20Sep/13

Complaints: Do you Treat the Symptoms or Cure the Disease?

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Alexas_Fotos / Pixabay

 

Complaints vs Comps

Ever notice how many customer complaints are “solved” today by some sort of compensation? Comps have become the standard solution for addressing complaints but they do not fix the underlying problem. If you work in an office environment and don’t deal directly with customers you probably figure this doesn’t apply to you.  But it does – if only because comps have crept into our collective mindset as the way to solve problems.  Unfortunately, they don’t solve problems; in fact things can get worse because providing comps allow the bad practices to continue until they become standard ways of doing business.

Taking Complaints For Granted

A big part of your job as a manager is to recognize potential problems and fix them before they get to the “comp” stage – to be proactive.  Apologies and comps are reactive. Something goes wrong; we apologize and try to make it up to the customer. We have addressed the symptom (the situation) but not the disease (the underlying cause).

What’s the Real Issue?

Here’s an example. One evening I parked my convertible under a tree and forgot to put the top up.  The next morning the back seat was full of leaves along with a few gifts from the resident birds so I headed for the car wash.  I didn’t lower the top until the next day and when I did, I noticed that the back seat was still full of leaves and bird droppings.  Naturally,  I called and asked for the manager. The young man on the phone told me he wasn’t in at the moment but would call later me that day – he didn’t.  However, the next day, the assistant manager called.  I told him about my experience (the symptom) and that I had noticed a decline in overall quality (the disease) for some time.

The assistant manager heard that I had a bad car wash. Unfortunately, that’s all he heard.  His solution: come back and specifically ask for him but he didn’t want to learn more about the problem.  He wanted to make sure that I was “taken care of” so he started talking about discounts and a bunch of other things that had no bearing on the problem. When I tried to explain that the car wash wasn’t the problem he explained, “I need you to give me a chance to fix the problem, this is how we fix things”.  He was not trying to fix the problem – he was fixing what he thought was the problem. I knew that my next car wash wouldn’t be any better because he wanted to address the car and not the service.  After ten years of patronizing them, I’m looking for a new place.

Turning the Tide

My point is, as a manager your job is to not let things get to the point that your customers leave. Listen long and hard enough to find out what the real issue is. This will stop things from getting worse and salvage the relationship. The truth is when you only address the symptoms, problems persists.  You just buy time for the disease to spread.  In fact, you give your staff tacit permission to under perform because they count on you to take give the customer just enough to quiet them. The result is you now have a customer who is only partly satisfied and an employee that isn’t held accountable for the situation. Here are some suggestions to help you cure the disease:

Get to the heart of the problem from the start

Ask questions. Ask for real feedback. Why did you take the approach you did? Was it the right approach? What could you have been done differently?

Take it personally

See the problem as a reflection of your management skills. rust me, others will.  Put yourself in your customer’s shoes.  What got them to the point where they needed to contact you?  Would you accept the quality they received? Put yourself in your staff’s shoes.  Did they have the skills and tools they need to prevent the problem in the first place?

Take action

Engage and empower staff. Talk candidly about complaints and seek collective solutions. Do you need to provide additional training or tools? Can you empower them to make certain decisions or take actions without you? Is it a topic for team training? Is it a discipline issue? Talk to other managers. Do they have similar situations (it may not be isolated to your staff)? Find out if your boss has any insight.

To learn more resolving complaints, check out our services here.

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13Sep/13

Why Document?

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Close-up of open notebook with white lined pages and a pen in the fold on a brown wooden desk

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Open notebook with blank pages

Documenting Performance

We Need to Do it

Why document indeed? You’ve been working on the job for a few months now and you’re finally settling into your role as “the boss”. You’ve got some great team members, a couple of whom really stand out. Of course, you’ve also got a few that are so-so. Before you know it, it is bonus, reorg, layoff or promotion time. Are you ready to make the big decision? Do you know how (or even if) a team member contributed? Do you remember specifics? If you’re like many managers, the answer is probably “not really”. You get frustrated and stressed because you can’t support personnel actions except by gut check. Repeat after me: “If you didn’t write it down, it didn’t happen”.

But Why is it so Difficult?

I hear the rumblings now, “I don’t have time to write everything down. I have my own work to do”. Guess what? This is your work and it’s not as painstaking as it sounds. As long as you act in the moment-If you wait until you need to act, it’s too late. It’s not that difficult if you develop good habits from day one.Don’t be afraid to  make the team aware of your expectations. It’s only fair that they  know that you will not only assign their work, but you will also observe, coach, praise, correct and yes, document it to make sure you get things right. It is also important that they understand that documentation is only one of the tools available to you to help them succeed. Make it about their success and they will understand.

Documenting Basics

Okay, so you know why you need to do it and ways to explain the need to your team.  The question remains:  How do you do it?Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

• Document incidents and situations with the understanding that everything is subject to scrutiny (and possibly subpoena). Don’t let that stop you. Make sure the document is dated and stick to the facts. You are not writing a novel, you are describing an interaction. Who, what, when, where, why and how works just fine. Don’t elaborate but include any evidence you have to back up the facts. No, you don’t have to document every time Jane is late for work but you do have to document every time you talk to her about it (By the way, after the first counseling, I would document every time she was late).

• Keep the language objective. State what the employee did or did not do. Avoid characterizations and judgments to express employees (“George’s stupidity resulted in xyz”). Instead document the effect of the action (“George’s direct actions resulted in xyz”).

• Send a confirming email after the conversation. Request a “read” receipt so that have evidence that the email was at least opened.

• If in doubt, check with HR. Your HR manager can walk you through the company’s best practices and how to deal with the legal requirements of what to document and how long to keep it.

Keep in mind – when it comes time to justify your decisions whether it’s a promotion or a termination, it’s a lot easier if you can cite specifics. When you right it down in the moment, you  have facts, not emotions to back up your words. Make it a habit from the start and you won’t have to struggle through the documentation drama.

Unsure how to start?  Check out our services here.

Note: This blog is not intended to be legal advice. It is intended to demonstrate the importance of early and effective documentation. Consult your HR professional or general counsel for your specific situation.

 

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23Aug/13

Playing the Tape Forward

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How it Started

September 11, 2001 was a day that no one will ever forget. As I watched the newscast of the Twin Towers falling, I actually had something else on my mind.  That day, I and 11 of my peers were about to convict a man of murder. Eventually we got bogged down trying to understand the sequence of one occurrence. One juror said “play the tape forward and see where it takes us”.  For me, a light bulb went on and I finally grasped the hazy concept of “critical thinking”.

Exactly what is critical thinking? Do we learn it or are we born with it?  Is it the higher thinking that we see in philosophy students or can we find it in a 5th grader? I believe the answer is “yes” to these questions. What’s important is to recognize the context in which we ask our team to apply it. In other words, break it down and be specific to your situations.  You say, “Carol, your goal for the year is to improve your critical thinking skills” Before you know it, she has enrolled in a philosophy course and is quoting Kierkegaard. Great for her, not so good for you since all you want is for her to realize that she can handle some things without coming to you, if she only thinks about it. You don’t need her to figure out the meaning of life, you need her to figure out that point A eventually leads to point Z and all points in between. In short – you just want her to play the tape forward.

So Where Do You Start?
  • First things first – does Carol have not only the ability, but the willingness to start the tape?  If not, that’s a different problem.  Solve it or you’ll just be spinning your wheels.
  • Explain the problem, the process, the expectation and the consequences (Hint: make this a part of every coaching plan with every employee)
    • Problem “Carol you continuously come to me with things I know you are capable of handling on your own (give example).
    • Process “By working together, I believe that we can get you to a place where you feel confident enough to recognize and take charge of appropriate situations.  We’ll be doing some one-on-one coaching and feedback sessions based on my personal observations of your work.”
    • Expectation   “My expectation (yes, use these exact words) is that by _____, the number of times you bring me things that you can deal with will show a marked decrease (agree upon a metric to show progress)”.
    • Consequences “Please understand that If there is no improvement or a decrease by _____ your next performance appraisal will show a “needs improvement” in this area. (Important: negotiate a date with Carol. This not only gives her a deadline for improvement; it also gets her commitment for the process).
  • Encourage and assure – By this time poor Carol is probably afraid she’s going to be fired.  That means you have her undivided attention. Now’s the time to take it down a notch.  Let her know that you honestly believe that together the two of you can make progress.  After all, if you didn’t think things would improve you wouldn’t be willing to spend the time and effort.

Once you and Carol have discussed and agreed upon the basics, document the conversation and get to work. As the boss, it’s your obligation to devote serious time and energy to helping Carol improve. Observe her work and take note of how she handles situations. Do it often and make sure she knows you’re doing it. You are not a spy, you are a coach.

Use observations to teach, praise and correct (Note: praise in public, teach and correct in private. You are also building Carol’s confidence to take on more responsibility). Above all, be specific “I noticed that you figured out xyz on your own.  In the past you would have come to me for input and I really appreciate that you thought it through and took ownership – Thanks”.  Teach and correct in private; again be specific.  “When you asked me yesterday how to do xyz, I thought that it was something you could have thought through and handled without me.  Let’s meet for a few minutes to play the tape forward and figure out where you got stuck”.

Don’t let the term “Critical Thinking” scare you.  For most of us it’s just Common Sense 101.  Let me know how it works.

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