Employees Don’t Belong Under the Bus
We last talked about how customers are not always right. A bad habit that many business owners and managers have when they know the customer is wrong is to blame a front-line or lower level employee for the mistake to make the customer feel like they’ve gotten their way. Wham! The employee was just thrown under the bus.
First, it immediately betrays and damages the trust the employee has in you. Further, the employee will not be motivated to do their best work for you.
Second, if it happens more than once, you’ll have a full-blown employee morale problem because everyone will be waiting and expecting it to happen to them.
Lastly, the bad employee morale will quickly disintegrate into employee retention and turnover problems. If you’re not able to hold onto quality employees, then your business will never be successful.
So, what should you do instead?
First, clearly communicate and train all of your employees on business standards and expectations so that they can clearly identify when the business is at fault and when the customer is unreasonable.
Second, invest in training your staff in conflict resolution. Proper training will help prevent your employees from taking customer complaints personally. Additionally, it will enable them in deflating the situation so that it does not interfere with the business operation or generate negative impressions.Finally – and most importantly – when an employee makes a judgment call that is within the scope of their authority and within the standards and expectations that have been clearly communicated, then back them up! Support the decisions your employees make.
You could still find yourself in the role of mediator between the customer and your employee. In this situation, you have to find a solution that hopefully pleases the customer but that doesn’t undercut your employee. If possible, discuss the situation with the employee who made the decision and come to an agreement as to the best solution before presenting it to the customer. This way, if you have to move backwards from the decision the employee made, then they are part of the decision to do so.
When you support your employees’ decisions, you demonstrate how valuable they are to you. Further, you empower them to take greater ownership in the business operation and success – which can only help your business grow!
