Bob Johnson

I heard the expression ‘sitting in the britchen’ recently while listening to a program about ‘horsey’ sayings used in the English language. For example, why do we say ‘flogging a dead horse’ or ‘home and hosed’? And while I knew the meanings of the latter two, I had never heard the expression ‘sitting in the britchen’ or why it is used, despite having been around my wife Liz’s horses for many years.

So, first, what is a ‘britchen’?

It is a leather strap, like a sling, that is attached to the back of a saddle and passed around the backside of the animal (usually a donkey, but sometimes a horse) to prevent the saddle from sliding forward and up the horse or donkey’s neck, which is no fun if you’re sitting on its back at the time.

But here’s the reason I chose to write about the britchen:

When horses are working in a team, a britchen is attached to each horse, so that when they are driven backwards they push on the britchen strap, which is attached the wagon/cart/implement. So as well as pulling a load forward, the horses can reverse it as well: very handy when parking your horses and cart at the local shopping centre.

And here’s the ‘so what’:

A lazy horse can ‘sit’ back in the britchen and, instead of pulling its share of the load, let the other horses in the team do all the work, as well as pulling along the lazy horse in the process.

This can also happen in some work teams, where a team member is not pulling their weight; not doing their fair share — they are in effect ‘sitting in the britchen’ — and everyone else in the team has to work harder to make up for their lack of effort.

What can be done to improve the situation?

Find out why: is it because the team member cannot do the task, or will not do it?

  1. If the person is not able to do the task, train and/or coach them. Ensure that reasonable outcomes are agreed to beforehand, including what is to be achieved, how it will be achieved and by when so that progress/success can be measured.
  2. Make sure the person/people doing the training or coaching are qualified, otherwise more harm than good could be done. If you don’t have qualified trainers, bring in an external trainer.
  3. If the person is capable but is not willing, again, find out the reason(s) why and try to negotiate a way forward that suits both the individual and the company.
  4. Rather than completing tasks with three or more other team members — where they can avoid involvement — have the person work with only one other team member to ensure involvement and participation; but do choose a good role model for them to work with.
  5. Give appropriate, specific and individualised feedback on a regular basis.
  6. Instead of the banal ‘Thanks everyone…great day/week, et cetera’, take the time to tell team members individually what you like about what they are doing and how their efforts are contributing to the organisation. Say ‘thank you’ a lot… and mean it!
  7. Praise effort as well as results. Sometimes a person is giving it their all, but through no fault of their own they are not getting the results yet. Fan the sparks of enthusiasm and the results are sure to come.
  8. Conduct both informal and formal appraisals of people’s performance.

By ‘informal’ what I mean is ‘on the run’ one-to-one chats with team members focusing on what you like about their performance. These informal appraisals can be conducted on the sales floor, in back areas, coffee shops or even travelling in a vehicle or on a flight.

A ‘formal’ appraisal usually includes the completion of a Performance Appraisal Form by both the team member and their supervisor/section manager. The two appraisals then come together in a pre-arranged ‘formal’ meeting between the appraisee, their supervisor and the supervisor’s boss, where the appraisals are compared, discussed and action plans agreed to in relation to the future.

Keep in mind that a team of 50 horses can only go as fast as the slowest horse in the team and your customer service will only ever be as good as your least trained, least motivated team member — because that may be the only person I meet in your business.

Bob Johnson is the principal of Applied Retail Training.