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The loud woman at Starbucks

Guest post by: Howard Miller

Article Overview: Do you find any of your employees irritating?

The loud woman at Starbucks

I was meeting a client, who is a manager, at a local Starbucks.

It was mid morning and the place was pretty jamming due to the rain outside and the need for many to get their 2^nd or 5^th caffeine hit of the day.

One of the women behind the counter had a very loud and shrill voice. Over the downpour of rain and buzz of conversation, you could still hear her voice continuously.

My client lost focus because of this and mentioned how her voice was just getting to him.

I decided to use this as a learning opportunity.

I asked him if he could see this situation any other way.

No, her voice was loud and shrill and annoying!

But how was her customer service?

He thought about it.

Her customer service was pretty good.



Actually very good.



Thorough and energized.



She treated every customer has if they were special.

As he thought about this his focus returned. Her shrill faded as awareness of her excellent customer service grew.

To tell the truth, I had found this woman's voice a little shrill also, and by discussing this, her voice faded for me as well!

We make judgments on others based on our beliefs and tolerances. This is not objective, this is subjective.

What is the damage of doing this when we are leaders? How can we manage effectively when our subjectivity gets in the way?

When we recognize how our subjectivity gets in the way of evaluating performance:

• We can ask ourselves questions to gain a new perspective
• We focus so we can be more objective
• We can see solutions where we once saw problems

Or we can continue to let the shrill voice ring inside our head!

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Article Tags: absenteeism, acronyms, always, asking questions, behavior, behavior assessment, Change management, coaching, colloquialisms, communications, conflict, conflict resolution, consequences, dealing with difficult people, dealing with difficult situations, difficult personalities, DiSC, do as I say not as I do, effective questions, facebook, facts, fair, fairness, focus, gen x, gen y, generational differences, glass half empty, glass half full, how to deal with difficult people, humor, leadership, listening, management, management skills, management skills for new managers, managing techies, managing technical people, miscommunication, motivation, never, new managers, objective vs subjective, opportunities, optimism, personality, powerful questions, questions, rewards, shift, sometimes, time management



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