Whether you like it or not; Your employees are representing your business every day. Be it at work or after hours, they are conveying a message to clients, prospective clients or possible candidates. What is this message going to be?

Workplace Behaviour

Sure, you have policies and procedures in place and they stipulate very clearly what your expectations are so this is what would happen?

Enter human or Workplace behaviour. Even though you may constantly tell a person how you expect them to behave, they will take note of what you do and copy it! Remember, you are the business owner and if you behave in a specific manner, it is OK for them to do it as well.

After all, you are a Leader and you want your employees to ‘follow’ you. The problem is that they now start ‘following’ your behaviour and this is creating an issue for you.

Dealing with Clients

Look at some of the behaviours you might have that eventually gets replicated by your employees:

You are dealing with a, in your mind, difficult customer and your tone of voice, and body language, shows disrespect. Every person witnessing this discussion sees it and they already think this client is not a ‘nice person’. The next thing you do when the client is gone is to say something negative about him/her (calling him/her names).

Why did you just do that? Well you are partly frustrated by the encounter and the other part of you is wanting the employees that witnessed it to know ‘you were in charge’ during the encounter. Nobody is going to ‘boss’ you around.

You have now successfully confirmed to your employees that this behaviour is acceptable and they will now treat that client with the same disrespect you have taught them to. Policies and procedures out the door, this is how we do it here! The biggest problem now is that this behaviour does not stop with this one client.

Every time they deal with a client that is not happy, they will switch into that behaviour pattern because that is how you show a ‘difficult client’ who is in charge right?

The above is just one example of how your behaviour filters through to your employees and how quickly this could have a serious impact on your business. Take a deep breath, think about your own workplace behaviour and alter those behaviours that are hurting your business.

But Wait …. There’s More

Consider some of the following:

Your dress code; is it in line with the company policy?

Punctuality; yes, it does matter!

How do you talk to your employees; sometimes friendly, other times blunt and abrupt?

How do you talk about one employee to another?

We can keep going with the list but I think you get where I am going with it. Sometimes it is good to just take a moment to think before you act.

Want to learn more about workplace behaviour? Call me on 1300 663 331 or email info@pcetraining.com.au

Don’t forget our upcoming workshop in Horsham! Check out the details under Upcoming Training