The Five Diamonds of Customer Service Leadership
I approached Michael to be the Manager on Duty in our
absence. It
required that he have the master keys and access to the safe, clearly a
huge leap of responsibility for Michael. His first reaction was surprise,
yet he soon steeled into an “I can do this attitude.”
His positive attitude served him well during a challenging
weekend. First,
Michael had to return to the property late one night to release a guest
trapped in a bathroom due to a faulty lock. Later he had to escort an
intoxicated and unruly guest from the property when a domestic quarrel
turned aggressive, a rare occurrence at our property.
Michael handled the situations with a poise and calmness that belied his
youth, and earned my continued respect.
Diamond
#2: Educate Yourself AND Train Others
No successful organization ignores the importance of TRAINING. Yet
many organizations look at the line staff as the sole target of training. In
fact, the polarity is that both the leaders AND the staff require ongoing,
continuous attention to their knowledge base.
In looking at the expectations, it became clear that we
had training
issues to contend with. Our previous evaluations indicated we were
doing most things correctly. However, we had an inconsistent approach
to service details, and failed to perform some very clear AAA
expectations.
So it was necessary that I learn those expectations, then
teach the staff
so that they were understood and consistently carried out. As this cuts
across all departments, everyone had a share in the success, or failure,
to perform consistently at the Five Diamond level.
We started by re-writing all of the job descriptions to
include
the Five Diamond service expectations, as well as implementing a
series of daily checklists to ensure the broader goals of the operation
were understood and consistently performed. Most importantly, to
demonstrate our commitment, and to ensure an understanding of our
expectations, I personally helped each staff member perform their duties
until I was satisfied they had mastered the training expectations. . In
essence, I was asking the staff to perform only duties I was capable of
performing myself.