problems but you do want to be aware of them.
Work to eliminate some of their ongoing job problems — As I said above, you will not be able to fix many of the job problems that they might surface in your conversations. The greatest way to prove that you were listening and that you care is to take action on some of the problems that surface. Even small improvements can help.
Ask your people about problem customers — Simply giving your people a way to vent will reduce the potential of a customer service event. Express empathy, “Boy that really was a bad situation.” Ask if you can help, “Do you think it would help if I called him and discussed the situation?” Ask them what they think the company should do to prevent or address future problems. Suggest ways to deal with problems in the future.
I also think that reinforcing that the company doesn’t expect them to endure ongoing abusive customers. Tell them to keep their cool at all times regardless of what the customer says and does. Tell that that everyone has a bad day but you want to know if any customer is consistently difficult or abusive. Southwest Airlines has a formal or informal policy that was started by the founder that basically says the company will fire customers who are abusive to the airlines employees. I think the emotional impact of this policy has probably been pivotal in maintaining the moral of the airline’s team. (I fly Southwest Airlines a lot and over the last couple years, their team, though not perfect, has been friendlier than the other major carriers that I use.) The fact that the company has said that there is a limit, gives them a small amount of control which, in turn, can make the situation more tolerable.
Try to build some fun into the routine — I will admit that this is a tough thing to do. Especially when you are working to control expenses at every level. You don’t want to create a situation where everyone has fun but the work doesn’t get done. There are, however, lots of little things you can do to make the humdrum situation a little better. Some managers bring in donuts, pizza, chili or snacks for the team. Some have ongoing “contests” for the best maintained branch or warehouse with a token reward ranging from a trophy made from pvc pipe and fittings to “Mickey-D” gift certificates. Pick something that the team will find amusing and consistent with the keeping expenses down. (This is tough because there will always be cynics in the crowd, but you must try not to let a few negative people prevent the others from having fun.)
In these difficult times, your efforts to keep your team energized and upbeat can be one of the factors that allows you to do better than your competition and entitle you to a bigger share of the available market
To reiterate, if you can only do one thing, tell people face-to-face that you appreciate what they do. I have said for years that I start out believing that most people go to work every day wanting to do a good job. It’s the company’s obligation to make sure that the people know what a “good job” is and to show appreciation when they succeed in doing their job well.
For column reprint on setting standards for your team e-mail me at Rich@go-spi.com.