Why some customer service staff act like brats
The Lightbulb Training Solutions team have over 100 years of combined experience working on, working with, managing and training customer service teams across a broad range of industries across Australia. We’ve been in workplaces from Heathcote to Horsham, Mildura to Melbourne, Geelong to Gippsland and Benalla to Bendigo.
Our experiences are many and varied but there is 1 thing that team leaders/supervisors/managers of customer service staff find incredibly frustrating and very difficult to address and it happens in all industries: from Hospitality to Hairdressing, Aged Care to Automotive Dealers, Retailers to Road Workers and Financial Services to Funeral Homes; adult staff behaving like children.
You’ve probably seen it in action, maybe you’ve been a bit ‘bratty’ yourself.
When Managesr reach out to us for help, they explain the behaviours like this:
Staff that ‘don’t play well with others’
Staff that sulk or won’t particpate in meetings
Staff who push back against change
Staff who spread negativity and/or get a group to also ‘act up’
Staff who won’t ‘play’ until they get their own way.
People over the age of 18 are considered adults and with adulthood we expect, well…adult behaviours. But, if you’re a manager and you have customer service staff aged 18 or over, you may have at times found yourself wondering;
Shouldn’t adults know how to be polite and respectful even if they are having a bad day?
Why do I have to keep reminding adults to be on time or take breaks at the correct times?
Why do adults think it’s OK to talk about their social lives whilst customers are waiting?
Why do I have to remind adults to smile when they greet customers?
How do this happen? What did I do wrong?
If any adults in your team are acting a bit ‘bratty’, it’s not unusal - It’s human.
Everyone wants to feel valued, to be listened to and to be shown respect and if we aren’t getting those needs met at work, then we may not ‘throw a tantrum’ like a child, but we may resort to passive agressive actions ie: being late to meetings, leaving the staff room untidy, spreading gossip, pushing back against change, avoiding difficult customers etc.
All of these behvaiours are common when workplaces don’t have boundaries. Just like kids, adults in all parts of life need boundaries but in workplaces we call those boundaries, standards.
Your workplace might have standards but do you have specific customer service standards? Great if you do but, if you are still experiencing ‘bratty’ behaviours, it’s because standards alone don’t guarantee compliance. (If adults abided by standards/rules simply by knowing they exist, we wouldn’t have the need for speeding fines, judges, umpires or administrators on social media platforms. Standards are the start of what it takes to create a culture of team harmony and service excellence.
If you’re yet to put customer service standards in place then make today the day you start the process. Kick it off by using the below DIY ideas to create service standards.
DIY SOLUTIONS
Ask The Team: Staff who are encouraged to be part of setting standards or more likely to abide by them. Start with asking your team the service standards they think the majority of cusotmers would deem as excellent and then work back from there. Consider face to face, phone and written standards. Remind them that customers will remember how we treated them more than what we did for them.
Lead by example. Every team leader/supervisor or manager in your business needs to agree with and be willing to demonstrate the agreed standards of beehaviour. Be what you want to see.
Don’t wait. Address behavioural or attitude issues as soon as possible. The longer your leave it the greater the chance of it becoming acceptable.
Respect your team. Address concerns with relevant staff in private, allow them to share their insights, agree on achievable improvement actions and set a date to review. If you don’t inspect what you expect, don’t expect it to happen.
Record and review. All customer complaints are valuable information. Keep records so you can easily identify behavioural issues that need attention.
HOW LIGHTBULB TRAINING SOLUTIONS WILL HELP
To maintain a culture of service excellence, team leaders need the skills to professionally address co-worker disagreements, team stress and unprofessional behaviours. We work with you so you never feel alone and you’re always imrpoving your Leadership skills. After we conduct a CSA, we will provide you with a Service Excellence Package. Your Package may include us helping you create your Customer Service Standards and some Leadership Coaching so you can keep everyone on your customer service team professional, productive and ‘playing together’ in harmony.
TESTIMONIAL
“Cate is a one of a kind customer service trainer. Her passion for giving individuals and teams the skills to provide consistently superior levels of customer service shows in both her preparation and delivery of service excellence training programs. If you want more customers, less customer complaints and happier staff then I highly recommend Lightbulb Training Solutions.” - Paul Steed - Managing Director apd Australia