The Frontline Equals the Bottom Line
By Dennis Snow
28
2017 Issue 2 | THE SCORE
Most of us have heard the expression , “ The frontline is the bottom line ,” as it pertains to a company ’ s employees . It means that , as far as the customer is concerned , a company ’ s frontline employees are the company . After all , rarely do customers come in contact with the executives of an organization . Those frontline employees are truly the face of the organization . But as leaders , do we perform in a way that is consistent with the frontline equals bottom line philosophy ? In many cases , I think the answer is no .
I was pondering this issue recently while I sat eating in a TGI Fridays restaurant . As I was observing the employees , the reality of the situation hit me for the first time . These servers , bus boys , etc . are the most important people in the company . I knew this intellectually ( I ’ ve talked about it for years ), but the trueness of it hit me at that moment . These employees are typically the lowest paid in the organization , treated as expendable , often treated in a condescending manner , and yet they are the most important people in the company . If these employees fail in their duties , it makes no difference how smart the senior VP of Marketing is . The transaction between the customer and the company ( the frontline employee ) can so easily crash and burn . This is true in restaurants , hospitals , banks , grocery stores or any other industry or organization . Executives can call in sick , but if the truck drivers for a distribution center don ’ t show up one day , now there is a situation . When they do their jobs with pride and enthusiasm , the likelihood of company success is exponentially increased . When they do their jobs with boredom and skepticism , the greatest technology systems in the world won ’ t help .
We should treat our frontline employees like the stars that they are . We should honor them for the work that they do because they are the ones that make the world turn . All of our strategies , visions and corporate goals are only as good as the execution of those plans , and execution ultimately comes down to frontline people doing things . Theirs is the most honest work of all . The customer was either happy or she wasn ’ t ; the delivery happened on time or it did not ; the cooler was either stocked or not ; the food was either hot or it was not . The frontline doesn ’ t need a report in a binder to know how things are going . The score is real time for them . I think what is missing in business today is knowing the importance of the frontline at a gut level . Most of us know that we should say the frontline is the bottom line , but I don ’ t think it often shines through in our actions . If it did , we would be having pizza parties regularly , pitching in to help when things are busy , taking employees to lunch regularly to ask what can be improved . We would hold celebrations all the time . We would say thank you at every opportunity . Think about those times in your personal life when you were grateful for something that someone did . I mean