Drawing the Line
"My tech yelled at a customer..."
"She is constantly pointing out where our services fall short..."
"His email complaining about the situation made me mad..."
Each of these situations is true. It may have happened or is happening in your organization. Should you tolerate a tech, or any employee who yells at a customer? Is it really worth it to keep a "Negative Nancy" on the team? (People who point out flaws are men as often as women.) You're busy and have enough stress. Should you tolerate someone who sends you a flaming email?
THE ANSWER: It depends.
- Yells at a customer: What if the person yelling at the customer is you, or your partner? What if the employee doing this is under a lot of stress personally and you are aware of it? There are reasons why the person may deserve a second chance. As a leader did you put them in an environment where they can perform their best and avoid mistakes due to lack of competency or a temporary personal deficiency? Are they properly trained? Is their workload too heavy? Employees who have clear systems for service delivery and understand how their work is personally meaningful to them would never yell at a customer. These are the first two strands of 3strands LEADERSHIP.
- Negative Nancy: Is the person right? Are you or any other key employees complaining about service problems or regularly suggesting improvements? Is it just this person's style that bothers you, or the fact you know they are right? This comes back to how the employee is being managed and trained. In particular, the employee may not feel their suggestions are being heard and fully considered. This tells them that you do not trust them and value them as a member of your team. If this is the case then you are violating the third strand of 3strands LEADERSHIP.
- Flaming email: The next time you receive an email that makes you mad just stop and catch your breath. Ask yourself, is the person right? Are they even partially correct? Most of the time they are, and leaders of integrity need to start by taking ownership for their own mistakes. Accept the fact email is a terrible form of communication. Train your people how to correspond appropriately and systems to avoid sending emails that can be offensive. If the person is at least partially right then do not skewer them. Look at the positive side: They care enough about your relationship to raise the issue. It is consistent with the first strand of Systematic Leadership for 3strands LEADERS to tolerate an occasional emotional outburst, particularly when it was done in private such as an email.
Clearly some of these situations may justify discipline or even termination. Nevertheless it is important to consider all of the facts and not be driven by our emotions when we conclude that someone has crossed the line and there should be consequences.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Employee problems are symptoms. The disease is leadership flaws. How we respond to others' mistakes says more about us than it does about them.
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Email me if you have any questions.
There are a lot of different roads you can go based on the three points I make above. Just taking time to explore those is plenty for one meeting.
If you believe your company culture should be stronger and the leaders in your firm would benefit from some training, then consider our All-In LEADERSHIP program. It is a bargain.
