Is #Management Consistency Important?

Overheard tonight at a restaurant:

Customer: "If I don't like this ______ can I order something else?"

Server: Well, that depends on the manager. Some managers are great about allowing people to change orders if they don't like what they pick. The manager working tonight is IFFy."

First of all, we would hope that our employees would not speak about management like this. We hope that our behind the scenes behaviors would stay behind the scenes. Even so, how does it make this restaurant look? BTW, I am traveling in a small town in middle Ohio (redundant?), so this was a national chain who I assume has standard practices about things like giving refunds to people who don't like their order....

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a group of 12 managers last week where they asked, "how important is consistency and when is consistency important?"

I am all for individual styles and approaches. That said, I think many managers do not fully understand the ramifications of differences in how people are managed and the rules and standards by which they are judged. It is NOT productive to have wildly different performance standards, for example. If you are a tough grader during evaluation time and your peer tends to rate people more favorably, this is a problem and you BOTH are likely in need of adjustment.

Management reverberates and whatever you project will be reflected by your staff. If you and your peers manage differently, these differences will clash at some level. This server was completely unaware that that she was doing something wrong - she should never have revealed that the answer to the customer's question depends on which manager is working. I think she was focused more on her pending tip and honestly, I don't think it would have occurred to her that her response was immature or unprofessional.

I have heard similar comments during recent focus group discussions. Employees who answered a question with, "It depends on who you report to."

When you manage and communicate you fill the workplace with the information that will be shared and acted on by your team. I LOVE it that each manager has a unique style AND I think that some level of consistency is crucial to optimizing performance. It is not safe to assume that your employees have the skills or the motivation to sort things out for you. It is not their job to do so, either.

Thoughts?

Comments

[anna smith]

Great post. Yup, I totally agree that a management team should be united. But who unites them?
I used to be the unit manager of a Waffle House. On my days off, my district manager ran my store - He had his way of doing things; I had my way.
As a new manager, I was sticking to the (very outdated) job description I was given. The district manager had been in the business for a long time and sort of developed his own job description.
Corporate folks did not seem to be concerned about the lack of consistency - maybe they weren't even aware of it (though other stores had inconsistency problems as well).
I developed a platform that enables companies to create a private social network for their managers (to discuss issues such as consistency). It hasn't caught on yet, but I'm hopeful it will in the future...
Another thought: My husband is a lifeguard at a pool over the summer. Each year, the kids at the pool quickly figure what they can get away with when lifeguard A is on duty vs. lifeguard B... Consistency is very important!

[lisa haneberg]

Excellent comments, Anna. I agree, there needs to be some way - practices, processes, communication tools - that helps managers get and keep on the the same page.

And! Senior leaders need to make it important and a priority.

[Heather]

My thought is....
"I am traveling in a small town in middle Ohio (redundant?)"

What does that mean? Kind of feels like a dig, directed at small town America (or at least Ohio).

[Rodney Brim]

Consistent, united, important... they all represent concepts that seem too big to be very helpful. Maybe if you said managers need to be consistent on how they respond to 3 things, or ... it would start to get more interesting.

I also thought the example you presented had an interesting 2nd take on it. When should employees side with a customer vs side with management, and what are the financial ramifications of either choice? And should they do that consistently? ;) sorry just having some fun with you on that one. Thanks for writing the blog.

[anna smith]

I'm sitting here on my couch in the living room (redundant?) wondering what Rodney means by "too big to be very helpful"...

[mba india]

You got so many points here, that's why i love reading your blog. Thank you so much!

[Nonprofit Strategy Management and Software]

Leaders will always have different styles,but it's the results we care about right?

Did the server make a sale? Did the patron storm out and make a scene?

The manager is expected to have a range of reactions available to respond with, as long as the end goal of sustainably profitably satisfying customers is met.

Great article - thanks for bringing up the topic!

-JS
http://www.clearpointstrategy.com