Training Industry Magazine - Leadership 2015 Special Edition - (Page 35)

A favorite example of this was the experience of a hotel in Southern California that had a history of poor guest ratings. When new owners took over the hotel, they felt the poor ratings were mainly because of the aging, dilapidated condition of the property. They decided to put millions of dollars into refurbishing the hotel. Management decided not to tell the customers about the renovations, which would take nine months to a year. They felt that if the customers knew the extent of the renovations, they would move their meetings to other locations. The general manager brought all the hotel workers together and said, "It will be tough sledding around here for the next 12 months or so. The noise and inconvenience may not be popular with our guests. Do whatever it takes to recover from any inconvenience caused by our remodeling. If you want to send someone a bottle of champagne, do so. If you want to hire a babysitter for them, do it. Do whatever it takes to recover from this trying situation." With that strategy in place, the hotel entered the remodeling phase. To the amazement of management, during the renovations their guest ratings were the highest they had ever received. Even though things were bad for the guests, their memories of their experience with the hotel were formed by the customer-oriented staff who recovered quickly when things went wrong. Management had empowered their frontline people to be all-out recovery experts. The results showed in highly satisfied customers. TREATING YOUR PEOPLE RIGHT The third step in leading at a higher level is all about treating your people right. These days, your organization is evaluated on how quickly it can respond to customer needs and problems. "I'll have to talk to my boss" doesn't cut it anymore. Nobody cares who the boss is. The only people customers care about are the ones who answer the phone, greet them, write up their order, make their delivery or respond to their complaints. They want top service and they want it fast. This means that you need to create a motivating environment for your people along with an organizational structure that is flexible enough to permit them to be the best they can be. If you don't empower your people and treat them right, they won't take care of your customers, and in the long run, you won't get your desired results. People who are treated poorly tend to pass that on to their customers. Empowerment means letting people bring their brains to work and allowing them to use their knowledge, experience and motivation to serve customers. Leaders of the best-run companies know that empowering people creates positive results that are just not possible when all the authority comes from up the hierarchy. THE LACK OF A CLEAR VISION IS THE MOST COMMON REASON MANAGERS FALL SHORT OF BECOMING GREAT LEADERS. PRACTICING SERVANT LEADERSHIP The fourth step in leading at a higher level is to practice servant leadership. If it's not in service of a shared vision, leadership can become self-serving. Leaders begin to think people are there to serve them, instead of the customer. Organizations can become self-serving bureaucracies where leaders focus their energies on recognition, power and status, rather than the organization's larger purpose and goals. Life is all about the choices we make as we interact with each other. We can choose to be self-serving or serving. My wife Margie likes to say, "Leadership is not about love - it is love. It is loving your mission, it's loving your customers, it's loving your people, and it's loving yourself enough to get out of the way so that other people can be magnificent." Life constantly presents leaders with opportunities to choose to serve others. That's what leading at a higher level is all about. Ken Blanchard is co-founder of The Ken Blanchard Companies. He is the best-selling co-author of "The One Minute Manager" and 60 other books on leadership. Email Ken. TRAINING INDUSTRY MAGAZINE - LEADERSHIP2015 I SPECIAL EDITION I WWW.TRAININGINDUSTRY.COM/MAGAZINE 35 http://www.trainingindustry.com

Training Industry Magazine - Leadership 2015 Special Edition

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