Making Attitude Adjustments - Improving customers service behaviors other than replacing people

Not long ago, if a customer service employee fouled-up, he or she was warned, then if improvements didn’t happen, was shown the door. In today’s workplace however, where it’s so difficult just maintaining staffing levels, dismissal doesn’t really fix the problem – it just changes the problem. That means it’s more important than ever for managers to be able to confront unacceptable employee behaviors without causing the person to simply walk out and get a job elsewhere. Next time one of your frontline employees needs an attitude adjustment, consider how this teacher handles a surly student…

Imagine you are a twelve year old who hates school. You despise it so much that you can hardly wait till you’re old enough to drop out. It’s late one Friday afternoon and you’re stuck in math class gazing out the window at the beautiful day, counting the minutes until the bell rings and the weekend starts. Your reverie is suddenly interrupted by the sound of your teacher’s voice. He’s in the middle of issuing a three-page homework assignment due on Monday. You and several other students start groaning. He looks directly at you and says in a low, serious voice, “I’d like to speak to you in the hallway—right now.”

Now, you’re embarrassed and you’re probably angry. Mostly you’re scared about what’s next. Then it happens.

Looking you square in the eye in the deserted hallway the teacher says, “I’ve been watching you lately and I’ve noticed that you have real leadership potential. When you act a certain way, other students watch you and start doing the same thing. The problem is that when I give a homework assignment, you start rolling your eyes and saying, ‘Oh, no! Do we have to do this?’ Other students watch you and start doing the same thing. That makes my job harder. I wonder if you could do me a favour? Next time I give a homework assignment, could you just do nothing? It will help me, and I also think it will help you because with your leadership abilities you could go a long way in life. Thanks. Let’s go back inside the class.”

Not a bad way of handling a problem student, in theory at least. But as Paul Harvey would say, “That’s not the rest of the story.” The rest of the story is that the twelve-year-old was me.
I hated school so much that I counted the days until I was old enough to drop out. I remember the afternoon in Varsity Acres Elementary math class when my teacher, Mr. McCullough, gave us that homework assignment. I was trying to look cool as I was being marched into the hallway. But I was scared. When Mr. McCullough gave me that two-minute talk, however, it changed my life.

Here was a teacher telling me I could be a leader and showing me a simple way I could make it happen. My parents had always encouraged me and told me I had potential—but they were only my parents. At twelve years old, what do your parents know? I took Mr. McCullough’s advice, and it changed everything. From that day forward, I got along better with teachers and, not surprisingly, received better grades. I ended up staying in school because Mr. McCullough knew how to change a cynical kid’s attitude. I’ve thought about that conversation many times since then and realized as I began studying frontline employee motivation, that he did two things particularly well…

Two keys to corrective feedback
First, he focused on behaviour, not attitude. In other words, it doesn’t do much good for a manager to tell employees that they are not friendly enough with customers. Friendliness is an attitude. The employee thinks, “I am friendly! You’re being unfair.” Instead, a supervisor would get better results by focusing on observable behaviour. The supervisor might say, “The customer walked in. You avoided making eye contact until she asked you a question. Then you frowned as you responded.” That’s observable behaviour. No one can argue the facts. That leads us to a second reason Mr. McCullough’s approach worked.

He gave a positive direction. He told me exactly the behaviour change that needed to be made (“Next time I give a homework assignment, could you just do nothing?”) In the case of an unfriendly employee, we might say, “The expectation here is that within ten seconds of a customer walking in the door you are expected to smile enough to show teeth and greet them.” In other words, rather than saying you need to be more friendly, explain exactly what that looks like. Add to that your underlying belief in the potential of the employee and you could end up making a significant impact not only on your company but also upon the lives of your employees. Maybe, like me, they’ll not only improve their behavior, they’ll also remember fondly what you said decades later.


Making Attitude Adjustments - Improving customers service behaviors other than replacing people - To learn more about this author, visit Jeff Mowatt's Website.

Like this article? Share it with your friends

E-Mail | Print | More

Related Articles
Do You have a Selling Attitude?
	Don’t confuse a positive attitude with a selling attitude if you want sales success. You can have the most positive attitude of anyone in your field yet absolutely stink when it comes to results.
How to be Lucky in Sales
	Some say that it takes luck to be a truly successful salesperson. I'm not so sure. Read on and you be the judge.
Remember, it is only the Behaviors that count!©
	All the training in the world is irrelevant if it doesn't lead to new behaviors. So that is what the sales manager should focus on - behaviors.
Sales Success Tip-You MUST Know the Answer to This Question
	Asking your prospects good and timely questions is one of the most important skills you can acquire. But even more important is the question you must ask yourself.
I'm Being Overworked!
	This is in response to an individual who felt she was being asked to do too much. Her company had stopped filling positions of people who had left and the remaining employees were having to take up the slack. She ...

---

Related Forum Posts
	Update: Making Your First Million ebook
	Giving Free service/goods
	Re: Due Diligence, Market Research.. Ahead of the curve.
	Re: Hi I'm new here
	Avoid scams and earn trust?
	Due Diligence, Market Research.. Ahead of the curve.
	How to develop sales contacts?
	Sack Them or Let Them Wither

---

Related Businesses - Evan Elite Authors

Dianne Crampton Dianne Crampton is an Executive Leadership Coach and Team Building Consultant and creator of the TIGERS team development model. For the past twenty years she has helped leaders and teams achieve goals with high levels of collaboration and teamwork. Crampton is a published author. Her contribution to Working Together: Diversity As Opportunity was endorsed by Stephen Covey. She has written for trade magazines. Merrill Lynch nominated her business for Inc. Magazine’s regional small business and entrepreneurial awards. Her work with Native Americans was recognized at a United Nations sponsored conference in 1994. The TIGERS model passed two rigorous validation studies in 1992 and 1994. The TIGERS Survey is able to measure and track team development over time. Dianne is also the creator and distributor of the TIGERS Team Wheel game. This game helps groups identify behaviors that build collaborative groups and behaviors that cause conflict, morale problems, production failures, and misunderstandings. For more information, or to subscribe to TigerTracks, a free monthly leadership and team newsletter go to http://www.corevalues.com - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website

Dr. John Oda John Oda Ph.D NLP is a business peak performance expert, an author, and speaker frequently called upon to provide corporate training, workshops and seminars for many companies in the United States. He is an expert in coaching sales and business professionals in overcoming the behaviors and obstacles that may impede their sales results and affect their bottom line. Since 1995, John has created a speaking bureau such topics, which include: time management, sales training, human diversity, leadership programs and etc. He provides companies with a strategic plan to increase their bottom line by over 25 percent yearly. - Visit Dr. John Oda's Website

Accessible Business Consultants Dave Turkin, President, of Accessible Business Consultants is a full service business consultant that has over 32 years of experience working with small-medium size businesses. Dave has designed and implemented numerous business and marketing plans, designed internal programs for accounting and operational procedures. He has analyzed businesses and prepared strategic plans setting budgets for growth, expansion and business restructuring. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of various corporations as an advisor. For many years he has been the Business Coach to many executives offering advice and guidance from old and established companies as well as new companies just getting started. Dave has the ability to analyze a business quickly and get a strong indication as to the necessary steps to improve operations, productivity and profitability. - Visit Accessible Business Consultants's Website

Anne Barr Anne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website

Vwodek Wojczynski Business Coach and Consultant Vwodek Wojczynski (pronounced Voy-chin-ski) brings fun, awareness, accountability and fresh perspectives based on his diverse experiences in life and business. Born in Poland and educated in Greece and Canada, he is trilingual with 8 years experience in business development with clients in Canada, USA, Switzerland and Poland. His approach is systematic and process-driven. He fuses the know-how of proven business methods with his commitment that entrepreneurs experience satisfaction and joy based on their values, motivations and strengths. He believes that businesses succeed based on their ability to generate value by providing what’s needed and wanted. Ultimately, he trains executives and true business owners - people who work less, produce more, own businesses that run automatically after a while and make a difference globally. His current research focus is the development of intelligent business systems and the application of emerging artificial intelligence technologies in business. He is also an avid traveler, spoken word performer and visual artist. He resides in Toronto, Canada. - Visit Vwodek Wojczynski's Website

The Evan Elite Authors program is currently in beta phase. For details please contact us.