8 Reasons to Focus on Service Excellence in the New Year

Creating a culture of Service Excellence is a journey, not a destination; and as we approach the New Year it’s a great time to reflect on what you actually accomplished and wish you could have accomplished in the past year.

If one of your organizational goals is to maintain a competitive edge by enhancing the customer experience, then focusing on Service Excellence could provide  a comprehensive approach that could result in service, product, and profit dominance.

Focusing on Service Excellence will positively impact:

1. Organizational Alignment, by forcing you to refine your organization’s definition of exceptional service. Defining service excellence starts with clarifying what exceptional customer service should look, sound, and feel like every time a customer interacts with your staff or uses your products and services.
2. Employee Engagement, by forcing you to involve employees in the planning of work that affects them. Creating a culture of service excellence is something that you do with employees, not to them. Their buy-in, commitment, and active involvement all contribute to sustaining the culture for the long-term.
3. Leadership Effectiveness, by forcing you to hold leaders accountable for driving excellence. No longer will leaders be allowed compromise in the quality and level of service that their staff provides. Their performance will be directly linked to sustained employee engagement, customer loyalty, quality management, and profitability.
4. Overall Communication, by forcing you to increase interaction with employees through regular updates on company issues that impact their work and in soliciting their feedback on ways to improve products and services.
5. Operational Excellence, by forcing you to assess service and product quality gaps, then searching for and implementing simplistic, cost-effective ways to improve without compromising the customer experience.
6. Service Recovery, by forcing you to identify ways to effectively resolve the most common customer issues through process improvement and teaching employees how to handle customer issues with a high level of professionalism and finesse.
7. Customer Loyalty, by forcing you to create a customer-centered work environment that enhances all key touch points that make up the customer experience. This includes improving the way we greet and interact with customers; the way we answer the telephone; the manner in which we improve processes that directly impact the customer; and our process for resolving any issues that may arise and diminish the customer experience.
8. Revenue & Profitability, by forcing you to focus on a more comprehensive approach to customer service by identifying ways to create an environment that fosters service, performance, and operational excellence. Ultimately, you create a delightful customer experience that makes them more apt to recommend your products and services, continue to return, and be willing to spend more.

While these eight reasons to focus on Service Excellence may not be all inclusive, my hope is that it has ignited creative juices as you think about how you will approach creating and sustaining a culture of Service Excellence in the New Year.

My Pleasure! Fostering a Culture of Gratitude

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.

Celebrating 7 Years of Success

It's hard to believe that Vivian and I launched Performance Solutions by Design  seven years ago. The time has passed so quickly, and the amount of support from former Ritz-Carlton colleagues, new clients, long-time friends,  family members, and fellow compatriots along the way has been much appreciated and overwhelming. 

One thing is certain, without the support of so many committed friends we wouldn't have achieved so many significant, impressive milestones in such a short amount of time. For instance, in 7 years we've:

• Published two popular business books
• Launch our Free E-Learning Program
• Developed over 60 E-Learning Mini-Workshops
• Formed long-term alliances with two Prestigious Universities
• Reached 14,000 viewers on our E-Learning Network
• Reached 25,000 leaders & employees through our Training Programs
• Launch Corporate Universities for three renowned corporations
• Launch a comprehensive Social Media initiative

As we begin strategic planning for 2011 we have many new and exciting initiatives in store.  But most of all THANK YOU to everyone who has supported us along the way.  May you be blessed with prosperity and good health throughout the new year!  -- Warm Regards, Theo & Vivian

Building the Next Generation of Leaders

Performance Solutions by Design has a comprehensive library of over 60 FREE e-Learning Workshops that are designed to increase business acumen and leadership effectiveness. 

Whether you are considered a high potential employee, a mid-manager, or an emerging executive -- we have interesting and dynamic topics that will be of interest to you. 

Click here for details on our FREE E-Learning Workshops

Our seasoned workshop facilitators can also offer most of these topics in an engaging half-day or full-day leadership session at your location. We certainly hope you view and enjoy the learning. And, most of all please share this FREE information with your friends and colleagues.

Have You Read Our Recent E-Newsletter?

Check out our September 2010 E-Newsletter for the latest information on our upcoming workshops, recently published white papers and articles, free e-learning workshops, and much more.  -- just click the link below...
 What's New / What's Next (September 2010)

Lessons Learned from Undercover Boss

If you haven’t been watching the reality show Undercover Boss, I definitely recommend you catch at least one episode soon. It airs weekly on CBS, and I’ve accidently caught 2 or 3 episodes over the summer months and they were well worth 60 minutes of my time.

For those not familiar with the show, it features a senior executive (typically the CEO) of a well-known corporation who works undercover in their own firm for a few days to investigate how the company really works and to identify how it can be improved. At the end of each show, the undercover boss resumes his true identity and summons the employees he worked with individually to corporate headquarters. He then reveals his identity and rewards the hardworking employees through promotions and financial rewards.

The reason I believe its worth one viewing (of any episode) by a leader is because it reveals the many blind spots senior leaders sometime have concerning their company and the effectiveness of new initiatives they firmly believe in and put in place system-wide. So, here are a few of my lessons learned:

 

Don’t get too caught up in smelling your own perfume or cologne. Sometimes we get so caught up in the financial outcomes of new initiatives and technology that we forget about or neglect the human element – our employees and customers.

Learn by walking around. Make it a habit to get out to your office at least a few times a year, visit the various departments and facilities, walk around, meet and greet employees, and genuinely ask for their input on how things are going. Most of all be prepared to hear the bad sprinkled in with the good to give you a firsthand impression of what the company culture really is.

Always make a good-faith effort to solicit employee input. Before implementing major changes or initiatives that will significantly impact how work gets done, request employee suggestions and feedback. This will not only prevent you from being caught off guard you when you hear that they are unhappy or dissatisfied with new changes, but also allow you to understand how the changes will impact them personally.

 

What I get most out of watching Undercover Boss is how detached we sometimes are (as leaders) from the day-to-day operations of our organizations, just how detrimental that can be to employee productivity and morale, and the immense sense of pride employees display when we show that we appreciate and value their contribution.

 

If you’ve been following the show (Undercover Boss), I would love to hear your impression of it, and whether or not you too have gained any lessons learned from it. I look forward to hearing from you!

When You Absolutely HATE Your Job

In my work as a Performance Consultant, Instructional Designer, and a Training Facilitator, I am exposed to all sorts of employees ranging from the extremely enthusiastic and loyal to those who ardently hate their jobs. I often think of what a miserable existence unhappy employees  must lead walking into the corridors of an office day-in and day-out that they absolutely despise.

Feeling compelled to help out, I have devised the three essential steps to take if you absolutely hate your current job.

#1 - Look within to determine why. Take some quiet time and ask yourself what is causing your dislike and displeasure with the job. In speaking with employees who feel this way, typical responses are that their skills and talents weren’t being properly utilized, or they feel overwhelmed with the volume of work they are required to perform each day. Some say that their boss is a total nightmare and difficult to work with, while others just feel the work environment (whether fast-paced or slow-paced) just isn’t a fit for them. Some also respond that ultimately the job significantly infringes on their personal values and/or family life.

#2 - Write down the Pro’s and Con’s of leaving to make a career transition. Before you start drafting your letter of resignation and throwing in the towel, consider the advantages of leaving. Your advantages might include happiness and peace of mind; more time with family; or the potential to make more money doing something that you love and enjoy. In contrast, disadvantages of leaving your current job might include financial instability until you find that new job; less money to meet your family needs; and potentially being unable to sustain the lifestyle you currently enjoy. Of course, if the advantages outweigh the disadvantages then its time to make a move.

#3 - Map out an Action Plan with specific time lines.  If you are committed to leaving in pursuit of a more self-gratifying career, then start networking inside and outside of work and securing professional references; attend as many company-sponsored training workshops as you can; update your resume and definitely refine your interview skills. Most of all, give yourself a timeline by which each of these tasks will be accomplished. Likewise, if you plan to stay put in your current job and stick it out, then start a hobby outside of work that you enjoy or do volunteer work in your community or church; network within the organization, looking for internal opportunities to grow and potentially be promoted within; seek training to enhance your skills; and most of all learn not to take every little thing at work so personal.

Bottom-line, while these three essentials are not be all inclusive, my hope is that it helps get creative juices moving in a more positive direction. If you hate your current job, don’t stay, consistently displaying a negative attitude that totally contaminates the work environment and morale of everyone else. Be proactive and work toward a strategy that will move you in the direction that opens doors to a more fulfilling, purposeful career.