Archived How to coach TM for tasks not getting done bc they were helping customers

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amber19renee83

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TL’s/ETL’s: Let's say you ask Bob to do a task a day for 2 weeks and none of the tasks get done bc he was busy helping customers.

Don't get me wrong. I get customer service but at some point it becomes a time management issue when none of the tasks given are being done.

What would this coaching conversation sound like and what would be your response if Bob says "I was giving great customer service and you can't coach me for that."
 
Bob can say whatever she wants. If you have given her reasonable time to complete a task, you can follow up and coach if needed.
In a PDD , Bob has no input. It is you observing a behavior, expressing the impact, recommending a change in said behavior and outlining the consequences if expectations are not met.
Given the limitedinformation , a PDD would be written in the following way.

Describe the behavior:-
Bob, on 5/18/2018 you were assigned to push a Uboat in the cereal aisle. I observed that 3 hours later you still hadn’t finished pushing the uboat.

Express the impact:-
Bob, when you fail to push merchandise in a timely manner. It leads to poor guest experience when shelves are not stocked. It also slows down the rest of the processes, because incoming TMs have to finish your tasks.

Change in behavior:-
Bob, you need to make sure that you are completing all tasks assigned to you in a timely manner. A uboat in cereal aisle should take you no more than one hour to push.

Consequences:-
Bob, if you fail to improve prioritizing your tasks and completing them in a timely manner, it will lead to further discussions including corrective action and up to termination.
 
LOL @ "coaching!"
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I would start by talking about the need to balance service with task. You may need to do some role playing to show Bob when service turns into captive conversation, and how to extricate himself. You will probably need to observe Bob in action as well. And, communication is also important, so make sure Bob understands the need to keep his leaders informed of his progress and any help he may need.

When speaking with Bob, you must do so with conviction. You know that over the course of 2 weeks, Bob was not prevented from doing his tasks by guests. One day? Maybe, but not 2 weeks.
 
Bob can say whatever she wants. If you have given her reasonable time to complete a task, you can follow up and coach if needed.
In a PDD , Bob has no input. It is you observing a behavior, expressing the impact, recommending a change in said behavior and outlining the consequences if expectations are not met.
Given the limitedinformation , a PDD would be written in the following way.

Describe the behavior:-
Bob, on 5/18/2018 you were assigned to push a Uboat in the cereal aisle. I observed that 3 hours later you still hadn’t finished pushing the uboat.

Express the impact:-
Bob, when you fail to push merchandise in a timely manner. It leads to poor guest experience when shelves are not stocked. It also slows down the rest of the processes, because incoming TMs have to finish your tasks.

Change in behavior:-
Bob, you need to make sure that you are completing all tasks assigned to you in a timely manner. A uboat in cereal aisle should take you no more than one hour to push.

Consequences:-
Bob, if you fail to improve prioritizing your tasks and completing them in a timely manner, it will lead to further discussions including corrective action and up to termination.

This. I had plenty of team members on flow that were great with guest service, and would go above and beyond while assisting guests, but at the end of the day their core role was to compete truck push. There are other team members, or leaders, available to assist guests if it becomes too time consuming.
 
What if, instead of writing someone up, on path to being fired, we attempt to place them in a more guest facing role? Cashier, guest service, electronics, cart attendant, etc. Cross-training a current TM will take less time than training a new cashier.
A logical answer that would actually work?
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What if, instead of writing someone up, on path to being fired, we attempt to place them in a more guest facing role? Cashier, guest service, electronics, cart attendant, etc. Cross-training a current TM will take less time than training a new cashier.
Sounds like Bob is lazy AF, GTFO Bob.
 
What if, instead of writing someone up, on path to being fired, we attempt to place them in a more guest facing role? Cashier, guest service, electronics, cart attendant, etc. Cross-training a current TM will take less time than training a new cashier.
I don't disagree. In this case, it sounds like Bob is in a guest facing area already.
Try coaching in the sports sense. Use the SBIe model.
Situation--describe the situation. Be specific about when and where it occured.
Behavior-- describe the observable behavior. Don't assume you know what the other person was thinking.
Impact--describe the impact the behavior had on the task, on the group, or on you personally.
expectation-- State the specific behavior change or action that needs to happen.
No consequences at this point. Use the conversation as a learning moment with Bob. Ask how he thinks he could do better. Ask how you can help him. Role play situations (I know nobody likes doing it, but it does help).
 
Spot needs to add more payroll for staffing needs to service every guest & get tasks done. Wait till back to school hits..
That's why I see great customer service begin with having merchandise on the shelf and not in the backroom because if it is on the shelf, more likely they will find what they are looking for and less likely to bother you. I'm here to ask me if you need anything but me continuing to focus on stocking is me telling you to make the effort to look for what you need before asking me. It's not rocket science. That's why we have street numbers and item names hanging up to guide. That's that.
 
My store just finally let go of someone for this. Never ever did any work but literally would ask everyone constantly if they needed help and chit chatted with Mobile.
I see a lot of that. Asking people constantly reveals you are a loafer and it is your time to shine. Like you are working but nothing gets done.
 
@Planosss , you hit the nail on the head. I would have included the number of boxes that were on the Uboat to drive the point home of taking three hours to push cereal is unacceptable or whatever the task was.
 
My store just finally let go of someone for this. Never ever did any work but literally would ask everyone constantly if they needed help and chit chatted with Mobile.

So spot is firing TMs for not asking every guest if they need help, and also firing TMs if they're asking too many guests if they need help...?

o_O

What has happened to this company? Lol.
 
I can only assume their ultimate goal is to have fewer guests in stores to have to ask if they need help, due to having no merchandise on the shelf because everyone is busy asking every guest if they need help.

(Which in my case, often ends up with me having to pull from the BR because instocks hasn't been a thing in our store for a year plus. Or god forbid to dig through unpushed softlines or their unlocated hanging backstock which is only reworked out about every six months...)
 
You can do both at the same time and do them well! 9 out of 10 times a guest only asks where something is. Unless bob works at target optical and is giving eye exams to guest. Helping a guest should not get in his way, it is in NO way an excuse to not get his assignments done. If you guys think that its asking too much of Bob to complete a task in a reasonable time frame, thats fine cause you are entitled to your opinions.
 
You can do both at the same time and do them well! 9 out of 10 times a guest only asks where something is. Unless bob works at target optical and is giving eye exams to guest. Helping a guest should not get in his way, it is in NO way an excuse to not get his assignments done. If you guys think that its asking too much of Bob to complete a task in a reasonable time frame, thats fine cause you are entitled to your opinions.

For me it's more like 9 out 10 all they say is hi back. In a 8 hour shift I only tell like 10 people where stuff is and only walk them to the item if there looking confused or it's an aisle or 2 away.
 
So spot is firing TMs for not asking every guest if they need help, and also firing TMs if they're asking too many guests if they need help...?

o_O

What has happened to this company? Lol.
In my opinion, you should be able to balance workload and assistance of guests. If you constantly (I’m assuming this is what higher ups want) ask every single guest hey do you need help, you should also be able to get your work done and not leave the team screwed over for closing. However, if your going out of your way looking at the end of the department seeing if they need help, that ridiclous. Don’t you think? You should be able to manage the in between.
 
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