Happy employees make for happy customers. You've heard that before, along with 'Your employees will treat your customers the same way they're treated' or 'Do unto your employees as you would have them do unto your customers.' Sure, you've heard all that before - but have you really heard it?
A good friend is an upper-level manager in the claims department of a large Medical Malpractice insurance company. He has been bending my ear for nearly a year about the poor levels of morale in his company. Recently I got a couple of calls from him during a single day.
The first call was reservedly optimistic. He explained that all managers had received a memo from top management acknowledging a morale problem with the troops. The memo contained about 20 ideas on how managers could improve morale and solicited additional suggestions from them. My friend was glad the problem was being brought out of the closet but worried that it might only be rhetoric. He thought the list looked like someone had copied it off the Internet.
He went on to say that he was going to be doing his part at lunch. One of his staff members had just been promoted, and he was throwing a little party for her.
Later that afternoon he called again, sounding like a man who'd gone 12 rounds on the losing end of a fight. He'd just been chewed out by his boss. As per normal practice, he had sent an intracompany e-mail announcing the promotion of his staff member. 'Why did you send this to all of the claims offices in the company?' asked his boss with a frown. 'The other managers are calling in a fury because now they've got their people on their backs about when they're going to get promoted.' My friend simply threw up his hands and said, 'I surrender!'
Inconsistency is alive and well in today's corporate culture.
On a somewhat similar note - at least regarding managerial attitude - I recently attended a vibrant breakout session on Generation Xers at a conference. Most of the attendees were excited about learning how they could better understand and manage this somewhat puzzling group. But there's always an exception. As I poured myself a cup of coffee, I asked a nearby agency owner how he liked the session. With fangs bared, he proceeded to tell me it was a waste of his time. 'Who do they think they are to be telling us how to manage them. They need to wake up and get with it!' A firm believer in picking my fights wisely, I quickly determined this one wasn't worth the effort and quietly excused myself.
The obsolete manager is alive and well in today's corporate culture.
Going back to the sayings this article began with, I wonder what level of service is provided by employees of a company where you can get in trouble by congratulating someone on their promotion. As for the employees of my coffee-bar buddy, I imagine that both his employees and his customers alike might soon 'wake up' and leave.
When it comes to your employees, live by the Golden Rule. In turn, they'll apply that same yardstick to your customers - and everybody wins.