The Operator's Edge Ep 4 - Why Your Employees Text Instead of Call — Transcript

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1. 0:00The Operator's Edge episode 4. Why your
2. 0:03employees text instead of call? It's
3. 0:045:47 in the morning. Your phone lights
4. 0:06up. You see a text message that says,
5. 0:09"Can't come in. You haven't even had
6. 0:11your morning coffee yet. You've already
7. 0:13started to rebuild the day in your head.
8. 0:15Who's opening? Who can cover? What's the
9. 0:17next move? Which customer is going to be
10. 0:20affected first? What am I going to do?"
11. 0:23Right behind those questions comes
12. 0:24another one. Why couldn't they just
13. 0:26call? Sometimes a text isn't about
14. 0:28laziness. It's about what somebody
15. 0:30expects to happen when you answer.
16. 0:33Before you decide that they don't care
17. 0:36or whatever it is you're telling
18. 0:37yourself in your head, ask yourself,
19. 0:39"Have we made calling in easier or
20. 0:41harder?" Because the way your team
21. 0:43responds and reports a problem to you
22. 0:46tells you something about your process.
23. 0:48And it may tell you something about what
24. 0:49it feels like to bring you bad news.
25. 0:51Today, I want to give you a better way
26. 0:53to handle that moment. a clear handoff,
27. 0:56a calm response, and a practical way to
28. 0:58work through the coverage without
29. 0:59turning the conversation into a fight.
30. 1:01What happens after the message? Picture
31. 1:03the manager reading that text message.
32. 1:05They're frustrated. Maybe they
33. 1:07screenshot it. Maybe they spend the next
34. 1:093 hours telling themselves that nobody
35. 1:10wants to work anymore. Now, picture the
36. 1:12employee. They actually might be sick.
37. 1:15They might have an emergency. They might
38. 1:17be avoiding a difficult conversation
39. 1:18because of sometime that they had a
40. 1:21conversation with you about prior to.
41. 1:23You don't know all of that from three
42. 1:25words on a screen. And somewhere in the
43. 1:26middle is a young shift lead watching
44. 1:28how this gets handled. That person is
45. 1:30learning what leadership looks like in
46. 1:32your business. Not from your handbook,
47. 1:35but from your next sentence. If your
48. 1:37response is sarcasm, they learn sarcasm.
49. 1:39If your response is silence followed by
50. 1:42an explosion, they learn to keep
51. 1:44problems out of sight for as long as
52. 1:45possible. If your response is calm and
53. 1:47clear, they see another way to handle
54. 1:49pressure. One colon can affect the
55. 1:51shift. We know that. But it's the way
56. 1:53that you handle cones that can become a
57. 1:55pattern for your whole team and how they
58. 1:57learn and respond. Look at the ritual.
59. 2:00When I say ritual, I mean the sequence
60. 2:02people expect. Who do I contact? How do
61. 2:05I contact them? What do I need to say?
62. 2:08How do I know that they got it? What
63. 2:11happens next? And there's another
64. 2:12question underneath all of those. What
65. 2:14kind of reaction am I walking into? If
66. 2:16those answers are fuzzy, your team has
67. 2:19to improvise when the day is already
68. 2:21going sideways. One person texts the
69. 2:24owner, another calls a shift lead,
70. 2:26someone sends a group message, and
71. 2:28someone assumes that someone else is
72. 2:30handling it. The manager assumes that
73. 2:32they should have known better. The
74. 2:33employee assumes that the message was
75. 2:34enough, but nobody has actually closed
76. 2:37the loop. That's the problem. That's
77. 2:39what I want you to look at in your
78. 2:41ritual before you judge the person. You
79. 2:43can have a real accountability problem.
80. 2:45You can also have a process that never
81. 2:47made anything clear to your team. You
82. 2:49need to know which problem you're trying
83. 2:50to solve. Changing the ritual doesn't
84. 2:52mean that every absence is fine or every
85. 2:55communication choice is acceptable. It
86. 2:57just means that you stop trying to solve
87. 2:59the schedule, understand the situation,
88. 3:01and deliver a performance conversation
89. 3:03all in the first 10 seconds. Make the
90. 3:06first impression response usable. Here's
91. 3:09the first change. Give people a clear
92. 3:11route to reported absence. They need to
93. 3:13know who's responsible, which channel to
94. 3:15use, and what to do if that person
95. 3:17doesn't answer. If a call is your normal
96. 3:20process, say that. Explain why. You want
97. 3:22to know a real handoff, but have a
98. 3:24practical backup when someone can't call
99. 3:27or you don't pick up. The goal is that
100. 3:29the right person receives the
101. 3:31information and acknowledges it. Then
102. 3:32teach your manager a first response they
103. 3:34can actually use. Something like,
104. 3:36"Thanks for letting me know. I have your
105. 3:38message." Simple, right? Or this one.
106. 3:41Thanks for letting me know. I have your
107. 3:43message. You won't be in for the opening
108. 3:45shift. I'll handle the coverage
109. 3:46decision. Is there an essential handoff
110. 3:48we need today? Let's agree on the next
111. 3:51update if one is needed. That's more
112. 3:54elaborate, more in depth. That's a
113. 3:55different opening from are you kidding
114. 3:57me? You've confirmed what you heard. You
115. 4:00made the next step clear and you've
116. 4:01asked someone and you haven't asked
117. 4:03someone's private situation in front of
118. 4:05the team and you haven't pretended the
119. 4:07staffing problem disappeared. You're
120. 4:10still responsible for the operation.
121. 4:12You're just responding in a way that
122. 4:14helps you get the information you need.
123. 4:16Two people, one clear owner. Now, let's
124. 4:18talk about participation in the solution
125. 4:20where it's practical. The employee may
126. 4:23know who could help. Maybe someone
127. 4:25wanted extra hours. Maybe another
128. 4:27teammate already knows the opening
129. 4:29routine. Here's a simple version of a
130. 4:31twoperson outreach process that I put in
131. 4:33front of a team. Report the absence
132. 4:34first. Get in acknowledgement. Then if
133. 4:37you're able to help suggest two suitable
134. 4:39people or help with the outreach you and
135. 4:43the manager agree on. The manager keeps
136. 4:45ownership of the coverage decision that
137. 4:47matters. An employee suggesting a name
138. 4:49not the same as a manager confirming
139. 4:52that the person is available, qualified,
140. 4:54and assigned to the shift. And someone
141. 4:56who is sick or dealing with an emergency
142. 4:58shouldn't have to pick up the phone and
143. 5:00do the work to have their absence
144. 5:03received. If they can get help, great.
145. 5:05If they can't, the manager moves to the
146. 5:06backup plan. That's how you invite
147. 5:08responsibility without making the entire
148. 5:10system depend on the person who just
149. 5:12told you they can't be there. Once
150. 5:14somebody agrees to cover, close the
151. 5:16loop. Confirm the person, the hours, any
152. 5:19essential handoff, don't leave three
153. 5:20people assuming the fourth person
154. 5:22handled it. Teach it before you need it.
155. 5:25If you're a new owner, ask how this
156. 5:27works today before you decide the team
157. 5:29has a bad attitude surrounding this
158. 5:31situation. You may have inherited a
159. 5:33process that nobody trusts or
160. 5:34understands. If you're the owner who
161. 5:37gets every call, ask whether everyone
162. 5:39really needs you or whether they need a
163. 5:41clear process, a leader to empower to
164. 5:44run it. If you're developing tip into a
165. 5:46leader, pay attention to your first
166. 5:48response. People need to know that you
167. 5:50can receive a problem without making the
168. 5:52conversation harder than it needs to be.
169. 5:54Practice it on a normal day. Take five
170. 5:56minutes with your team. Walk through who
171. 5:59to contact, backup route, what an
172. 6:02acknowledgement sounds like, and who
173. 6:03owns the coverage. Very simple. Then
174. 6:06roleplay the manager's response. Do it
175. 6:08out loud. You don't need a big speech
176. 6:10about culture. You need people to know
177. 6:12what to do when the phone rings in this
178. 6:14situation. After the shift is stable,
179. 6:17you can deal with a pattern that needs
180. 6:19coaching. Keep that conversation factual
181. 6:22and private. What is expected? What
182. 6:24happened? What needs to be different?
183. 6:26But at 5:47 in the morning, start by
184. 6:29making the handoff work. Your team
185. 6:31learns whether it can bring you a
186. 6:33problem through the way you respond to
187. 6:35the last one. I put together a call and
188. 6:37conversation guide that includes a
189. 6:39coverage checklist that is called the
190. 6:40ritual. It gives you an employee
191. 6:42message, a manager response, and a way
192. 6:44to close the coverage loop. Comment
193. 6:46ritual below if you want the guide.
194. 6:48We'll point you in right direction and
195. 6:50how to get to it. I'm Ryan and this is
196. 6:52the operator's edge. Have a great day.
197. 6:55See you on the next one.