I've Told 'em a Thousand Times!

I was sitting in a conference room waiting on an executive meeting to get started when the CEO casually mentioned to a division manager that he'd noticed something at one of the jobs. The division manager said, I've told those guys a thousand times not to do that... The CEO replied, Have you ever actually done anything about it?

Company culture is 100% based on what behaviors the organization, through its leaders and its most engaged employees, rewards, condemns and condones. I once heard a speaker say that organizations will spit out a person who doesn't belong like sour milk. Management's challenge is to make sure that good workers are spitting out bad and not vice-versa!

If a company has built a solid safety culture, for example, it will self-police unsafe work practices. I was hanging lights in a warehouse facility when one of my co-workers climbed on a short stack of pallets. We hadn't really noticed any warehouse workers back there, but before he was able to stand up, there were five of that company's workers circling the pallets yelling at him to get down immediately and go get a ladder! In that organization, safe work practices were a way of life and anyone who risked their safety record, safety bonus, whatever, was held accountable and potentially spit out. 

Contrast that with the culture at an organization that constantly struggles with its workers comp mod rate and can't seem to get its employees to wear their PPE. The owner at that organization probably tells his insurance company, I've told them a thousand times..  

If there are no consequences to off-brand behavior (behavior you don't want) and no rewards for on-brand behavior (behavior you do want), then your culture is going to be what the front line workers want it be. Rewards can be tangible (cash, bonuses, gift cards, promotions, etc.) or they can be intangible (recognition, public or private words of thanks, pats on the back, etc.). Consequences can also be formal (write-ups, verbal warnings, etc.) or informal (the other workers get the bonuses, the preferred shifts, public recognition, etc.).  

When I was an operations manager in a service industry, I knew that terminating a worker for consistently ignoring our standards would be inconvenient and I might end up having to run a route or cover a shift myself. But I was taught and have always believed that the decision to let that worker slide just so that I will not be inconvenienced is the fork in the trail that leads to mediocrity.

The real win occurs when your front line workers begin to self-police off-brand behaviors rather than waiting for management to do it. This happens when your organization has the right mix of rewards and consequences in place, the first and second tier leaders know you are committed to the brand, and build they their teams with people that are also committed to the brand. Do that and you'll find that you don't have to tell them a thousand times anymore.

Or, you could do try it the easy way and just say it for the one thousand and first time. Maybe if you say it a little louder this time.