Preparing Your Front-Line Team for Remnants of The Worst of Times

In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens opens his novel with the now often quoted observation, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”.

Recent weeks have taken most of us along a similar journey. Many have rediscovered joyful parts of our life that we had forgotten in the crazy daily drive to complete our usually never-ending checklists. We might have spent quite a bit more time lately with our families, which has been both positive and negative for some. We’ve had life’s most precious commodity, time, to spend in abundance like we’ve never had since we were children, although we were limited on what we could spend it on. And as “time is money”, many of us received the trade-off of that time with no or little financial support. Yes, in many ways, the best of times, and, the worst of times.

How does the rest of the story unravel now that segments of our economy are beginning to open again, albeit with many restrictions, at least at first?

Here is what we do know. People have been caged up for nearly two months now, an unprecedented event in the brief history of the United States. Some want to keep it exactly that way for an extended amount of time; others simply want to return to their pre-2020 world as quickly as possible.

The severe restrictions in place by governmental agencies are likely to add to the stress of some of those customers in the latter group who are already on edge. And while your front-line employees will be only following the new processes you must put in place, the unfortunate reality is that some will bear the frustration of those guests who have not bought into the required protocols, or who may have, but they simply at a breaking point of frustration and reason has become immaterial in the moment.

It is important to recognize this dynamic right now, and properly prepare your team to expect it at times, as well as how to deflate situations before they become overwhelmingly toxic and dangerous. There are resources out there to help you protect yourself, your team and your guests. For instance, locally CX Orlando Research and Revenue Architects has launched a one-hour, in-person training for front-line employees in the Orlando area; but if you are not in Central Florida, the key wherever you are is to mentally prepare for, and expect, some of these challenges, and to train your team in ways to handle any frustration and aggression before it damages your brand at minimum, and potentially leads to greater negative consequences.

If we are mindful of each other’s obligations and frustrations, we can do our best collective job of putting the “worst of times” behind us, and focus on more of “the best of times” as businesses slowly re-enter the marketplace.