You can start right where you stand and apply the habit of going the extra mile by rendering more service and better service that you are now being paid for. – Napoleon Hill In his book, Waking the American Dream, Don McCullough relates a story about Winston Churchill during World War II. England decided to…
I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody – Bill Cosby Ask any Green Bay Packers fan and they will tell you without any hesitation that the infamous call at the end of the game against Seattle was blown and it cost them the game. Before…
A successful man is the one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him? – David Brinkley The nation watched in horror when the video tape emerged showing the bullying of 68-year old school bus monitor Karen Klein. According to ABC News more than 32,000 people went online and…
If the world is cold make it your business to build fires – Horace Traubel In a recent Gallup Business Journal feature, Scott Simmons and Christie Fraser reported on the state of customer service in the hospital industry. Notable in their findings: hospitals try to deliver the best healthcare outcomes and good customer service, but…
Make a difference about something other than yourselves. – Toni Morrison In an interview with Open Forum (http://amex.co/SDQOLd), Johnny Rocket’s CEO John Fuller offered some fascinating business insights. Fuller says that one of their guiding principles is to be a difference maker verses a care taker. He explained that he wants people to feel that…
They are happy men whose natures sort with their vocations – Francis Bacon According to a survey reported on in People Management (http://bit.ly/MmCPet) the number of employees who are ‘proud’ to work for their organization has fallen from almost half of workers at the start of 2012 to just two-fifths. A survey of 1,114 office…
A warm smile is the universal language of kindness. – William Arthur Ward An entry in Reader’s Digest relates the story of an individual calling for information about one of his credit cards. He stated, “I got the following prompt: ’Please enter your account number as it appears on your statement.’ Then the system said,…
Oft expectations fails, and most oft there where it promises – William Shakespeare A story is told of a young psychology student serving in the Army who one day decided to test a theory. Drawing kitchen duty, he was given the job of passing out apricots at the end of the chow line. He asked…
Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement. – Henry Ford I came across some interesting statistics recently that underscored what could happen if 99% were good enough: 12 newborns will be given the wrong parents daily 2.5 million books will be shipped with wrong covers 315…
So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work. – Peter Drucker A story is told of a man flying in a hot air balloon who realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon and shouts, “Excuse me, can…
A few months ago, we had the wonderful pleasure of spending a day interviewing 11 people at Oak Ridge Hotel & Conference Center to try to uncover their secret – because they have gotten the formula right on employee motivation. Anyone who has ever stepped into their facility outside of Minneapolis can attest to the customer service mentality that every employee exhibits – from the front desk, to housekeeping, to the chefs, groundskeepers, and even in accounting.
There is a definite difference in how the majority of these employees “show up” at their job everyday and how they view and take care of their “guests”. They are truly a company that is doing something right. Here is a quick overview of some of the findings we found: