In Army there is a saying, praise publicly, rebuke privately.
I realized the importance of this saying on this weekend when I visited a book store called Landmark. I noticed that a person in authoritative position (may be a store manager or area manager) was standing in the middle of store and asking all his supervisors and sales representatives to meet him. Apparently, some employees had left the store without making entry in a designated register. This did not go down well with the person in position. He decided to give verbal warning to all present employees by standing in the middle of the store. Though he was not shouting at his employees but it was not hard to make out that he was giving all his peace of mind to helpless employees. The long faces of employees showed all the signs of dejection, low motivation and state of being.
The look on the faces of employees said it all.
In retail stores all sales representatives are paid peanuts. They work in extreme hard conditions. They come to stores early and they stay late. They do mundane tasks like cleaning and dusting. They stand whole day and they have no time for rest. They also do most important task – interact with customers. After working so hard, appreciation rarely comes their way. And spanking, they get in public.
I am sure it is difficult to expect good customer service from such dejected employees. And whom to blame? I think the leader.
What's your take?
by Ramesh , on July 8, 2009 4:48 AM
Completely agree. The leader's boss must come to the centre of the store and reprimand him in exactly the same way he did with his subordinates. Completely unacceptable behaviour, and that too in front of customers. There's no hope of customer service in that place, with such a person in charge.
by preposterous girl , on July 8, 2009 9:47 AM
Yes Adesh..I second u.. Was that store Landmark -South Ex branch?? Coz i've seen the same scene last year when I happened to visit the store..
After the public spanking , the employees were visibly dejected.They didnt even felt like responding, but they had no choice.But they were less cheerful than before..
So even after the spanking it was ultimately the leader's loss..
And one more thing I admire abt these guys working in book store that even though they r not much educated but they always know which books one shud read ,which one r bestsellers..And one guy in a bookstore said he cannot read or write but still can give u the book which u want.. Amazing..Thats their dedication to work.. I think that customer care exec in ur other post shud take some tips 4m these guys :)
by Dhiman , on July 8, 2009 12:15 PM
Often we hear in people management context that when criticize leader first and when appreciate leader last...
Sounds great on paper but honestly tell me how many leaders have you seen follow or believe this at-least in India ?
by Whats In A Name , on July 8, 2009 12:22 PM
I agree reprimanding in front of customers is not the way to go. And it doesnt boost anybody's moral!
But I really believe we should not judge things from the glimpses we get. What if the employees were doing the same mistakes repeatedly?? What if they were being careless inspite of previous warnings??
The leader also has the responsibility to carry the show clean afterall. The leader also has the bosses to reply to.
I personally wont conclude anything by just a glimpse.
by Adesh Sidhu , on July 8, 2009 7:23 PM
@ Ramesh - True.
@ PG - This was in Gurgaon.
@ Dhiman - I think we can count such leaders on finger tips.
@ Name - Employees may be wrong and deserves rebuking, punishment, scolding but scolding in public is not correct. And that is the point I am trying to make.
by rads , on July 8, 2009 8:18 PM
Agree with you...and I have experienced this kind of spanking too when I was working as an apprentice for a computer institute...the manager had a way of spanking us in fornt of the customers and he thought he was doing something good but he was just spoiling the reputatiopn of his institute by doing so and slowly all of us quit...he lost some of his best employees because of his arrogance.
by A journey called Life , on July 8, 2009 10:00 PM
a public showdown never did anyone any good.. if not anything it just adds to their ire.. and then leads to loss of productivity..and attrition and all the associated mess.
by preposterous girl , on July 9, 2009 2:16 PM
Hey Adesh ..
U got an award on my blog.. come check it.. :-)
by le embrouille blogueur , on July 9, 2009 6:58 PM
Have faced it myself and it is very humiliating ....this display of authority and power is completely unnecessary ....any correction done behind closed doors is much more effective (at least for me) and also induces respect for the leader ....great observation and follow up post !!
by Parv Kaushik , on July 10, 2009 3:41 PM
by Sridhar , on July 17, 2009 11:32 AM
Its a simple but amazing observation ! Many times, people in their pursuit to see farther and farther, lose the ability to see clearly the things lined up right in front of them. Leaders seem to have been plagued by this trend. Nice post Mr. Adhesh