You reap what you sow

I had an interesting experience recently at a fast food restaurant.

I come to this place occasionally because the food's pretty good for what it is and the quality is consistent (if you haven't read "The E-Myth" I suggest you do, it presents some excellent concepts on what a franchise needs to do if it is going to succeed even moderately.)

The place had recently closed and reopened under a new franchise owner.

The service under the first owner was uniformly wretched. The quality of the food was consistent, but getting a correct order in a reasonable amount of time was not. The counter servers were universally rude (except of course for the owner who would occasionally wait on customers). Under the new ownership however, counter service was friendly and prompt. When the inevitable mistakes were made, an apology was always forthcoming with a smile and an expression of appreciation for the customer's patience.

Why the difference? The staff had turned over, but the newcomers were still teenagers (who we all "know" are incapable of good customer service - another canard used to let poor management off the hook.) Why was this group so much different than the last? I wanted to know, so I watched what was happening behind the counter while I waited in line.

Under the previous management, the staff had been treated largely like a bunch of difficult children. Requests for help from the owners/managers were met with sighs and cold lectures on how to do something. There was no banter or encouragement from the ownership, only criticism.

Under the new management, the staff is treated like what they are: important members of the team who are the face of the restaurant to the customers. Requests for help were answered with gentle and thorough explanations and encouragement. The management would involve themselves in conversations with their people, even allowing some good natured ribbing at their expense.

Now put yourself in those kids positions. In the first case, why should you care about the owners or the customers when all you get is noise about what a bad job you are doing? Would you care?
I'm not sure I would, and I have a strong service background. In the second case though, the people you work for show you they care - about the customers but also about you. The friendly and helpful environment behind the counter makes it much easier to be friendly and helpful to the people in front of the counter.

Now does this mean you need to be lackadaisical about the rules, or let some bad apples run roughshod over you? Of course not. Just make sure when you make rules, they are there to help the business function better, not make management's job easier by giving them an excuse to discipline or terminate someone for something instead of trying to find out what is going on and correct a potential problem. My own experience has been when you treat your people well, they will start to police themselves. Who wants to let a bad egg ruin everything for the rest?