The KJRs: Positive Reinforcement

By John R. Nocero, Ph.D., MBA, CCRP, GCP, CC, ACB & Katherine J. Pryor, MPM, CPM

This month, we have seen two separate incidents of managers admonishing employees in front of customers. This type of behavior makes us shudder and in general, is poor form. In both cases, it was especially erroneous on the managers’ parts because they were discouraging quick, creative, solution-oriented, and customer-service focused thinking. Additionally, a precedent was set that the manager was not a reliable life-line or a leader.

There are going to be times where immediate corrective action is necessary. For instance, when an employee is giving incorrect information to a customer or when the employee/customer interaction is escalating negatively. In these situations, a competent manager and leader will step in, find out what is needed, provide it, and then talk to the employee in a private place using the instance to provide re-training if necessary.

In the two cases we recently witnessed, the managers made regrettable mistakes showcasing themselves not as leaders but as adversarial people in positions of authority. Not only were they rude to their charges but they were effectively shutting down creative thought. As we previously discussed in T.E.A.M, being a team leader is a role of great responsibility that when done consistently, can elevate your team and each individual team member to the next level. Authority wielded alone may get results because people who fear you will do what you want, up to a point. But people who respect you will go to the ends of the earth for you.

In the first situation, there was a problem with a hotel bill. The employee with whom this was discussed asked a series of relevant questions to understand the problem finding out that a colleague had checked in at the same time and that her bill was correct. Upon hearing this, the employee went to the other record to see how the information was entered – this was a smart move in that she was able to compare the two records to see how they were alike and how they differed. In some cases, this would offer a quick solution to the problem. After not being able to make any corrections, she went to get her manager for support. Again, this was the right thing for the employee to do. She tried to fix the issue herself, was not able so went to her manager for additional guidance, all while keeping the customer’s need in mind.

When the manager came out, she was dreadful to the employee. She was rude, abrasive, and not helpful. She embarrassed her employee rather than providing support and did not provide a solution to the issue at all. The experience will stick in the minds of anyone who witnessed it and will fracture, if not destroy, the working relationship between those two people.

The second incident was in a commonly busy store at lunch-time. Customers have limited time anyway. The cashier provided some cost-saving information to two customers who then went in search of their additional item. Instead of halting the growing line to wait for the customers to return, the cashier opened another line and continued taking customers. This was quick thinking and customer-focused action which should be praised whenever seen.

When the manager sauntered through, she did not offer to help ring purchases but asked the employee if she had opened two registers to which the employee responded “yes.” Rather than take in the scene or ask why, the manager responded, “don’t do that.” The employee started to explain and again, the manager said, “don’t do that.” By shutting down this customer-focused approach and doing so in a public manner, the manager has indicated to the employee that she is not a support and not someone that the employee can come to with issues or questions – in short, not a leader. Arguably, there are issues with one employee having two registers opened but these can be reconciled once the line is cleared and further documented by a quick memo, if necessary.

In both cases, since the managers clearly did not like the actions taken by the employees, the situations should be discussed but in a private setting where they could talk through the process, discussing what may have a better option to handle the situations. If the managers were to do this, they would show themselves as leaders, build more positive relationships with their employees, and increase their influence rather than discourage creative thinking, creating a chasm amongst their team, and showing poor behavior in front of customers.

Bottom line: as a leader and a person, you have seemingly endless choices to make on a daily basis. Two choices you should always make are to praise creative, solution-oriented behavior and if necessary correct behavior in private. Praise publically and often. Correct with respect and in private.

The KJRs: Managers. Researchers. Leaders

Published every Monday on LinkedIn