I will start with the obvious-common sense is NOT common. Some of you think the toilet paper roll should be facing up while others of you think it should face down. Some people swear by a low-carb high-fat diet, while others think fats will kill you. In Hawaii (where I am from) it is considered rude to wear shoes in someone's home-in other parts of the country it's considered rude if you take them off.  Some people love Coke Zero while others love Pepsi Max. (The Pepsi Max people are wrong, BTW.) Just. Kidding. 

Common sense doesn't work!

Since common sense isn't common and we all actually have different ideas of what "common" is you cannot rely on common sense to be the main way you train and equip people for success. Here is what I mean by this-when you rely on someone to intrinsically know what you mean when you tell them to give "good customer service" or to make "good decisions" or to respond "well" to that negative review on social media, that is relying on "common sense."

Then when someone doesn't give good customer service, or make a good decision or responds poorly to a bad review, you might then get frustrated at them for not having sense enough to do whatever it is you felt they should have done in the first place; "You have NO common sense??? What is wrong with you???"

Does this sound familiar?

The More Effective Way

You need to give your people a clear roadmap of what you expect from them-in other words what it looks like, sounds like and feels like. So, instead of just telling someone to give "good customer service" you might say something like this,

"I want every person who walks in here to feel valued and cared for. That means when someone walks in we will stand up and greet them and ask, 'How can I help you today?' If they have a complaint this is how I want us to handle those complaints...if we cannot give the customer what s/he is looking for, this is how I want you to handle that scenario..."

Here are some other examples:

"As a brand new assistant manager I really need you to make good decisions. When I say good decisions that means decisions that are good for our company and also fair to our customers. For example if a resident is upset that a maintenance request took an extra day and is now expecting that we will give him one month free rent-giving one month free rent is NOT a good business decision. What do you think would be a fair resolution to that issue?"

"Telling the customer that he is an idiot, or laughing when the customer asks for one month free rent, or eye-rolling/smirking is also NOT a good business decision."

"When responding to a negative review we apologize, validate, acknowledge, apologize and offer solutions. This is what that looks like..."

Make it clear

In other words provide your people with a clear roadmap of what their performance should look like, sound like and feel like. If you have sales associates who are having trouble with overcoming objections don't just expect that they "should know" what to do, show them what to do. If one of your managers does not have great people skills you can't assume they'll get better! Recommend a book like How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie or Winning With People by John Maxwell, or book me to speak to your team. (He-he-he. Sorry, couldn't resist!)

One of your main responsibilities as a leader is to ensure that your people are equipped for success. Don't get caught up in "style points" and how you think things should be. Focus instead on the things that work.

Until next time-thanks for reading!