Managers often tell their staff to greet every single guest without fail, yet the managers themselves frequently fail to greet their staff. These same managers preach that their teams must be friendly and always demonstrate a great attitude, but then they walk around with a sour disposition, angry or introspective faces, and a bad attitude. Sometimes, our managers make the worst examples in the workplace.
Although managers require their employees to use a guest’s name as often as possible to personalize interactions, they frequently forget to use their employees’ names. The list of hypocrisies could continue for pages, but the point is that we must have integrity with our people.
According to Karin Yapalater, a board-certified integrative health counselor and author, communicating with integrity requires objective thinking. “How much of what people say do they mean?” Yapalater asks. With managers, the answer is often that they mean for others to do what they require (such as greeting guests and remaining positive), but they do not have the authenticity to mean it for themselves.
Managers create the climate in which associates will either want to provide great service or not. A large part of their determination is what the associates see the managers doing.
We all recognize that great service is about doing little, thoughtful things consistently: these small things mean a lot in terms of human interaction and relationship extension. A smile, open body language and an attentive disposition will go a long way in making a customer relax and adopt a similar, positive tone. Similarly, in order for a manager to be a true leader, he or she must show these small courtesies to the staff in order to demonstrate what is expected. Demonstrative leadership will train employees on what is expected much faster than simply telling them what to do.