Why Not Practice?

If you were a music teacher, would you get your pupils to practice scales and songs to the point where they could play them well without thinking about what they were doing?

If you were a golf or tennis coach, would you get your students to practice swinging the club or racquet so they could do it correctly time and time again?

If you were coaching a sports team, would you get the team to practice set moves and key skills like passing the ball, shooting and tackling until they could do it correctly, every time, without thinking about it.

If you were teaching religious education, would you expect your students would learn things like the Lord’s Prayer off by heart?

Of course you would because you know that to do something well, you have to have over-learned it, so that it happens automatically.

As a manager do you expect your staff to practice how to interact to customers until they can do it well every time without thinking about it? Do you require them to learn what to say to a customer off by heart?

Would your customers notice a difference if you did?

Oh, and don’t tell me you wouldn’t want staff to memorise what to say because it would sound stilted. Left to their own devices, people say the same thing every time now without giving any thought to what they are saying (Are you right? How ya going? Have a nice day). If they are going to say the same thing over and over they may as well say something good.

I guess you have to decide whether it is important your staff learn how to look after your customers so it happens automatically every time.