A complaint is made by a customer to the corporate headquarters.

Corporate cascades it down to the regional managers.

The region manager addresses the the store manager.

The store manager tells the shift manager what went wrong.

The shift manager reprimands the employee for the issue.

Was it the employee’s fault? Perhaps. But the blame – and ownership for the issue – should be taken by corporate.

The higher level of leadership, the more every issue magnifies your ability to lead and lead through others.

Many times an employee gets the brunt of something that was not their fault. They were poorly trained, or their performance was shrugged off (“it’s a tough employment market you know!”) or the manager didn’t care that shortcuts were made (“it saved labor”). Or sometimes corporate demanded that Q4 number be met at all costs.

While you can’t be responsible for every employee’s behavior, you are responsible fully for ensuring they are hired, trained and led the right way to execute at the highest level of performance they can give.

Don’t perpetuate it rolling downhill. S*** (STOP) the downhill roll and take ownership to fix it starting with yourself.

(image: pixabay)