Should Retailers Fire 'Just Good Enough' Managers?
All of us have had the experience of shopping in stores that aren't bad enough to cause us to stop going back and not good enough that we really enjoy the experience.
It's often not the big things, like keeping product in stock or having a decent price, but the little things, like keeping soap in soap dispensers, cashiers greeting you with a smile, reducing predictable waits, etc.
Just the other day I was in the post office (not known to be a bastion of customer service, but they try). A customer was hand printing shipping addresses on a few labels, holding up the entire line. The postal clerk looked at one label and said, "Is that a 'P'?" The customer said "yes" and the clerk replied, "In what country?" It was funny, but not good customer service.
My inclination is to blame those types of experiences on the manager for not training employees properly and rigorously enforcing standards. In an article in the Gallup Business Journal, the managing director of Abdul Latif Jameel, the sole distributor of Toyota in Saudi Arabi, says that it is better to have a terrible manager than one who is just good enough. Raad Al-Saady says that barely passable managers tend to hang on because they don't do anything too wrong (while really bad managers get canned). This leads to the "slow poison" of mediocrity.
The great ones are highly engaged, which leads to optimum team results. But average leaders don't take ownership of their organization. Their teams are not motivated and deliver "OK" results, but never raise the bar. They also don't stand out because they aren't screwing up too badly.
The key, says Mr. Al-Saady, is to use a clear set of criteria to measure performance potential, categorize managers by performance and potential, and make sure they are in roles that get the most out of them.
"It all starts with assessing people properly," concludes Mr. Al-Saady. "If you only put great leaders in leadership positions, you'll root out mediocrity before it can spread."
An article on human resources on About.com, meanwhile, says that there are seven keys for effective managers:
- Build effective interpersonal relationships
- Communicate effectively in person, print, and via e-mail
- Build a great team and enable staff to collaborate with each other
- Understand the businesses finances, set goals, and document progress
- Create an environment where employees are motivated to succeed as a team
- Lead by example and recognize achievement
- Help associates grow and develop skills