What is the most common reason an employee leaves their job? Surveys have consistently shown that nearly 90% of the time, employee departures stem from how much support is received from the person they report to.
Yesterday, I was talking to a 26-year old man who had recently taken over a management position. Earlier in the day, one of his team members was talking with a customer. During the conversation, the customer made a request and the team member had to politely say “no”. The customer decided to take their case to the boss. Jim listened to the customer, heard them out, and affirmed their request. He tactfully explained that he did not have the latitude to make the exception they were requesting, and he explained why. The customer was disappointed, but understood. After the customer left, Shelley, the team member came in and asked Jim directly, “Did you back me up?”. He did.
Jim was smart enough to know the first priority of a new boss is building trust and being supportive. Jim openly admitted that he probably could have found a way to accommodate them if he wanted to give the rules a little extra stretch. He had to make a decision, and he chose to back Shelley. As he put it, “If I have to make a choice between damaging the trust with a key team member versus losing a customer, I will choose the team member.
Wait a minute, (you say) isn’t the customer always right? That depends on your priorities. Southwest Airlines has made a profit virtually every year of their existence, and they attribute a large part of their success to putting their employees first. You can experience this if you have ever flown Southwest. Years ago, they came up with a theory that happy employees are the key to healthy profits. Like Jim, they put the trust and support of their employees as #1. It works!
