Ask any business manager what it takes to satisfy customers, and you're likely to get a variety of answers ranging from "good location" to reliable products" or "knowledgeable service people." But, the fact is, effective customer service - the kind that makes your customers want to recommend your products and services to their friends - takes more than a strong product line and a clean large sales staff. There's behind-the-scenes, yet very potent, force you control that determines how your employees deal with customers and how those customers will regard your organization's commitment to service and satisfaction.
You, as a manager or owner, are responsible for the establishment of your organization's working "climate" which determines how your employees relate to the organization, react to each other and interact with customers.
If the climate you establish is pleasant - characterized by warm relations between employees and the gentle breezes of goal-oriented productivity and positive thinking - chances are good that customers will perceive your business as organized, efficiently run, and possessing the "sense of urgency" needed to attend to their individual needs.
If, however, the climate you establish is unpleasant - forcing employees to bundle up to protect themselves from cold relations, hard-frozen bureaucracy, foggy goals and unpredictable storm fronts - you're creating an environment that virtually guarantees low morale and poor productivity. Not only will the unpleasant organizational climate make it tough for employees to work efficiently, but it adds strain to their dealings with customers and makes your role as manager and problem-solver immeasurably more complicated.
Contrary to the opinions of many managers and business owners from "the old school," establishment of a warm organizational climate does not mean letting the employees rule the roost. On the contrary, extensive research into employee behavior in a variety of business environments has shown that employees are more productive, more willing to take direction, more loyal to the companies they work for, and less likely to leave their jobs when management establishes reasonable goals and creates warm, receptive working conditions.
In order to gain a better understanding of successful working climates, it's necessary to examine four aspects of power distribution within the business organization:
High and Low Energy Organizations
One of the most common bell-wethers of the climate being created in a business is the overall energy of the office. Offices are typically either high-energy, supercharged, get-things-done-now places or low energy, no hurry, country club management environs.
The high-energy office has a lot of demands made upon it. Those working within it seem consistently busy contributing to production. It's likely to be a young, vigorous organization not tied down by too many complex rules and regulations. Although overall productivity depends on the total distribution of energy within the system (which will be addressed momentarily), the high-energy office provides a great deal of mental stimulation for the people who work there. And even though some may grumble about the fast pace, most high-energy organization employees really wouldn't have it any other way.
The low-energy office, on the other hand, is the office where everybody always seems to be "taking it easy." It's made up of 9-to-5ers, the employees who take their time on even the most routine tasks. There's a lot of socializing going on. Nobody's in a hurry. Consequently, there's not a great deal of commitment to the work at hand or motivation to try anything new.
For you as a manager or owner, of course, the ideal situation is to create a balance between the two extremes. Yes, you want people to be energized, to get as much done as possible during the work day. Yet, you don't have the time - nor would it be wise - for you to hover over them all day, goading them to produce. Besides, employees need to have some degree of autonomy to control their own work rate. Try to balance the two extremes. Remember, too that even the positive effects of the best possible working climate can be canceled out by a manager or owner who neglects to set the professional standard for employees to follow.
In many businesses, as the size of the business grows the manager may tend to forget the importance of day-to-day contact with subordinates. The "transparent" manager or owner is one who spends most of the day in his office. He or she never ventures out into the plant. He doesn't stop for a moment to have coffee with an employee and discuss how their work in progressing. He or she doesn't know what new ideas the sales people are thinking of trying. It's not that he or she doesn't care. It's just that his or her business has grown, and he or she feels many of these aspects of the operation can take care of themselves. They can't! The manager or owner who doesn't go out of his or her way to communicate with his or her employees - through the usual channels and otherwise - will create a foggy climate of doubt and suspicion among the workforce.
Distribution of Energy
There are several ways of looking at how the total amount of energy is distributed among the employees in your company. The completion of day-to-day duties, assigned by job category or task, is one indicator of who's pulling the weight and who's not. Is everyone consistently busy, or are some employees not taxed to their full potential? Do clerks sit idle all morning and then become suddenly overwhelmed with huge volumes of completed work orders brought in from service people after lunch? A critical component of companies with successful energy distribution is the fact that everyone - from the top to the bottom of the organizational structure - constantly has something to do.
Effective energy distribution also involves cohesiveness of function toward the goals established. Are your employees really working together, or do some work toward the goals while others occupy themselves by engaging in ways to beat the system? Such self-protection devices - like overcoats to ward against sudden climate changes - would not be needed if employees, working together as a team, understood the organizational goals and were sufficiently motivated to reach them.
Another way of looking at energy distribution is comparing the energy spent on day-to-day tasks with that spent on planning for long-term growth and development. Are your workers just "shovelling snow off the sidewalk in a blizzard" - working hard, yet ending the day right where they started with no time for future planning? Everyone needs a little time out to think, work on developing new strategies, or handle non-routine work.
For you, as a manager or owner, the ideal situation to create is one in which all employees are involved in day-to-day tasks, where everyone in the company seems to be pulling his or her fair share of the workload. Yet despite the routine, every employee has some time set aside to plan for future growth or special projects, implement new ideas and techniques, or just talk with others about how to do tomorrow's job more efficiently.
And don't forget, managers must manage - they must maintain control over the operation of people and paperwork systems in the organization - without becoming "systems meddler" managers.
A systems meddler manager or owner is an individual who insists that all systems in all offices of the organization be developed the same way. There was once an upper-level manager in a service business who insisted that all his department had to use the same paperwork, format and organizational flow - right down to the way the furniture was arranged. This manager had a personal representative who visited the offices "teaching" employees she had never met and performing jobs she had never done the "correct" way to process orders, talk on the telephone, and even the correct way to organize files in file cabinets!
The result - in terms of individual office climates - was unsettling at best. In the reorganization phase, employees were angry and resentful of corporate hierarchy and hurt that their feelings were not taken into account. When the instruction was done and the instructor was gone, employees went back to their old ways of doing things.
The bottom line is: As a manager or owner, you're expected to provide direction and support, but realize that the employees doing the jobs day in and day out have a good understanding of the tasks at hand. Don't sell them short.
Employee Satisfaction
Everyone is different - and not everyone works well in any one particular climate. Do your employees enjoy coming in to work in the morning, and do they shed their protective clothing and settle down for a pleasant, productive stay? Or, do they keep bundled up in their mental overcoats, waiting for the last tick of the clock at 5 P.M. - when they blow out the door?
Frequently, a mismatch between an employee and the office climate results in the employee who joins the firms, stays a short time, then quits for a more suitable climate elsewhere.
But, far worse is the employee who quits - and stays. As the result of lack of attention or constant attention in the form of excessive negative criticism, this worker long ago gave up any possibility that his or her contributions will be recognized in the organization. This worker knows the assigned job and knows how to do just enough of the work to get along without making any waves. Don't ask this person to do anything special; don't ask for extra output or engagement in any new project. This employee has already quit - mentally - even though a physical presence in the workplace is maintained. Whatever you do as a manager or owner, avoid at all cost creating this kind of employee in your office.
Another word to the wise in regard to employee satisfaction: Examine the kind of physical environment you're asking your people to work in! After all, can you expect your employees - the people who carry the load of your business - to feel good about their work, when the environment they work in is unpleasant and uncomfortable?
Employee Growth and Development
Finally, what's the real chance that your employees will grow together, increasing their accountability and responsibility to the company? Do workers really have a lengthy future with the company to look forward to? Or are they locked into dead-end jobs where you only expect them to stay until they find a better climate somewhere else or simply outgrow their present salary? You can't expect a stellar performance from people who perceive that they are working for no one except you.
Your employees have an effect on the climate by the way they feel and act around the office. But you, as a manager, or owner, have an effect on that climate by the way you structure job duties and reinforce employee behaviors on these jobs. Bottom line: Treat your people as the important direct links to the customer base that they are, with the respect their positions demand.
Here are some suggestions for creating a pleasant, sunny work climate in your organization:
1. Foster consistent, honest communication between management and staff. You'll be surprised how much people will give to the company effort when they feel like they're valuable, trusted members of the team.
2. Together with your employees, set reasonable performance goals and create the necessary rewards for the above-and-beyond effort to reach those goals.
3. Use positive rather than negative reinforcement of behaviors. Basically, this means rewarding and encouraging people for on-the-job behaviors you like rather than punishing them for behaviors you don't like. Punishment never really stops undesirable behaviors anyway; it just tends to drive them underground so they take place when you're not looking! Besides, once employees know what your organizational goals are, understand that they have your support and feel they can trust you, you'll find their behaviors more in line with what you want to see anyway and have less need to reprimand.
In short, unlike the outdoor weather, the climate established inside your service organization is completely up to you - and completely changeable at your discretion. While every day can't be sunny in every organization, imagine how much more profitable and enjoyable the work climate could be if you started out right now looking for the sunshine - and chasing away the storm clouds!