Episode #71: The Most Difficult Part Of Business? People!

Cash flow, market movements, competitor pricing, buyer budgets, seasonality, etc., there are many things which making business hard. I was listening to a podcast recently and the point was made that “people are the hardest part of running a business”. The point they were making wasn’t related to just the labour costs or turnover. They were thinking about the impact an individual has on a firm. The degree to which they identify with the enterprise, their level of engagement is a key concern. This flows straight away to customer service, productivity and quality control.

Now in a perfect world we would only be hiring the best people, the most committed, self-motivating, most highly engaged individuals. That would be good, but that isn’t the reality or if it is, it isn’t the reality for very long as markets move.

The hairdressing industry in Japan has trouble getting staff. Barbers and hairdressers are in short supply. When customer service isn’t what it should be the owners have to bite their tongues and carry on. They are not in a position where they can easily fire people. I know this because of an incident recently with where I get my hair cut in the Azabu Juban. Now I have been frequenting this same barbers for 17 years, around 4-5 times a year. My son also, up until recently, went to the same place for about 10 years, until his mother decided he needed to look more glamorous and took him off somewhere else.

At the end of the cutting session, the barber used an electric razor to do the final trim around the back of the neck below the hairline. At the time it felt painful but being a stoic Aussie male, I just put up with it because it wasn’t for such a long time. When I got home my wife noticed I had these bright red ridges where the razor has been working and the skin was terribly inflamed.

Being a typical Japanese consumer, she photographed the wounds on her phone and went there the next day to remonstrate with the barber. He is a youngish guy and he was in total denial mode. Finally, one of the more senior barbers apologized. Was my wife satisfied with this treatment of the long term customer – no!

I can guess that the owners will do nothing about this because they can afford to lose me as a client more easily than they can lose the young guy working for them. Now why didn’t the young barber apologise and take full responsibility? I have been going there much longer than he has worked there, but his thinking is to avoid all accountability. He is thinking about himself and not about the business.

What they should have done was apologise, immediately check that razor because there is some fault with it and make sure this doesn't happen again with another client. I doubt they have done that, because no one has contacted me after the incident. If they didn’t check it, that is very unprofessional. If he did check and subsequently found out he was wrong, that the razor was faulty and then he still didn’t contact me, the mistake is even further compounded.

The culture and training in that team is not on the mark is it. In a small organisation like that, they probably invest very little in soft skills training and spend all their money on hard skills around the actual job of hairdressing. All organisations need to do both. Getting the client care culture right must the top priority of the leadership because if they don’t get that correct, the business will fail.

Easy to say but check your own situation. Is the thrust of the training on the hard skills? Has the right client service culture been created? This is Japan, so these types of incidents really stand out because generally here the level of customer care is higher than in most other societies. Even if we make a mistake, if we have a strong culture, we can recover because the staff will go the extra mile to correct the problem. What training have we given our people for when problems and mistakes arise. Often, this may have been left vague. It is a good idea to go back and review what we are doing. Is there a standardised approach that everyone knows?

One of the issues in Japan is people hiding mistakes and not taking accountability because there is such a bias against making any errors. We have to create a strong culture that says a mistake is not fatal to your career, but hiding it, not fixing it or not taking responsibilty will be fatal.

Will I go back to that establishment? My wife is absolutely clear that I shouldn’t. I don’t know. I run a small business too, so I know the difficulties are mainly concentrated in the people employed, so I empathise with the owner’s dilemma. I will have to make a decision in about three months time I guess.

Engaged employees are self-motivated. The self-motivated are inspired. Inspired staff grow your business but are you inspiring them? We teach leaders and organisations how to inspire their people. Want to know how we do that? Contact me at greg.story@dalecarnegie.com

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About The Author

Dr. Greg Story: President, Dale Carnegie Training Japan

In the course of his career Dr. Greg Story has moved from the academic world, to consulting, investments, trade representation, international diplomacy, retail banking and people development. Growing up in Brisbane, Australia he never imagined he would have a Ph.D. in Japanese decision-making and become a 30 year veteran of Japan.

A committed lifelong learner, through his published articles in the American, British and European Chamber journals, his videos and podcasts “THE Leadership Japan Series”, "THE Sales Japan series", THE Presentations Japan Series", he is a thought leader in the four critical areas for business people: leadership, communication, sales and presentations. Dr. Story is a popular keynote speaker, executive coach and trainer.

Since 1971, he has been a disciple of traditional Shitoryu Karate and is currently a 6th Dan. Bunbu Ryodo (文武両道-both pen & sword) is his mantra and he applies martial art philosophies and strategies to business.