In the last post, we tackled the fact that many modern employees are “depraved on account they’re deprived.” They don’t know how to do some things you thought they would as an adult: have difficult conversations, make small talk, dress professionally, etc.
This is the hand a manager is often dealt. A lack of socializing and civilizing on the part of parents and society means managers are stuck doing some of that civilizing work themselves.
You can read about it in the previous post … but what do you do to handle the situation?
We’ve covered employee touch points before. There are many opportunities to “civilize.”
Development can happen through training. (You will have to set the expectations and show how to meet them.)
The workplace environment is enhanced when you are a role model. (You will destroy all your hard work if your actions contradict your words.) Many actions an enhance the environment.
At the core of all of these employee touch points are two questions.
I heard them linked in a story.
“Who are you! Why are you here!”
The story goes that a rabbi lost his way in a Roman garrison. A soldier, seeing him, issued the challenge: “Who are you! Why are you here!”
The rabbi (as often happens in these stories) was so sensitive to his spiritual life that he fell to his knees and offered to double the soldier’s pay if he would come to his house and ask him those two questions every day.
Who are you?
Why are you here?
Identity. And purpose.
Knowing the answers to these questions guides our behaviors in all endeavors.
Who are you?
Who are you? Perhaps you help employees answer this in the interview, defining the ideal candidate that you think they are. Or in the titles you give them (Salesman or Company Ambassador? Tech Support Rep or Customer Advocate?). Or when they achieve a training certification–the title may tell their identity, but the certification can show it.
If somebody believes that they are truly an ambassador of the company’s brand … a vetted contributor to the team … a valued employee backed by supervisors … they will not run away from tough situations.
An example: One of my clients recently had a visit from the vendor of their computer system. It was a tech support troubleshooter parachuted in for a difficult bug.
He made it clear in his speech that he knew who he was: “When we have an issue, I’m going to side with your team until Corporate understands. I’m not just saying that. That’s literally what I’m paid to be.”
You’ve seen employees do this informally. When they are off duty and socializing, if they hear of a customer problem, they will offer to help the customer or connect them with the company. They could easily ignore it, but they go above and beyond because they consider themselves representatives of the company.
Why are you here?
Likewise, a person who knows their purpose–the mission, the vision–confidently follows processes and makes decisions in the moment based on a defined “true north.” (Maybe it’s even defined on a card carried in their wallet.)
An example: I heard that Chick-fil-A’s famous line, “My pleasure!” bubbled up from employees. It was not an official rule that employees had to say it. Employees simply saw that the reason they were there was to serve others. To answer a customer’s thanks with, “No problem” would have been dishonest. Often, serving a customer is HARD! But if it’s done joyfully, it’s “my pleasure.”
I had a recent good experience with this after two flat tires on vacation. The tire stores’ employees were confident in taking me through the process, and it was clear that their responses were not scripted. They had bought in to “why they were there.”
Maybe you, as a firm, need to define your purpose more concretely. Maybe you need to have conversations with your team about how they see their identities.
How could you use these two questions, and the answers to them, in all your employee touch points?
One more suggestion: You should be coaching those team members until they leave you. (As Dr. Howard Hendricks said, “Training without coaching is a waste of time.“) Using the two questions, and referring back to their answers, are great fodder for good coaching conversations.