Loyalty on the Front Line
December 6, 2011 by Joyce Richman · Comments Off
It wasn’t that long ago that business hired receptionists and clerical staff to answer phones, set appointments, do some billing and, generally speaking, manage the public. They wanted these folks to be warm, friendly, helpful, and have a good work ethic. Now those jobs are called “front line” and they come with a warning: “be careful out there”.
Companies still want their employees to meet, greet, and serve the public in ways that are inviting and encouraging. It’s just that front line employees are having a hard time dealing with an impatient, frustrated, understandably irritable, sleep deprived public that is unnerved by the considerable unknowns of recession and terrorism. This new breed of customer (client, patient, patron) wants what they want when they want it and will not tolerate anything short of complete and immediate submission and compliance. Although understandable, it’s not possible nor advisable.
Call them support or samurai, this isn’t the job they thought they were getting (at minimum or near minimum wages), and they aren’t going to keep taking it unless they’re supported and encouraged by the team they’re hired to protect and defend. Employers, already burdened by high costs and low profits can’t afford to pay more yet know they need to do more.
Here’s what they can afford to do:
Include these staffers as part of your team. Keep them in the loop regarding business developments and growth opportunities. Offer them ways to enhance their education with workshops and seminars; upgrade their skills with tutorials and classes; help them increase their ability to make a difference to you, the company they serve. And let them know that you appreciate their efforts.
People want to make a difference where they work, no matter what their job or level of perceived importance. Companies that do an excellent job of retaining their workforce, treat everyone as a valued employee. If customer service is #1, they treat their employees as they would their customers. They grow their own talent, promoting from within whenever feasible, and hiring from outside when they cannot; making sure that new hires are respectful of a culture built on a foundation of mutual regard and respect, without exception.
They encourage employees to maximize their talent and minimize their weaknesses, not the reverse. They delegate authority along with responsibility so that employees who demonstrate an ability to make good decisions are given the opportunity to do just that.
They cross train because it’s good for the employee and it’s good for the business. Employees want to learn new skills. Yes, it makes them more marketable and if you’ve created a place where they like to work, you’ll reap the benefits of what you’ve taught, because they’ll stay.
That takes us to the subject of loyalty, a subject that companies and employees alike ruefully describe as a remnant of the past. Is it gone or have we forgotten what it represents?
Let’s remember: Loyalty is a shared experience. It begins with our understanding and agreeing with the other’s mindset or vision. It takes root when we see the role the other can play in moving that vision from ideology to outcome. It flourishes when all participants play their part, when the mutual effort is successful, and when all involved reap the benefits of that success. Individual loyalty survives setbacks when there is mutual trust, when we’re honest with each other and share our information frequently and consistently. It survives misunderstandings by confronting problems and each other with candor, consideration, and objectivity.
If you assume that you buy loyalty with a paycheck or the acceptance of one, you will all be disappointed and grow increasingly cynical. Loyalty must be practiced, as you would practice any skill worth having. To take it for granted is to give it up.
Front line employees, from ground troops to mail carriers, medical receptionists to customer service reps, deserve our recognition that with or without title, designation, certification, or degree, they step up and do the job for each of us, everyday, because they believe it’s worth doing. It’s up to each of us to demonstrate our appreciation through simple acts of courtesy, consideration, and respect.
* * * *
Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:
Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.
All Talk + No Action = A Wake Up Call
November 15, 2011 by Joyce Richman · Comments Off
An African American woman had a wake up call she’d like to forget but clearly remembers:
Helen was an attorney in the legal department of a Fortune 100 company. She valued her work, her relationships with colleagues and the professional conduct of her company.
A year or so ago, the company’s human resources department organized a minority recruitment task force; its purpose to attract people of color to the corporation. They invited Helen to join.
True to their word, the HR team appeared eager to launch the recruitment drive. The membership was openly enthusiastic about the company’s resolve. There were a few minority members who voiced concern about retention. They described instances of recruiting employees who were touted as high potential, yet once hired, were not promoted nor encouraged to post for positions that would advance their careers. Instead, they were told, off the record, that although they were doing excellent work in their current positions, they’d have to leave the company to advance.
Helen had heard these stories before; that the effort to hire was there but the encouragement to stay was sadly lacking. She didn’t know the details; the who, when and why of the stories. She left it alone.
Helen asked the group to redirect its focus to its stated purpose: recruitment. She said she’d do her part by contacting former classmates and professors from her undergraduate and law school years, endorsing the company as a good place to work. Several minority colleagues pushed back, frustrated by her apparent lack of interest or involvement in what they believed to be important and disturbing issues. Helen felt they were overreaching and should get on with the job at hand, and said so.
Several months passed. Helen continued attending the sessions yet sat on the sidelines of discussion. The committee met with only limited success. There was a clear division between those who thought the company was making a concerted effort to recruit, and those who held that the recruitment strategy was a transparent effort that lacked integrity and long term commitment. They believed the company was failing to fulfill a basic ethic that assumes qualified individuals will be allowed to compete for bona fide positions, and if their track record merits, will advance within the organization that hires them. A growing number of committee members voiced growing concern that the HR department wasn’t acting in good faith by failing to investigate reports that minority promotions were non existent.
In the weeks that followed, Helen learned that her boss, the director of legal services, was leaving the company. Helen was a senior staffer who had often run the department in his absence. She had graduated from a top ten law school, had established a strong reputation in her field, and considered herself a good bet as his replacement, particularly since the company prided itself on promoting from within. To be on the safe side, she talked to her boss and asked for his take on her chances. Helen was stunned by his response.
He told her that she was his choice and would do an excellent job, but she wouldn’t get it. He suggested she not pursue it and instead apply for a director’s position with another company.
Helen was dumbfounded. She asked for an explanation and he said he wasn’t in a position to give one. She posted for the position, and was not asked to interview. The job went to someone from outside the company, with less experience and a less than stellar track record.
She applied for a director level position with three organizations, interviewed and received offers from two. She’s now working for a multinational company, leading a team of 9 attorneys. With strong support from her CEO, she’s instituted a company wide mentoring program that provides performance feedback to all employees of color who seek career challenge and promotional opportunity. Its purpose is to improve retention. Her purpose is to combine cautious optimism with realistic vigilance. She still shakes her head at her earlier “anyone but me” experience and doesn’t want another wake up call.
* * * *
Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:
Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.
Interviewers: Ace the Interview
January 11, 2011 by Joyce Richman · Comments Off
Interviewers who see themselves in the driver’s seat, need to check their side view mirrors. Their would be passengers can afford to be selective about where and with whom they climb aboard.
Job applicants can get mighty frustrated when they arrive at their interviews and are told ”we’re busy, come back tomorrow.” Most of them are currently employed and find it challenging to arrange time off without neglecting their ongoing responsibilities, and nerve wracking to explain their mysterious disappearances.
And there’s the other side. Interviewers have more to do than just, well, interview. Like the rest of us, they are multi tasking their way through days that require a quick response to many masters. They are doing the best they can. Unfortunately, juggling too many eggs at one time results in dropping a few along the way. When what goes splat are their applicants, the damage can be hard to estimate and the mess can be hard to clean up.
If you need a few examples from the annals of aggravated applicants, these might help:
“I was ready to jump in my car and head to my third and final interview when the phone rang. It was the employer’s secretary telling me that her boss was out of town and would reschedule my interview as soon as possible. When they didn’t call back, I called them. Their response? ”Didn’t anyone tell you? We aren’t hiring for that job anymore.”
“My husband accepted a job offer, passed the physical, resigned from his old job, and called his new boss to confirm a start date. The boss said that something had come up. He’d call right back. He never did.”
“I got to my interview with plenty of time to spare and wasn’t seen by anyone for two hours. No one could tell me what the hold up was or how much longer I should expect to wait. Finally, some guy said they were really busy; that I should come back another day.”
Recent calls and e-mails report more cases of applicant-neglect than I have space to print. I’m not the first person who will hear their story and I’ll not be the last. Bad news spreads quickly.
Why? People are more apt to talk about bad experiences when they believe that they have been dealt with badly. Maybe they’re trying to move past it and feel that talking about it will help. Maybe they want someone to say, ”You’re right. You were done wrong and that company shouldn’t have treated you that way.”
Is it fair, this one sided story telling? No, it’s not. But that’s the only side anyone who is willing to listen is going to hear.
You’ve all heard stories about companies with poor customer service and places that treat their employees badly. You know because the offended individuals tell you and everyone else they can find. You also know that unless companies change their ways, their turnover and related costs increase, and their customer base erodes.
Whether public or private, service related or product driven, companies are known for the way they treat people. Interviewing for a job is intimidating stuff. Rejection is a bummer. That’s life. There is no acceptable reason for companies to make the process more difficult or dehumanizing than it has to be.
And so, for those interviewers, and the rest of us, who sometimes lose sight of what’s really important, here are a few reminders:
Keep your word.
Say what you mean.
Be courageous.
Be courteous.
And tell the truth.
* * * *
Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:
Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.
