For the 10 years that I have overseen the Chick-fil-A location that I manage, there have been lots of highs and a few lows regarding customer satisfaction performance. Strategically using my set of talent tools has led to high performing teams that almost always produce equivalent results. But here or there over the past decade, customer satisfaction scores have regressed. One such stretch occurred recently in the last few weeks of 2024 and as 2025 began. Encouragingly, the scores are now already back up to the expected standard, but this rebound was not random by any means. When a performance area is lagging amongst a group, what specific steps should be taken to turn the ship around?

5 C’s of Performance Improvement

1. Clarity. Nothing inhibits your ability to improve performance more than being unaware of the problem. As the saying goes, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure”. The first step in making something better is to become ultra clear on what the problem is, and where it is. Is the issue being caused by one individual? Or is it a sweeping issue across the entire staff? Is the issue due to lack of communication, lack of care, lack of effort, or lack of strategy? Is the issue a PROCESS problem, or a PEOPLE problem? Sometimes leaders not only lack specificity regarding major problems, but they can be oblivious to the fact that the problem even exists at all. Other times, leaders lie to themselves and avoid owning up to the reality of an issue. But for improvement to occur, the first step is to gain real clarity around the issue.
2. Conviction. Knowing that a problem exists is not enough. Leaders must then be BOTHERED enough by it to do something about it. Without this kind of conviction, even an enormous issue that threatens the well-being of the entire organization will be ignored until it is too late. If something is not a priority to those in charge, then it will never be prioritized by anyone else either. Employees look to leaders to know what things are important. Conviction produces the courage that is required to consistently coach others so that improvement can become a reality. A leader must maintain conviction to remedy the real issues that arise in their organization.
3. Communication. Once an area of needed improvement is identified, and it is bothersome to leaders, all of this must be effectively broadcasted to everyone else. One Slack message or a passing comment doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. Repeat it loudly and clearly over and over again using various mediums of communication. Remind people in person by saying things like “Don’t forget, our customers are saying that we aren’t quite as friendly as we used to be, so let’s WOW them with helpful service today y’all!”. Leaders grossly underestimate the amount of communication that must be given to everyone so that they will understand the reality of a situation and will change their behavior to align with the needed improvement. Say it over and over, until you start hearing others say it themselves as the renewed focus spreads all the way through the ranks. 
4. Coaching. Much like communication, take any and every opportunity to verbally coach others regarding HOW exactly they can do their jobs so as to align with the now established area of focus. Employees can sometimes be confused about WHAT specifically they should do, or even how this area of improvement can be impacted by them in their role. Use coaching to praise others when you see a behavior that aligns with the priority, and then correct those who act in a way that does not. For example, “Tom, I loved how you ended that phone call with ‘I’m just a phone call away, don’t hesitate to reach out to me if I can be of further assistance for you’! Great job WOW-ing that client with helpful service!”. Or, “Jenny, let’s make sure we WOW clients by ending our phone calls with something like ‘My name is Jenny and I’m here to help you in any way possible’. Thanks and let’s keep getting after it!”. Use clear, fair, matter-of-fact coaching to reinforce behaviors that align with improving performance.
5. Consistency. This one is the glue that brings this whole thing together. If a leader thinks that they are too busy to steadily beat the drum of improvement day after day for weeks or even months, then nothing will change. Say it at 9:00 am, coach it at 10:00 am, ask it in a question form at 11:00 am, coach it again at 1:00 pm, praise it at 2:00 pm, and thank everyone for their effort towards it at 5:00 pm. Then do the same thing the next day, and the day after that. Consistency leads to habits, and habits lead to the collective output amongst a group of people. Even with the correct inputs, the outputs will sometimes lag behind and take a bit to catch up. This is another reason why consistently staying the course is so important. Commit to maintaining the consistency needed, for years if necessary, and then get after it every single day.

In Closing

Over the recent months, I have used these exact steps to see improved performance. Customers were saying that our drive-thru was not as fast as it always is. The issue was showing up in the results across all dayparts. This was not acceptable, and I would not sit idly by and make excuses, argue with the data, or pretend like there are more important things that I must be doing other than ensuring the satisfaction of our paying customers. Every leader was made keenly aware of the issue, and then every employee was made aware. The communication was not threatening or negative, but it was clear and it was focused on seeing this as an area of opportunity that we could attack together with confidence as a fun challenge! We already maintain a coaching culture that we have worked to build for a few years…a culture where it is normal and expected for feedback to be given. So the “be faster” bullet was simply loaded into the coaching gun, and then verbal coaching of every form was engaged, day after day after day with relentless consistency. I did “speed checks”, “speed reminders”, and “speed coaching” with managers, and they did the same with their people. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. 

I’d love to say that this is the end of the story and that all results will live happily ever after. But this of course is not the case. Next week, who knows what area of the business will now need improvement. But whatever comes, for me or for you, we can use the 5 C’s to see improvement become a reality!