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We Get What We Expect to Get. What Are You Expecting?
By Richard Hadden and Bill Catlette
OK. I admit it. I like fried chicken. I know it clogs my arteries, but occasionally I indulge. So last week I stopped at the drive-thru at the world's best-known chicken house to pick up a bite. They were in employee recruiting mode, as fast-food places often are. I couldn't help but see a sign, strategically placed in the drive-thru lane, that featured the company's mascot, the friendly southern gentleman with a white goatee, with the words, "Why would you want to work anywhere else?"
The very next vision that came into my field of view provided plenty of answers to the question.
An angrily handwritten sign taped to the manager's door, in plain view of every customer waiting at the pickup window, that read, "ABSOLUTELY NO ONE IS ALOWED (sic) TO ENTER THIS OFFICE UNLESS I'M IN IT, AT ANY TIME, FOR ANY REASON!!! THAT MEANS YOU!!!", and signed, "The Management".
Assuming "The Management" has done its job and hired well, a simple verbal request to respect the privacy of the office would be sufficient, and would serve to keep internal issues out of the eyes of paying customers. Any employee who demonstrates, a couple of times, an inability to honor that request doesn't get to work there.
If you can't trust your employees to stay out of the manager's empty office when asked, how can you trust them to put all the money in the drawer, upsize the order, and distinguish between original and extra crispy?
By contrast, I just spent several days with a most impressive group of young professionals on the management team of Nashville, Tennessee-based Genesco, Inc. If you've ever bought shoes at a Jarman, Journeys, Underground Station, or Johnston & Murphy, you've been in one of their stores.
This particular group was assembled for a meeting of Journeys Managers, from the store, area, regional and divisional levels. Known for their edgy styles, their shoes and their stores appeal to the hippest of the 13 to 25 set. In short, if you're looking for "sensible shoes", leave your teenager at Journeys, and walk down the mall to one of Genesco's other brands.
If you're picturing this group of managers as a stereotypical corporate audience, hit the "refresh" button. These folks look a lot like their customers, many with multiple piercings, and hair done in configurations (including dreadlocks) that mine won't even do anymore.
But what really makes them stand out is not their outward appearance, but rather, the path many of these managers took to get where they are today. Most finished their formal education with high school, and started selling shoes for a company that welcomes strong performers who may dance to the beat of a different drummer.
The philosophy with which Journeys approaches its workforce stems from its origins in creating a place where young shoppers would enjoy spending time.and money.
And it all has to do with expectations. Leaders who expect their employees to pilfer through the manager's office will create all sorts of rules (and handwritten signs) to prevent the miscreants from doing exactly what they expect of them. Other employers get different results, by maintaining high expectations. Those who choose not to live up to those expectations don't get to belong to the club.
According to Genesco's Vice President of Operations Support - Retail, Rob Taylor, when Journeys started in the late 80's, most mall retailers didn't want teenagers in their stores without adult supervision. They expected the worst. "A kid with a nose ring would come in," says Taylor, "and the manager would follow him around making sure he didn't rip anything off."
Journeys was conceived with different expectations - that most of these teenagers had every intention of becoming customers, not thieves, and so they made it OK for kids to "hang out" in their stores. Hanging out usually led to buying, and today the chain has grown to more than 530 stores in 44 states, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.
"The same thing happens with our employees, many of whom eventually become store managers and regional managers," says Taylor. "We bring the right people on board, and trust them. We believe in them, and the vast majority reward us for our trust and confidence in them."
"This isn't hard to figure out," says Taylor. "Your employees are going to regard your customers in the same way their leaders regard them. How can you expect your employees to give great customer service if leaders aren't serving their customers - the employees?
"Most of these managers are people in their 20's and early 30's. Our typical manager didn't go to college, and many didn't grow up in 'corporate' families. When they came to us, most of their parents didn't trust them with the family car. Now we trust each one of them with a huge inventory, and a business that does anywhere from a half million to 3 million dollars a year in sales."
"Here's the thing," Taylor explains. "You've got to have someone to believe in you. That gives you an extra measure of confidence in yourself. And that little bit of extra confidence means the difference between mediocrity and success."
The reward flows both ways. Many Journeys store and regional managers enjoy salaries and lifestyles some of their peers can only look at and envy.
Modestly, Taylor adds, "We're just ordinary people doing extraordinary things."
The power of expectations is probably greater than you think. When it comes to your employees, you get what you expect to get.
What are you expecting?
Please print the following attribution for this article: Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden, co-authors of Contented Cows Give Better Milk, help clients clobber the competition by having a focused, fired up, and capably led workforce. They deliver powerful conference keynotes and leadership training. They can be reached at 800-940-7006 (+1-904-720-0870 from outside North America) or www.ContentedCows.com.