It’s a dreary day and the limited daylight hours are stifling any upbeat mood you’re trying to muster. Your sat nav has decided to go ‘off-piste’ and you now find yourself in an unknown, tired and sad-looking town somewhere in the south of England. Well… perhaps not you, but it certainly happened to me.
So… what do I do – find a coffee shop of course!
After passing several unappealing independents, those which I would normally always want to support, I decide to plump for one of the 3 big chains where I consider at least a standard cuppa is guaranteed… or in this case, not!
Every table is full, not with customers, but instead with dirty cups on sticky tables and stained chairs displaying previous customers’ preferred food choices. Holding the fort is one young barista eying up the three remaining cups available to her, yet still wearing a welcoming smile.
There could be 101 reasons for this scenario, but with ‘75% of employers report[ing] difficulty in filling roles’ (ManpowerGroup®, 2024), this could just be the reason for such poor customer value. If so, should we blame the business owner struggling to get staff, or the staff member who stands in that vulnerable position – right in front of us, the customer?
It sometimes feels as if this has become the new norm: poor customer service – whilst it’s difficult to see what or who to blame for it. Still, business owners, managers and leaders are able to change this situation; leaders can make efforts to improve the customer service of staff they lead, by checking whether as leaders they use the following positive tactics enough – and adopting them if they don’t.
Try these 5 leadership tactics
1. Proactively ask your staff about their ideas about how to address problems on the work floor.
It’s often the experienced (and, yes, even less experienced) workers that know how to increase efficiency, tackle stubborn sickness absence or low morale. Involving staff in improving work processes has the added benefit of making staff feel heard and be more involved.
2. Avoid delays in giving feedback.
Improving customer service is made easier if opportunities for improvement are flagged when they are noticed. Strike when the iron is hot – but strike without making too much noise, so to speak.
3. Make sure to see customer service as a top priority.
Whilst company value statements often claim that the customer is the main focus or the most important party in the mix, being able to translate this into micro-behaviours of staff is the way in which these statements are brought to life.
4. Give your staff a sense of ownership.
Leaders who imbue in staff a sense of ownership of the responsibility to treat the customer as they would want to be treated helps the staff to realise that they are given that mandate to treat the customer well.Creating that sense of ownership takes time and needs constant, repetitive attention.
5. Encourage your staff to self-reflect – Mirror, mirror on the wall.
Holding up a figurative mirror to staff can help staff become finely tuned to the impact of what they say and do, and how to ‘say and do’. In other words: effective leaders who value customer service find ways in which to demonstrate what excellence in customer service looks like.
By giving staff an opportunity for closer self-reflection, inviting staff to think of ways to polish up that mirror – staff can be mobilised to contribute ideas about ways in which they can strengthen their understanding of their impact of their style, approach, their actions and choices.
The above techniques need not cost the earth. These are leadership initiatives that concern a culture of learning, that appeal to openness to learning and a willingness to improve and to raise the bar. And not just for the sake of the customer.
So, if you’re the boss who can’t see the wood for the trees, pause, gather your staff and provide that platform for shared solutions. If your staff appreciate you, you might just become one of those 25% of business owners without a staff shortage, and, who knows, that last clean coffee cup might just be saved for you.
Source: ManpowerGroup® (2024). Spain, H., Rico, P. and Switzerland (n.d.). Global Talent Shortage 2024 Today, 75% of employers report difficultly in filling roles. Japan Global Average Talent Shortages Around the World IT & Data. [online] Available at: https://go.manpowergroup.com/hubfs/Talent%20Shortage/Talent%20Shortage%202024/MPG_TS_2024_GLOBAL_Infographic.pdf.
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