The following post was originally published on July
14, 2014 at www.drivingresultsthroughculture.com. It was written by my friend Chris Edmonds, whose new book, The Culture Engine, has just been released. I'm reading it - it is GREAT. I am sharing his blog post here with his permission, so you can get a glimpse of why I consider Chris one of my long distance mentors.
Demand Nice
A recent news story about a local diner caught my eye. The
owners and staff are creating a comfortable customer experience that diners
love.
The food is
terrific, the staff is modeling great service, and the environment is safe and
inspiring. Staff love it and customers love it. Business is booming.
Safe and inspiring
work environments – for employees and customers – is unfortunately not normal.
It’s all too rare, even if leaders want that kind of environment.
How do you craft a
safe and inspiring environment? By demanding that people be nice in every
interaction.
The diner owner has
a big sign posted near the front door stating, “Be Nice or Leave.” The owner
said, “If staff members can’t be nice, they can’t work here. If customers can’t
be nice, they can’t eat here. Life is too short to put up with mean people.”
The “Be Nice or Leave” concept has been popularized by the
talented Dr. Bob, creator of gorgeous New Orleans folk art.
How nice are
leaders and team members in your organization to each other? How nice are
leaders and team members to your organization’s internal and external
customers?
Setting clear values expectations – with behavioral
definitions – is a great start to a nicer, more civil work environment. But setting
expectations alone won’t align behavior. Holding people accountable
for those behaviors is how one ensures a nicer workplace.
One culture client
implemented values and behaviors in their stores. Store leaders received
training in the new approach before the valued behaviors were put into place.
Store leaders and employees “signed up” – literally, they signed a form – to
model the new values and behaviors in every interaction.
These behavioral
expectations allowed team leaders and members to raise questions with
borderline behaviors, promptly and confidently.
One store employee
was known to have a bad temper. She could “fly off the handle” – storming into
the stock room, cursing like a longshoreman – at the slightest provocation, by
peer or customer.
Soon after the
values and behaviors were announced, she popped a cork at work. She barely
contained herself in the store’s public areas – but as soon as she got into the
stock area, the curse words flew, loud and long.
Her employee peers
heard it (they couldn’t miss it). Customers on the floor heard it too (again,
it was impossible to miss).
The store manager
and her team leader approached her promptly. Behind closed doors, they
explained that the employee had broken one of their new team citizenship valued
behaviors: “No cursing, no tantrums.” They coached her to ensure she understood
that her behavior could not continue if she wanted to remain a company
employee. She understood, and calmly went back to her station.
I wish I could say
that this conversation stopped her bad behavior forever. It didn’t. She popped
her cork later the same week, and was suspended for that infraction. She chose
to leave the company rather than return to work.
If your workplace
tolerates bad behavior of any kind, refine, refine, refine so it is
consistently nice. You’ll enjoy better employee engagement, customer
experiences, and performance – and profits.
Chris Edmonds is
the founder and CEO of the
Purposeful Culture Group,
which he launched after a 15-year career leading and managing teams. Since
1995, he has also served as a senior consultant with the Ken Blanchard
Companies. Chris has delivered over 100 keynote speeches to audiences
as large as 5,000, and guided his clients to consistently boost customer
satisfaction and employee engagement by 40+% and profits by 30+%. He is the
author or co-author of six books, including “Leading At A Higher Level” with
Ken Blanchard. His next book,
"The Culture Engine:
A Framework for Driving Results, Inspiring Your Employees, and Transforming
Your Workplace" will be published by John Wiley & Sons
in September 2014.
Are you a critical thinker?
