Tough Love in the Service Dept.
Ask any seasoned professional about “tough love” and how their career began and you will likely hear an interesting story about youth, mistakes and a mentor. It is my belief that young workers need a mentor who cares enough to practice tough love.
Today’s politically correct social environment confuses managers about the importance of management basics. This includes the specifics about how both reprimand and rejection can be constructive in social development.
In a service department, employees will almost always gravitate towards behavior that is easiest for them rather than doing what is best for the company. A tough manager is required to keep the bar high and in line with agreed-to expectations. Wrong and mediocre performance must be addressed immediately and this can result in reprimand.
Managers must also lead by example. Words don’t matter to employees if a manager’s action says otherwise.
When handled correctly, a reprimand can accomplish two goals.
The first is a mutual understanding of what is acceptable based on previous expectations. Managers are responsible to publish and and adhere to the same expectations.
Secondly, the employee should feel a visceral, gut-level discomfort along with an honest willingness to improve.
Emotional discomfort should be the fuel that drives improvement and change.
Our Top 3 Customer Service Training Resources
Training & Managing System
Click above image to learn more.
Training System
Click above image to learn more.
Contractor Value Bundle
Click above image to learn more.
Tough Love
My father taught me the importance of knowing how to select and use the correct tool for the appropriate job.
Furthermore, I also learned the importance of properly storing the tools so that we would be able to locate them when needed. If I forgot to put tools back, my father reprimanded me.
Through reprimand, I came to understand that being organized is a key to success whether I was a laborer or a consultant. The definition of tough love is: It is an expression used when someone treats another person harshly or sternly with the intent to help them in the long term.
The below 90 second video explains more about tough love.
Take Steve's Online Courses
Call me at 610-853-9836 to schedule a site visit for employee training and consulting!
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
[…] you liked this article, see our blog about “Tough Love” in the service dept. Click the image on the […]
Unfortunately over that past few years as a result of the “Skilled Trades Gap” many managers are reluctant to address technician issues for fear of losing them, and hoping the issues would go away or improve. In reality like you stated their doing a disservice to the company and their customers. Overtime the issues spread and manifest themselves requiring a culture a change, a process that is often difficult and long. John Izzo’s 100 / 0 is a good watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O9qS3Javq8