There’s no “set and forget” in customer service. It’s an ongoing struggle, challenge, battle – pick your descriptor. But it’s the only game in town, if you still want to be in the game.
Yet the employees seem to have things well under control here at the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida [don't give me that look--I'm here for work] where, from my balcony, I'm enjoying the chance to watch the foodservice staff set up tables for breakfast in the palm-lined courtyard.
A ballet in sensible shoes
Maybe this doesn't sound like much of a show. But to me the breakfast setup activities I’m watching — the motions, the abilities and training displayed — give the impression of an outdoor ballet, or a sort-of ballet; admittedly the dancers in question have clearly had more square meals than your average ballerina, and their footwear is more workaday.
They even have musical accompaniment, although it isn't orchestral. It’s more like a percussion ensemble: the regular rhythm of forks and knives and tea spoons being placed in the round banquet tables, ten place settings per table, accompanied by some birds singing and the waves brushing the beach in the background.
The movements, the steps of each task as it's performed, are deliberate, done without a rush, but without idling. There’s an impression that the employees have enough time to get their work done, but not enough time to be wasting it.
After the silverware is in place, they lay down green cloth napkins, one at a time, on the round tables. The napkin lies flat on the table for just one moment, then folded into a shape sort of like a kid's paper party hat or an origami sailboat; it stays there, self-supporting, as one by one the entire fleet of green cloth sailing ships, grows to be 150 strong.
No supervisors in sight
And here's the thing. The employees performing these movements, exercising their skills, have no visible supervisor. This work is undirected, yet highly purposeful, and I don't see anyone missing a step.
Employees have the "right" to be involved in the work that affects them
Erika, a frontline employee at the hotel, was quick to tell me that this self-direction extends throughout the hotel and organization. “The Ritz-Carlton is a company lets me use my best judgment to make guests happy. That makes a huge difference in how much the guests enjoy their day and, honestly, in how much I enjoy mine.“
Or as the credo card that has guided the Ritz-Carlton since its founding originally phrased it (the language has changed only slightly over the years):
“To create pride and joy in the workplace, all employees have the right to be involved in the planning of work that affects them.”
That’s powerful stuff.
******
It's not magic, at least not haphazard magic
But how the heck does it work? Well, even though it looks like magic, it’s not haphazard magic, and it’s not being performed by amateurs or without dress rehearsals to the point of exhaustion. There is, actually, leadership here, it just happens at a different stage of the journey: not while the employees are setting up the tables in full view of anyone who happens to be awake.
1. Hiring, or as the Ritz-Carlton calls it, “Selection.” Ritz-Carlton would never, ever consider allowing the above-quoted Erika to exercise her judgment if she hadn't been hired, in part, for her good judgment.
2. Daily meetings to keep all on the same page—literally, in fact: a daily meeting focused on one of the principles that are printed on the “credo card” that each employee has committed to memory and carries with her/him throughout. Principles like “serve..even the unexpressed wishes” of guests. Or “lateral service” (stepping out of your role to assist your colleagues) is expected. Or “I own and immediately resolve guest problems.”
3. The strong reinforcement that I call (per Tina Rosenberg) Positive Peer Pressure: employees are daily surrounded by examples of how to do things right. Not only do they learn from this, but it prevents slippage.
Will the guests sitting down to eat breakfast be aware that this setup ballet took place? Would it make a difference if it were to be done in a slapdash fashion, or under visible duress?
I don't know.
But I do know this thoughtfulness, this mix of consciousness and conscientiousness, will play out well for guests the rest of the day.
In fact, I have employee thoughtfulness to thank for being able to write this article at all. I slept through two wakeup calls and my iPhone alarm, yet here I am more or less awake, and enjoying the view from my Ritzy balcony.
How so?
Because after I didn't answer my phone that second time, a gentleman from the front desk took it upon himself to come up and awaken me in person, with knocks on the door and more. Now that wakeup call, that in-person wakeup, I did notice. And lived, or at least woke up, to tell you this tale.
Micah Solomon is a keynote speaker, author and consultant on customer service, leadership, and the customer experience.
Disclosure: I'm not professionally involved with The Ritz-Carlton or
