Life coach - Step 65 of 100 - What comes first employees or customer?

I read about some organizations wherein employees came first. In some others customers came first. I read about British Airways who once they changed the focus from employees to customers faced a drop in quality - change happened due to a new CEO coming in. What is really important in the first place - employees or customers?

Having worked with different bosses and different customers with the same me, I realised that I performed my best - much above the call of duty - when I was treated with respect, my opinion valued and even if I goofed up, it was a polite mention of what I should have done. I now have got into the groove where I know that I can work wonders if I work where the focus is me / respect for me.

And let me handle the customer. If you keep me happy, I keep the customer happy.

I again believe that most of like to be treated with respect and we all should be given multiple chances even if we goof up. And yes there would be some of us, who would need to be told what the customer expects. But then these would be the exceptions.

For a Commanding Officer his troops are his focus. If he keeps them happy - not in terms of happy-happy, but more in terms of fulfilled, they will achieve the objectives of keeping the customer (in this case the enemy unhappy). Here I go in to the Transactional analysis - Parent, Adult and Child theory. If I treat the employee like an adult, he will reciprocate it. It is a adult - adult transcation. Adults do not loose the temper, shout, be sarcastic (Okay most of us do though we are adults, but in the id, ego and super ego stage, we are actually behaving like a child - with a solider it could be like a bully child because we know he cant fight back). Adults do not behave irrationally or carry biases or recency effects.

As a CO all your transactions should be in the adult-adult stage only. Even if the soldier becomes a child (rarely a parent), you should still continue in the adult stage only. Typically we either resort to being a child or an adult to level the transaction when the other party is in child state. Note that adult-adult transactions do not have to be win-win in short term. Win-win in short term if parent-child. The child throws a tantrum to watch TV and is disturbing me, I let the child watch TV to gain peace. This is a parent-child.

Where does the PAC and focus sync up? If I treat my employees with respect using adult-adult transactions only, they in turn will treat the customers with respect using the same adult-adult transactions. An adult-adult transaction is amazing when it happens. As a CO your transactions with most of your officers and troops are parent-child. It does get the work done, but you lose upon the wonders your troops could achive if it were adult-adult transaction.

In an adult-adult transaction what happens is that the onus is shared jointly and each feels responsible for going the extra mile to achieve results. The CSD NCO in my case when treated adult-adult, went the extra mile to arrange the goods in the way they sold quickly. At the end of the month he knew what wasnt flying and which things we need to offer rebates to get them out. He understood holding costs, inventory pilferage, waste due to deteoration. In the earlier adult-child stage he would just do what he was told.

Having adult adult transactions is a state of equanimity and most of the COs I worked for Col Deshmukh, Col Sikand, Col Bhadani, Col Sapra, Col Sahai and my clients Freyae Jones, Joseph McHugh, my reporting managers Reuben Daniel were in that state.