Does It Pay to Be Nice?
How important is it for employees to be nice? Customers find a welcoming environment more engaging and are more loyal to companies whose culture appeals to them, but what affect does employees' niceness have on the bottom line?
Two books, "The Power of Nice" by Linda Kaplan-Thaler, and "Nice Guys Can Get the Corner Office" by Russ Edelman, explore the topic. Edelman warns in a blog post that employees who are overly nice don't make effective management material and can be harmful for a business, while Kaplan-Thaler strongly encourages every employee at her ad agency to be as nice as possible all the time (she said at a recent conference that she'll fire anyone who yells at a messenger). She even developed the "NiceQ" test to gauge just how nice a person is.
Especially in customer service, niceness is arguably a desirable trait. But just how important is it? Do you go as far as turning the other cheek when customers berate you over the phone? Do you believe in the axiom "the customer is always right?" Are there circumstances where niceness can negatively impact business, as Edelman argues?
Related Entries
