I read the Help Scout blog as I am subscribed to their newsletter. It’s a gem in customer service. Personally I am very customer focused, it’s an area of interest and one of the fundamentals of my work principle is that “if a customer pays for it, he or she is entitled to nothing but the best service”.
Anyhow, the new content on the Help Scout blog is really cool and worth sharing, it implores the question Why Good Employees Make Bad Decisions.
1. Employees Feel Like a Cog in the Machine
As the author on Help Scout writes
Detachment from the goals at large leads to detached interest. Employees feel left behind or that they aren’t heading in the same direction as the organization. This is where destructive self-interest begins to interference.
2. Time Pressure Puts Their Back Against a Wall
OK, so for this one I guess there is a need for balance… in business I am there to make my boss achieve his goals and he is there to achieve the goals of the business. And sometimes time is not a commodity that we can afford.
However, I know of times when for speed , quality is discussed. The point is quality should never be discussed, do little but do it well. The customer pays for top quality products and services. But I can understand that pressure can make some good employees take bad decisions.
3. Employees Mirror Leadership and “Unwritten Rules”
I absolutely love the story that Help Scout has shared, read the blog or point 3 of the blog for the story.
I agree with this point:
A psychological phenomenon known as “negative social proof” would argue that the “right thing” to do becomes questionable when people see the right people doing the wrong things.
Statements like, “We do things by the book around here”have been shown to actively discourage creative thinking. Be careful about what sort of behavior that leadership, unwritten rules, and key team members project; people are very sharp in picking up on these subtleties, and it may affect their judgment.
Love the article from Help Scout and I think you should have a read too. Generally, for customer service related stuff, I recommend reading the Help Scout blog.
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