Since the murderous outrage at Fort Hood, TX last week, the mumbling has reached a crescendo about, “In view of this guy’s checkered work performance, if not confused loyalties, how could the Army have allowed him to A. Get promoted, B. Reassigned to another unit, C. Continue practicing as a psychiatrist with emotionally fragile troops, and D. Deployed to a combat role?” While the truth will eventually be known, in the meantime, we manager types would do well to lighten up on the finger pointing.

The reason is that we do a fair amount of the same stuff ourselves. In a 17 year career as an HR manager/executive, I seldom saw a terminated employee with sub-par performance reviews, but I’ve seen lots of problem employees transferred over and over, rather than having someone man-up and deal with the issue. Likewise, I’ve seen hundreds of people sent to training or executive coaching by a gutless manager who silently hopes that they will somehow come back fixed.

My hope is that, if anything good can come from the Ft. Hood episode, it might serve as a reminder of the bad things that can happen inside any organization when problems are allowed to fester, or are swept under the rug.

*****

A thought leader in the arena of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard Hadden, and their work, please visit their website at www.contentedcows.com, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows

In pondering, arguing over, and eventually deciding on the title for our most recent book, Contented Cows MOOve Faster, we were searching for something that conveyed one of the foremost needs of the early 21st century… the need for speed. Whether one is engaged in the world of education, commerce, health care, sports, you name it, the pressure to perform, and perform right now is immense.

That’s fine, but people don’t always hit the ground running, and running in the right direction, at the proper cadence. There is often a certain amount of orientation, preparation, training if you will, that is a necessary precursor to hitting stride. As we continue to ramp up our performance expectations, we simply must do a better job of preparing people to succeed. Having reflected on this a bit of late, I’m convinced we’ve still got a lot of work to do. Two cases in point:

Thirty-two months ago, two of college football’s brightest prospects, Matt Leinart (USC) and Vince Young (Texas) squared off in one of the more heralded BCS championship games. Each subsequently entered the NFL, Leinart with the Arizona Cardinals, and Young the Tennessee Titans. In both cases, the clear expectation of teams and fans alike was that these uber-talented players would instantly adapt to the speed and complexity of the NFL game and make contributions as outsized as their paychecks. Now entering their third season, both players are struggling mightily. The wily veteran, Kurt Warner, has replaced Leinart as a starter, and though the Young – led Titans are winning, he’s nursing more than a sore knee after being lustily booed by Titans fans.

Sports columnist, Tim Cowlishaw did an interesting piece on this in the September 11 Dallas Morning News.   One of the conclusions that Cowlishaw came to is that, in their own way, each team needs to dial back its expectations a bit, and increase the support shown for  two still very new, very young, gifted players.

On a more pedestrian level, I stopped yesterday for a few items at a nearby grocery. As is so often the case these days, upon reaching the checkout, my options were clear:  Stand in line for 10 minutes, or check myself out. With no pressing urge to socialize, and not exactly blessed with an abundance of patience, I opted for the latter.

Though I have shopped in this particular store a good bit, I wasn’t as familiar with their self-serve system as the one at their across the street rival. No problem. Upon entering the self-checkout area, I noticed one of the regular checkers, a lady named Debra, manning the “help the dummies” station. When I placed two unmarked potatoes on the scanner and paused momentarily to look at the on-screen instructions, Debra instantly swung into action, rushed over, elbowed me aside, and said, “you’ve got to enter the codes for these items” as she punched in the 4 digit universal code for Idaho bakers. After pointing out that there was no little coded sticker on the spuds, to wit I had no way of knowing what the code was, I thanked Debra, who returned to her station.

Next up were two equally unmarked tomatoes. Once more, as I put the items on the scanner and glanced at the on-screen menu, Debra hustled over and again started feverishly punching codes into the machine. With absolutely no one in line behind me, and thus an opportunity for a little social experimentation, I said, “Hang on a second, Debra… what are you doing? Where am I supposed to get the code from? Isn’t there another way to do this?” Wishing perhaps to show off her mastery of fruit and vegetable codes that she must have learned in school along with multiplication tables, Debra again insisted that I needed to enter the correct numeric code, rather than let the machine do its thing.

Just as my annoyance level began to ratchet up a notch, a store supervisor magically appeared, and uttered the words, “I’m sorry, she (Debra) is getting some on the job training right now.”  I started to remark that it seemed that I was the one getting the training, but as quickly as she had appeared, the supervisor was gone. After subsequent identical (I am NOT making this up) experiences with two more food items, I swiped my credit card thru the reader, grabbed the bags of groceries, and bolted for the door.

What Debra was getting wasn’t training at all, but something more akin to a public hemorrhoidectomy. Having successfully gone through her regular checkout lane before, I had firsthand knowledge that this lady is quite proficient as a checker. But when it came to overseeing the self-checkout operation, someone had basically thrown her in the pool and said, “swim.”

My point is this: If we’re not going to lower our expectations about the speed at which people reach peak performance levels (and we’re not), then it stands to reason that our training and orientation (onboarding) methods must keep pace with those expectations. To wit, here are three simple reminders:

1.    Though it is likely not an issue with the likes of Debra, Vince Young, or Matt Leinart, one of the major learning “bridges” that must be crossed in our own workplaces has to do with making sure that our people understand, really understand how and why their work matters. Otherwise, all the methods training in the world will be for naught.
2.    In case you haven’t noticed, owing to concerns about their safety, security, health, finances, and the like, people are wrapped way too tight these days. Accordingly, if you want to create memorable impressions, build some fun into the equation. That is particularly the case with learning scenarios. In fact, that’s a point we emphasized in partnering recently with CRM Learning in the production of a management training video based on the aforementioned Contented Cows book. Having just read the final script, I’m happy to report that they’ve succeeded beyond our expectations. Sometime in January, you’ll get the chance to enjoy it and put it to use in your organization.
3.    Be very deliberate and thoughtful about your choice of training delivery methods and sources. Debra’s supervisor clearly subscribes to Mark Twain’s theory that, “a person who carries a cat home by the tail learns 10 times as much as one who only watches.” (Please, no PETA protests.) Indeed OJT has its place, but often there is a need for some adult supervision. Be very choosy about who that human trainer is. There is a big difference in learning under the tutelage of someone who is the very best at what they do, as opposed to someone who is merely available. Similarly, high tech distance learning can shrink the globe and put tremendous amounts of knowledge at our fingertips. Witness the fact that one can “learn to fly” at a computer screen without ever leaving the comfort of home. Yet, I don’t know about you, but I prefer to ride with someone who I know has actually had to deal with an engine fire-warning siren in the midst of a takeoff roll.

A thought leader in the arena of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard, and their work, please visit their website at www.contentedcows.com

Business Week Magazine has just released its 2nd annual ranking of “The Customer Service Champs”, heralding 25 firms which, amidst an otherwise pretty dismal scene on the service front, are doing the best job for customers. Representing a diverse cross section of American industry, including hotels, retailers, airlines (yep), banks, quick-service restaurants, and insurers, the Business Week list includes rankings for both “process” and “people.” In other words, high tech or high touch alone won’t get it. Some observations:

1. Once again, it is impeccably clear that those organizations with a reputation for having a focused, engaged, capably led workforce (e.g., USAA, L.L. Bean, Marriott, Edward Jones, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Chick-fil-A) stand a much better chance of garnering kudos for delivering higher quality service. A visit to their annual reports suggests that ink from Business Week isn’t all they’re getting out of the deal.

2. These folks are serious as a heart attack about improving (as opposed to maintaining) service. The article details efforts made by USAA to improve software and launch mobile Web service to make it easier for its highly mobile and often forward deployed military customers to do business with them. Starbucks is also taking some serious measures. At 5:30PM (local) this evening, all 7100 U.S. Starbucks stores will stand down, as in close the doors for three hours so that every Starbucks partner (including those who are scheduled off for the day) can get the benefit of “Espresso Excellence Training.” Hint: 9PM this evening would be a real good time to get yourself a latte.

3. Some organizations are starting to use their heads, along with some real cash and creativity to recognize and reward workers who go the Extra Mile for customers. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has modified its rewards program so that customer service stars actually get something they really want, like help buying an automobile, a trip to places they want to go, and the like. Said, Fairmont’s SVP of HR, Carolyn Clark, “Our guests do not want service that’s cookie-cutter. Just as we’re trying to deliver individualized, personalized experiences for guests, we wanted to introduce a customized, personalized reward program for employees, too.” Yippee!

I decided a while back that life is too short and too precious to waste it by spending time being aggravated over preventable customer service snafus. For that reason, there is an ever growing list of companies (airlines, banks, restaurants, and the like) with whom I will not, under any circumstances, do business. Rather, I strongly prefer to give my business to folks like those mentioned on the Business Week list. It feels better, turns out better, and I’ll probably live longer. You may want to try it.

A thought leader in the areas of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, motivated, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard, and their work, please visit their website at www.contentedcows.com