Have you ever run into a situation where either your team or a supplier is playing “hot potato?” Tossing the ball back and forth, never seeing responsibility truly land in any one court? Maybe you’ve called a supplier about a quality problem, and they blame their supplier and so on, and so on. No matter what, somebody ends up with a problem on their hands!
There can be a variety of reasons for this occurring, from a culture that enables a lack of ownership and accountability to untrained staff, or maybe the cause is rooted in people and leaders who just don’t care. Let’s look at each of these and see if we can get to root cause and help fix the issue:
1) Culture – Is your culture too rigid to allow for creativity and problem solving? Back in 2018, I wrote “Make a Milkshake” to give an example around this concern. It is important for people to stay in their lane, but at times a little extra effort is needed to go above and beyond outside their core responsibility. If you say you are “customer obsessed” – your team needs to be able to step outside the box on occasion. If this is a constant need, it’s time to examine the root cause and dig deeper.
2) Training – Have you ensured the staff has adequate training and experience for their role? Do they have a mentor or senior team member they can go to? Remember, telling isn’t training. Training occurs through learning, experiences, and continuous feedback for improvement.
3) Attitude – You’ve probably heard the saying, one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. Everyone owns their own attitude. If as a leader, you have set the right culture, and provided ample training and coaching, it is time for a very candid conversation. If the person can’t fix their attitude, they need to move on for their sake and your business. No one needs a toxic attitude in the environment. Unfortunately, it spreads faster and wider than positivity.
Think through
Are you setting an expectation of customer obsession and then ensuring it is executed on? It is critical to lead by example to demonstrate the culture you desire. Invest in training and coaching. It will pay many times over with reduced staff turnover, customer loyalty and retention. A person with a negative attitude needs to move on and whatever you can do to accelerate that is a positive for all around them. Sometime that person can be viewed as “stayed and quit” or “silent quitting.” It isn’t new and needs leadership to take that head on.
Would love to hear your thoughts about examples of where you experienced Hot Potato or even participated in that. What are you doing to improve the culture in your business? I always welcome feedback. Feel free to post comments or email them to me. Small Business, Big Lessons® — Remember, never play (or allow anyone around you to play) Hot Potato!
Small Business
About the Author:
Gregory Woloszczuk is an entrepreneur and experienced tech executive that helps small business owners grow their top and bottom line. Gregory believes in straight talk and helping others see things they need to see but may not want to with a focus on taking responsibly for one’s own business. He and his wife, Maureen, started GMW Carolina in 2006.
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