There are people for whom customer service is a core value, one that is always present in their personal and professional lives. When these types of people lead customer service teams, their teams tend to work magic.

There are also people who don't truly believe in customer service. When these people lead customer service teams, service failures tend to be the norm. They may talk a good game to try to convince their customers, their employees, and even themselves that service is indeed important. However, their true colors are eventually revealed by their bad habits.

Here are ten examples of bad leadership habits that cause service failures:

Unable to clearly articulate what outstanding customer service looks like.
Too impatient to do things right.
Focused on catching employees doing things wrong instead of helping them do things right.
Too busy to provide employees with training, coaching, or direction.
Failing to respond to email and voice mail in a timely manner.
Allowing employees to continuously provide poor service.
Disciplining employees for behaviors they regularly exhibit themselves.
Treating employees disrespectfully.
Asking employees to do things they wouldn't do themselves.
Making excuses for any of the above.

What bad habits would you add to this list?

Jeff Toister is the author of Service Failure: The Real Reasons Employees Struggle with Customer Service and What You Can Do About It. The book is scheduled to be released on November 1.

You can learn more about the book at www.servicefailurebook.com or pre-order a copy on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Powell's Books.

A recent study by Leadership IQ found that 66% of employees feel they have too little interaction with their boss. A whopping 78% of employees surveyed did not have a clear idea of whether their boss feels their job performance is where it should be. That's right -- a majority of employees want to be managed more, not less.

The feedback employees do get is often lacking. Employees want to hear more than just 'good work' or 'you need to do better'. When receiving positive feedback, 53% reported it wasn't specific enough to help them repeat the good performance. Sixty-five percent of employees receiving criticism felt their bosses didn't provide enough direct feedback to help them improve.

Managers are often too busy, afraid to give direct feedback, or are worried about being viewed as a micromanager by their employees. Unfortunately, this study indicates the hands-off approach can lead to real performance problems.

What can be done?

The first step is coming to terms with reality. In my own travels I hear too many leaders dismissing the art of feedback as 'too elementry' or 'common sense' and not something that deserves attention, but reality clearly doesn't match this perception. You can never get better at something if you don't think you need to.

The next step is learning how to give specific, actionable feedback. Many leaders struggle because they never receive formal training in this area, but there are plenty of resources available, including our High Performance Management workshop.

The final step is developing the habit of giving frequent constructive feedback. As the numbers in this study show, Corporate America has a long way to go.