I hear it all the time; someone will tell me they would never go to the supply closet, remove a pack of “Post-it Notes” and bring it home with them, because that would be stealing. But these are the same people that will spend twenty minutes standing around the water cooler, with three other coworkers, and gossip about last night’s football game. The gossiping is far more expensive to the company.
Someday I’m going to write a book about this topic and call it, “Go Ahead and Steal the Post-it’s, Then Get Back to Work!”
The employee must understand, from the manager’s coaching, there is a relationship of Mutual Benefits between themselves and the company that hired them, you do your job and the company will write you a paycheck.
But too many employees don’t think in terms of Mutual Benefits, they think they’re entitled to the check simply by showing up. These people don’t understand their responsibility to the company, to the customer, and to do their jobs. But, when employees have the attitude of Mutual Benefit, they are at the starting point of genuine customer service.
Once an employee knows and understands the importance of Mutual Benefits, they can now practice the skill of Ask/Listen/Respond.
Ask/Listen/Respond is a skill that every manager must coach into every employee. All of the three steps must be done and done in order. Too many people think they know all of the answers and begin trying to respond to the customer’s issues by immediately talking without asking what it is the customer really needs. These employees like the sound of their own voice and respond too much. Or, too many employees ask a lot of questions, listen to the customer’s needs, and then, when it’s time to make a decision; they transfer the customers’ call to another employee. These employees are afraid to make a decision. They are caught-up in what I call, “perma-prepare” they are permanently preparing to make a decision, they just never do.
Once your employees have the attitude of Mutual Benefit and the skill of Ask/Listen/Respond, you and the company will benefit in three significant ways.
7slightedges 