The Front-liners [Archives:2002/48/Business & Economy]
The Road Ahead
BY RAIDAN A. AL-SAQQAF
[email protected]
Nobody is perfect, that’s for sure. But there are times when you have to be perfect in eliciting superior performance from your employees, especially those on the front line: hotel room-cleaners, inquiry officers, cargo and delivery boys, security officers and anybody who has a direct effect on customers.
Every person you work with is a link in a chain of people. In the case of the front-liners the chain of people includes your very own valuable customers. And their interaction with customers may make a huge impact on the customer’s experience and hence the company’s profits.
In spite of their importance, front-liners are usually the least experienced with very little scope of advancements in their jobs, and more than that, they are often the least paid. Their work is monotonous and they rarely emotionally connect with their employers. How then are they expected to make a superior effort? It is the job of managers to elicit the performance level required through motivation and create an extraordinary energy and commitment in them.
Yet building commitment is possible and there is one thing that can help in the process. It’s building pride. Look at the army for example. Soldiers are often mistreated and face some hard times during their training, but as soon they learn about values, honor, courage and commitment, they cope with any difficulty and have high emotional energy no matter how hard the tasks are. This is why I personally have a lot of respect for military training; it teaches much more than what you see in life. There are principles, values, team effort and more than that pride. One must have pride in what he or she does.
The same concept can be translated into business management. Instead of the brief training a front-line employee receives as he joins and experiences no emotions during the process but anxiety or boredom, he should be trained in such a manner that elucidates the mission, establishes values and builds up pride in the job. It should energize frontline employees with emotional energy and recognition. There is a difference between one who works for the money and one who shares the same values and finds pride in working with the organization.
Emotional energy is created with the mutual trust held between the frontliners and the employers, along with collective pride and self-discipline. Front-line employees commit themselves to the organization because they are proud of its aspirations, accomplishments and legacy. They share its values and in turn they are committed to it and to superior performance.
Remember: Energizing frontlines creates more than superior performance; it creates commitment and pride as well. And these are critical for any business.
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