Who has the big hat?

Understanding that customers are the responsibility of everyone

Walk into many businesses in our industry and in addition to the necessary armaments and accessories, they stock clothing and related goods. Perhaps they have a selection of hats. Most of the hats a sporting goods dealer will stock have a tag in the back of them. The tag reads, "One size fits all.” It saves the dealer from stocking a lot of extra merchandise as there can be more than a dozen different sizes of hats.

Having a "one-size-fits-all" hat can be a good thing—especially if it is a hat that pertains to your business. Before speaking at a show in Atlanta in February, I decided to have a late breakfast. There were only two or three people eating in the hotel restaurant as the hostess seated me. Then a second person offered me coffee and orange juice. Several minutes went by before the hostess again passed close enough that I could get her attention. When she approached, I said I wanted to order breakfast and gave my order.

In another few minutes a third person approached and asked for my order. Although I explained the previous interaction with the hostess, this person still wanted to take my order. Confused, and expecting that two meals might show up, I repeated the order to the third person.

A woman sitting a few tables away initiated a conversation with me by saying, "I understood the first time what you wanted. I think the problem is that the hostess does not want to wear that hat. She wants to only wear the ‘big hat.”

The woman went on to explain that she found this experience to be quite common. People decide what their jobs entail, and any of the other tasks are either beneath them or just not their responsibility. Instead of helping out when necessary in any aspect of the business, they simply put on the invisible “big hat” and go find some “busy work” to occupy their time.

I think the woman has a point.  Somehow this hostess sees the job of offering coffee or taking a meal order as not being her concern. I now realize that I have experienced the “big-hat” syndrome in a small shop as I stood at a cash register waiting for someone to arrive to complete the transaction. A person walked behind the counter and without so much as looking at me hollered, "Jim, you have someone at the register."

As Jim arrived to complete the transaction, I asked him who that was who called for him. "Oh, that's the owner of the shop."

There is no need or place for hats in our business. The woman in the restaurant said so, and she is right. She said that if the situation called for pushing a broom, that's what should be done. Whatever the task at hand, that is the hat that should be put on.  Unfortunately, there are too many individuals who have their sights set on bigger hats. Or, as in the case of the shop owner, they are comfortable with their hats, and any other hat is too small for them.

Treat an employee with the attitude that you have certain responsibilities while the other tasks belong to their subordinates, and you will quickly develop employees who are looking for someone or something to be beneath them. They will find the justification based upon a variety of reasons.

Perhaps the other person is younger than they, or the other person has less experience or knowledge than they do. It may be because of gender or race, but they will find a reason to designate someone as beneath them.

With that designation, they will demonstrate their “big hat” in a variety of ways. At best, they will tell the customer, "I will get someone to take care of that for you." Most of the other ways of designating someone else to do the job become somewhat nasty and definitely destroy morale.

This writer has watched in businesses as the employees did battle for superiority and “hat size.” On one occasion, there was a battle going on while one person stayed out of it by keeping busy with a broom. After a few minutes of, one of the combatants gave a hush sign to everyone else with a quick, "Hey, there is a customer in here."

And as the broom sweeper passed by, I noticed the title on the name tag said "Manager."

This article is copyrighted by Tom Shay and Profits+Plus Seminars, who can be reached at: PO Box 1577, St. Petersburg, Fl. 33731. Phone 727-464-2182. It may be printed for an individual to read, but not duplicated or distributed without expressed written consent of the copyright owner.

For organizations that have a contract with Profits+Plus Seminars to reprint our articles, this tag line is required for reprinting: This article is an excerpt from the book, "What does Tom Say?". Tom Shay provides proven management and promotional business building ideas through his Profits+Plus Seminars and books. Tom can be reached at 727-464-2182 or at his web site: www.Profitsplus.org