Anybody watch the new BBC Documentary about Kings Cross Railway Station?
I replayed it on I-player and thought for one moment I was watching ‘The Office School of Employee Engagement. One, two minute motivational speech by some poor bloke whose name it would be most unfair to mention - as it’s not his fault - delivered an almost perfect ‘how not to do it’. His take onto how to win his team’s hearts and minds and provide great customer service was basically to threaten them with the sack. I actually lost count after 20 of all the mistakes he inadvertently made in just two minutes. I didn't think that was physically possible.
The daft thing, and in the grand scheme of the truly, truly daft stuff, is that the scores of similar well-intentioned but futile speeches go on every day in in every organisation you can think of, and the even dafter thing is that they are easily fixable. It’s almost criminal when you look at the massive cost decaying levels of employee engagement has on our economy, when it’s really just about bad training. OK, you should add to that outdated role models and the myopic view that the stick and carrot is still what works.. This is despite the fact that the deliverer of the message know themselves, that threats and honey wouldn't work for them. So why would they think it would work for their ‘minions’? It's a big blindspot.
The truly scary thing is that this fly on the wall snapshot is not unusual. It’s endemic. From the Town Halls to the hospital admin departments. It’s an echo that reverberates around the halls and open plan offices of every government department, every quango, every place where they spend our money. Our taxes, our rail fares our VAT, our Television Licence. Our newspaper price, or our elected Officials. It’s everywhere like dust, noise and Clare Balding. Although Clare is way more fun.
But, having spent several years working is the Health Service training middle managers in change communications, I can categorically say that they aren't the problem. They are genuinely good souls who want to do the best job they can. No…It’s not them. It’s the higher management, the higher up the food chain the less connection or engagement they seem to have. And my apologies here to the rare, but extremely capable exceptions who have inspired me on numerous occassions but my observation is that the vast majority of senior managers have the biggest issues and are the root cause of most on the wastage, and overspends; the lack of innovation and cultural deficit. You need look no further than the recent appalling events at Staffordshire and subsequent current reports and fallout for a glaring example of what that style of management can actually deliver. We deserve better. Both customer and employee.
The prevalent attitude I would describe, as an outside observer who is not fortunately not gagged by any agreements by the way, goes something like this… ‘I’m at grade 10, so, having reached these giddy heights, I must know what I’m doing?’ Well, while that may be true and they may be terrific in fleshing out and designing a new treatment protocol flow or they have Jedi like skills in Excel manipulation, their skills in transforming, persuading and influencing (Engagement) are at best misinformed, and at worst counter-productive. At very worst they are the very road block themselves. They have an image of themselves and a belief, reinforced by the behaviour of their peers, that they are ‘special’ and don’t need training and that they are somehow above it all.. But, and this is the big but, it’s a position not arising from some sort of arrogance enhancement procedure . It arises from how they really feel more deeply. That is that admitting that they needed training would mean admitting some sort of frailty and in the dog eat cat world of office politics signs of weakness are a big no. no.
No, I don’t think it's complacency, or that they are big-headed or power-crazy, although we all know some of them are. For most its just a lack of confidence and self-belief and the inability to admit that they don’t have all the answers. It is part of the ingrained British organisational culture of Failure Avoidance . The problem is that these are the individuals with the most influence ultimately set the pace the tempo, the style, the rules of engagement (or disengagement) and all seem to jump on the same band wagon without realising that its being pulled by a team of lemmings who are late for the party.
They can hardly be surprised if it doesn't work. But amazingly they are!!!!! It never ceases to amaze me that they are amazed that people will not just follow them blindly. The refrain I most often hear from them is.. Why do ‘my people’ not get it? The answer is simple. They don’t because you don’t.
So what exactly are they doing wrong?
Well apart from some basic fundamentals I’d narrow it down to them not knowing that there are Three Rules for Disengagement (actually nearer thirty – mail me for the rest….. )
1. No-one ever changed the way they behaved or felt about an organisation because they read a mission statement somebody else has written.
2. No ever changed the way they thought about business when they were in fear of losing the job
3. And no-one ever connected to a metaphor that is so far apart from the reality of the real situation. Kings Cross Station as a five star hotel… for a railway station? ???? I know it’s got lots of new shiny bits. It looks great, but forgive me if I don’t see the Valet parking or the complimentary chocolate on my seat.
And I’d add an extra one, which is the most important.
4. You must give them new eyes to view the landscape not a new landscape and the same old tired dusty spectacles.
I am, and I am sure you too dear reader, are not really impressed by people who criticise something but don’t provide an alternative are you? So here is my alternative suggestion.
There is another way
OK knowing the tile of this blogsite you have probably already guessed. It’s all about the power of story. The single most powerful tool EVER that can engage and encourage willing collaboration.
So… maybe our colleague should ditch the pointless flip chart and…….begin.......really communicating.
Maybe she tells the story of just one of your customer’s, whose journey ( quest) on a busy Friday afternoon. She is called Edith and 71 years old, recently widowed, her husband used to drive her in the Volvo for the long journeys and she has just got out of the Tube, for the first time in twenty years, which she now hates. She is trying to catch the train up to see her new grandson. As well as her heavy-wheeled suitcase… you can never too many clothes dear…She has a present too. A massive stuffed giraffe almost as tall as her. She will have to change trains in Peterborough. (Hands up all these who from Yorkshire and the Northern Territories who have to stand up to Peterborough even if they have a reservation?)
So some more detail, to add some atmosphere….It’s February, it’s cold, damp , the train is 25 minutes late already as the driver is on a 30 minute break and his last train in was delayed because the last , was, (lnsert any one of 200 reasons here)…. well, you get the picture. She has a reservation but someone is sat in her seat. So, what are you (Our Hero) going to do to make sure she books the trip again and is happy to pay what you are asking?
Let them work on it for an hour in their teams, and then add;
Now imagine the same story, but this time that Edith is actually their own mum.
What does great customer service look like really? It looks a bit like that...Light that blue touch paper and then see what happens.
Happy travels.
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