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I was standing at the front desk of a major hotel chain checking into my mystery room.  One of the services I offer clients is mystery shopping their sites.  Why do I call it a mystery room you ask?  Because I never know what I’m going to find when I open the door!

Yeah, I’ve seen it all from cock roaches running in the ceiling light globe attempting to escape certain death (I took the globe down and released the roach back outside just in case you’re wondering) to bed sheets that hadn’t been changed from a prior occupant (the hair on the sheets was a dead giveaway – the guest must have been a gorilla!)   But I digress…

As I stood at the front desk Crissy took ten minutes to tell me how she had been written up earlier that day for receiving a score less than 6 out of 7 on a customer service survey given to potential guests who call the property.

She told me how ridiculous her new manager was, how unfair the write-up was and of her plans to sell her condo and move into a smaller house in the coming months so she could ‘get out of here!’

I couldn’t help feel sorry for her.

Sounds familiar, huh?  Under-performing employees.  Bad attitudes.  Poor customer service.  It’s hard to find good help these days, huh?

As we stood there talking I noticed she was on the front desk alone.  She had juggled 2 phone calls and 3 check-in’s in the brief time I was observing.  In spite of this she remained professional with the callers and the guests she was checking in.

So, what is wrong with this scene?  Whose fault is it if a customer encounter isn’t stellar?  Who’s to blame?  Was it the desk clerk?  Is it the property manager?  Is it the VPO who directed the manager to write her up?

My opinion?  The manager and VPO are at fault.  But really, forget the blame.  Don’t find fault, find a solution, right?

What’s the problem here – we have to look at root cause?  The problem is a process and staffing issue.  I’ve observed this same front desk on prior visits with two desk clerks working and it is busy during peak times but they get the job done.

I highly doubt if the manager or VPO have taken the time to observe an entire shift to quantify the workload.  Logic, reason and all the research on efficiency will tell you that an employee can only focus on one customer at a time with good results.

Too, I wonder if the manager and VPO realize that the desk clerk is also their customer?  If they did, I wonder if they would have taken the time to ask her how they could serve her needs better – enabling her to serve the needs of their customers better?  Did she get even?  Of course she did!  The next night she put up the ‘No Vacancy’ sign and referred customers to the competitor across the road.  Ouch!

Solutions?  Here’s a few ideas…

1.  Ask the person closest to the action (the desk clerk in this example) their opinion of how to solve the problem.
2.  As a manager, take the time to observe the work load and the work flow.  Quantify it and use logic.  You don’t have to be a Harvard MBA to see the obvious.
3.  Think of unique solutions.  Normally managers think of hiring employees for an entire shift.  What if they hired a student to work 5pm to 9pm – the peak times.  Management avoids hiring a full FTE, customers get better service, and the staff are more happy knowing you truly care.
4.  …oh yeah, and look at the rooms after housekeeping is finished.  Better for you to discover the desperate cock roach and unchanged, hairy-gorilla sheets than for your next guest to find them.  Remember, it’s a hotel, not a zoo.

When working with animals it’s advantageous if the behavior you are trying to get is actually their idea.  Suppose you are walking a tiger on a leash (like you do that daily, right?) and you want to turn to the right, a bit of gentle pressure to the right will likely get you moving in the direction you want  …just enough pressure to get them going the path you desire.  But force the issue, jerk the leash, and you will likely have a tiger jumping on you!  Makes sense, huh?

I won’t name names but there is an individual I spend time with just about every day.  He’s very independent and thinks a lot of his own opinion – actually, sometimes he thinks too much of himself but that’s another story.

I’ve learned over the months to let the path I believe may be best, to let that path be his idea.  I used to lob out my advice on a topic, scheduling his employees for instance, and he would immediately react by telling me why it wouldn’t work.  A bit of rephrasing though almost always gets this tiger moving the direction I want.

Now, instead of telling him I think he should schedule Sally for Saturdays to cover the morning shift I try putting it in the form of a question.  The question in itself presents what I think is the best option but it allows him to make the decision if he so chooses.  A majority of the time he agrees (and who wouldn’t?), and many times he adds a slight twist to make the notion his own.

A leaders goal is to guide his tigers down the best path …and the key word is “guide” – lead, don’t force – and your tigers are likely to cheerfully plod the path you lay before them.  And yeah, it works at home too.  But whatever you do, don’t tell my wife, okay?

LeaderLynx – Real Life Lessons from the Jungle

When a lion roars it can have several meanings. It can be establishing its location so others do not infringe, or it can be calling to others saying here I am… come on over!

Today I was talking with a long term client and friend when his voice became animated and intense as he was asking about a result on a spreadsheet. When Bob became concerned about a bottom line number his blood pressure must have popped up 50 points!

He went on with his normal diatribe and after he finished I pointed out to him the person who entered the data simply made a typo in one cell (one out of hundreds on this particular spreadsheet). The typo was corrected and all the numbers flowed perfectly back on budget.

As a leadership speaker and corporate culture consultant I immediately had the following take-a-ways…

1. When a client, employee, child or spouse roars they may simply be roaring out of a lack of knowledge or not seeing the whole picture. Instead of arguing, let them talk themselves down, then gently point out the reality. In my case when I pointed out they typo, after listening to Bob ramble for 15 minutes, he laughed with a big “Ohhhhhhhhhh…..” and he quickly changed the subject.

2. During the conversation he said “I’m not getting on you…” and I believe him. He was having a cathartic reaction – granted his reaction was based on inaccurate information – but at its root it was cathartic.

3. When working with big cats and other animals, rarely do their rants, roars and huffs get a reaction out of me. Many times they are testing the water simply looking for a reaction. When you don’t react, the behavior isn’t reinforced. When the behavior isn’t reinforced it decreases. In the animal training world we call it driving a behavior into extinction. Hmmmmm….. works with animals. I bet it may work with the animals in your cubicle jungle as well. Try it next time you hear roars coming from the office next door.

Dan Stockdale is a leadership speaker, author and corporate culture consultant. He is also the Founder of the World Nature Coalition where he routinely works with the worlds most endangered and most dangerous creatures. His national media appearances include Fox News, CNN, New York Times, Boston Globe, Woman’s World and many others. Dan’s work s a keynote speaker, motivational speaker and animal trainer allow him to coalesce the wild side of the corporate jungle and the wild life in the real jungle.