>A great business I did some work with – ‘Pret A Manger’ – had a unique philosophy with their staff which I’d like to share it with you.
‘Pret A Manger’ is a very pioneering and successful chain of sandwich shops. They employ lots of sandwich makers and people who work in their shops. These sandwich makers (mainly foreign) start every day at 6.30am making sandwiches for this very passionate chain of shops. It’s hard work and yet they have a very low turnover of staff.
Do they do it for the money? They do…!! But equally, the turnover of staff was unbelievably low and you might question ‘what’s their secret to retaining their staff?”
One of the reasons is that they are very good at ‘Catching People Doing Things Right’ (CPDTR). The good thing for Pret is that this is not a theory – they actually DO IT…
The reason why this works…If you ask workers (people who work) what most upsets them most about their job… The same thing comes up EVERY SINGLE TIME and you definitely know what it is…it’s that they don’t get ‘recognition’ – it’s them not FEELING like they’re valued.
Yet we often get TOLD “Well done…” , but is that what we actually hear?
It made me very aware of a couple of things. These are the two primal fears that we all have as human beings:-
1. We all want to be ‘wanted’!
2. We all want to know that we’re good enough.!!
It’s kind of obvious really and yet – some people go round for large parts of their life feeling like they’re not.
So when you CPDTR (‘Catch People Doing Things Right’) to me there are three rules – that must be followed…
1. Be Sincere – If you don’t mean it – don’t say it
2. Be Speedy – say it at the time, don’t wait – it makes it genuine
3. Be Specific – so if you mean to say, when chatting to one of your cleaners – that you like ‘the edges of the floor’ – then say “Nice edges of the floor”. Don’t just say “Nice floor!!” – it’s too general.
When people say things that are general, they know you’re being insincere. It’s a bit like the manager that always says “good job guys”. You’re thinking (because they use that phrase at all the time) “shut up”.
So, what are your team thinking when you ‘Catch Them Doing Things Right?”
How do you think they feel – when you do this? (apart from bursting into tears with happiness…) all because you said ‘nice floor edges’!!
CPDTR builds trust…Being positive builds trust. People like what they’re hearing. When you build trust – people will do anything for you.
What happens when things go wrong…It’s doubly brilliant because when you come round to telling your team that something’s wrong – they actually take it on board and ‘listen’ – because they TRUST you.
The alternative is… (what everyone else does!!) CPDTW (‘Catch People Doing Things Wrong’) this build’s…
· Negativity which leads to…
· Fear which leads to…
· ‘Blame culture’!!
“It wasn’t me – it was him!!”
