Customer Service Managers: Are You Going to Make Your Troops March?
He'd be paid in a manner that is precisely commensurate to his contributions.
He'd happily dispatch himself to work on time because he would appreciate how blissful it is to be well matched to one's job.
As a manager, you wouldn't have to push him or cajole or entreat him to do his best, because he'd gladly give 100% all of the time, finding joy in challenges, while embracing change.
It sounds like a fairy tale world that I'm painting, doesn't it?
But how different is this vision from that of organizational development gurus who believe that we can get the best contributions through team-building, fire walking, woodland and seaside retreats, and casual Fridays?
When all is said and done, if people know how you want them to work, and the best ways to get results for customers, then it is their job, as Nike says, to JUST DO IT.
In my experience as an employee, a manager, and a consultant I've detected that simply ORDERING people to do their jobs is the last thing most managers wish to do, yet it is necessary.
For example, I designed a major training program for a financial services company. More than 250 people were briefed about the program, taught its mechanics, and were expected to put them to work.
Days passed, and one of the senior managers whispered to me:
"They're not doing the program, why?"
"They're waiting for you to tell them THEY MUST DO IT," I replied.
She did, her people ended their procrastination and avoidance behaviors, and the results were stunning.
The firm's industry wide customer service rankings shot up to number one from twenty-four, and something even more marvelous occurred.
Employee satisfaction soared, as well. The people who we trained, who had to be forced to roll out the new techniques, got more satisfaction from their jobs. In fact, they topped all departments in employee satisfaction. Before the program started, they were dead last.
DISCIPLINE achieved these results. Sweet-talk and encouragement and appealing to the higher nature of associates didn't do the trick.
In fact, what are generally considered "enlightened" management practices only spawned co-dependency and regression.
Time and again, I've seen this pattern.
The price of leadership is temporary unpopularity. Managers need to forego their rapport with the troops in the greater interest of procuring victory.
Do the right things, achieve winning results, gain recognition as being an elite unit, and you'll rightly earn everyone's respect.
Related Tags: sales training, customer service speaker, ucla, customer service training, telephone training, theory x
Best-selling author of 12 books and more than 1,000 articles, Dr. Gary S. Goodman is considered "The Gold Standard" in sales development, customer service, and telephone effectiveness. Top-rated as a speaker, seminar leader, and consultant, his clients extend across the globe and the organizational spectrum, from the Fortune 1000 to small businesses. He can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com. Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles
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