Many years ago when I worked for Ritz-Carlton Hotels, we had a signature phrase that every employee from the CEO to the Dishwasher used, it was “My Pleasure.” This phrase was genuinely used whether you were interacting with a guest, customer, or fellow employee; it was our unique way of saying “thank you”, we value your presence and are delighted to serve you.
As a Ritz-Carlton employee we were constantly reminded to use phrases like “thank you”, “I’ll be happy to”, “Certainly”, and “My Pleasure” – and words like “ok”, “yeah”, “gotcha”, and “no problem” were never used in the work environment.
Being ladies and gentlemen of The Ritz-Carlton organization, this was our way of fostering a culture of gratitude, while creating a warm, refined, yet relaxed ambience. And, we were constantly reminded by leadership that every employee is important, and should be treated with the highest level of dignity and respect. This feeling or culture permeated throughout the work environment and significantly enhanced employee engagement.
Assessing Your Organization’s Culture
Now take a moment to reflect on your team and work environment. What culture is being fostered? When your employees interact with customers or each other -- are they gracious, courteous, patient, and respectful? Or, are they impatient, abrupt, and often rude for no particular reason? Like it or not, often employees are a mirror image of their leader. Whatever behaviors the leader consistently demonstrates will be acted out by their employees with customers and each other.
Initial Steps in Creating the Culture
If you desire to create a culture of gratitude, you start by: (1) Treating every individual you encounter (whether they are a paying customer, employee, or peer) with the highest level of dignity and respect; (2) Never let your ego or professionalism come into question, even when dealing with difficult situations; and (3) Consistently use the type of refined vocabulary, words, and phrases that you expect your employees to use.
Now I don’t expect you to adopt Ritz-Carlton verbiage standards, but what I would highly recommend is that you quietly reflect on your work environment, determine appropriate verbiage, start using it, and integrate it into employee training so that it becomes second nature for your team.
In closing, I am not advocating that all you have to do is change the verbiage used within your organization to change the culture, but believe me it is a good start that will steadily move you in the right direction.
