March 31, 2017
Interview with Mark Eppler, author of the book Management Mess-Ups
Mike Carruthers:
Can you image a business losing a big account over 60 cents? It happened.
Mark Eppler:
Well, this was a situation where a man came into the bank cashed a check, when he left he asked the receptionist to validate his parking ticket.
Mark Eppler, author of the book Management Mess-Ups…
The receptionist said, “Did you have a transaction?” He said, “Yeah, I cashed a check.” And she said, “Well, I’m sorry we don’t consider that to be a transaction.” He said, “You mean if I put money in it is and if I take it out it isn’t?” And she says, “I’m sorry, it’s our policy.” Well, the next day the fellow came back and closed out his business with that bank and it turned out to be a little over two and a half million dollars’ worth.
This is just one example of how companies mess things up by sticking to their policies-because they don’t understand what company policies are really for.
Policies are there for the guidance of wise men and the blind obedience of fools. You know, you have to have some policies and you have to have some rules. But they should never get in the way of making a good decision for the customer.
Mark chronicles several ways managers’ mess things up. And one of them is not listening.
And this is remarkable because there have just been unbelievable amounts of information put out there about how important listening is. Yet, managers are doing it at a very, very poor level. I remember years ago an employee coming into my office one time and saying could she have a few minutes, and I said certainly. And I continued to write, and I said well, go ahead. And she said, “No, I’m going to wait until you finish.” And I said, “No I can do both.” Well, the message was that I didn’t care enough about her to give her my full-undivided attention. Finally I put down my pencil and I said, “Ok, you have my full attention.” And she said, “Great, I’m worth it.”
