Find friends in all the right places...

The best times during my career in the gaming business were the 2 years before each of the property’s opened – called, not surprisingly, “pre-opening”. During that time, we hire and bring on the team, starting with the C-suite (24 months out), their direct reports (8-18 months out), followed by the department managers (4-8 months), supervisors 2-3 months), and employees, 2-8 weeks), in that order. Everyone who participated in those openings will tell you that during that time, the teamwork builds friendships that last a lifetime. When they’re developing policies and SOPs. creating training manuals, designing office space, ordering and putting away supplies, and interviewing and hiring employees. Together. At work long hours, networking, and making friends. Together. I’ve posted here in the past that at Bellagio we created a yearbook that included pictures and stories about the more than 10,000 employees who took part in that effort – if asked, most will show you theirs and all the comments and signatures they collected from their friends and co-workers. And most will fondly point to that book and the times it chronicled, as a high point in their lives and careers. Work can be that for people – our job as leaders is to create the environment and culture where that happens. Then it’s more than just a job. Start making that happen where you work today.

 

Natalie Katherine Neidhart-Wilson (born 1982): Canadian American professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Natalya.

Don't forget to show your appreciation...

 

Today’s quote clearly articulates the special qualities of service employees – out there, on their own, face-to-face with customers. In a spot at that moment of service truth where and when it’s just them. Supervisors almost never see the service or get between the customer and employee. They must be knowledgeable, inspired, and willing to act on their experience and instincts. How often have you seen a comment card or received a post-service survey – those are common, and far too few customers take the opportunity to give their feedback. Especially when the service is good. Everyone seems anxious when the service is bad, but management appreciates it either way. What’s not as evident is the work happening out of sight of that service – where employees communicate with each other and engage in the kind of teamwork that makes for great service. And don’t overlook the importance of their eye contact, a smile, and a little personalization – too often customers fail to notice these little things nor appreciate how they impact the overall service experience. They’re made possible by those behaviors and that teamwork. Service employees, working alone and in tandem with others, are the backbone of our shopping, eating, and hospitality experiences, good and bad. Either way, give them some feedback today. 

 

Anna Mary Soubry (born 1956): British barrister, journalist and former politician who was Member of Parliament from 2010 to 2019.

Get organized...

I like to think of myself as organized – the clothes in my closet are organized by type and size, and the dishes I wash every day or take out of the dishwasher are put back in their cupboards in neat and orderly fashion. I’m a leader who uses checklists and was known to give my managers note-card holders to facilitate them doing the same. But I often procrastinate when working on assignments and fail to organize my office until forced to do so. I guess I’m what’s known as an enigma – what Webster describes as hard to categorize or difficult to understand. But my daughter, who like today’s author organizes personal habits and spaces for a living, is always reminding me to make plans, be prepared, and stay focused. Because with those in mind, it’s easier to be more efficient and effective. But it’s something you must work on all the time, constantly assessing if and how you’re using these concepts and tools, and forever reminding yourself of their importance. As leaders, it’s good to model these behaviors for your peeps. Better yet, this is a great topic to discuss in team and pre-shift meetings, talking it through, sharing best practices, and reinforcing each other. Or using as a team building exercise. There’s no end to the benefits of good planning and preparation, and focused action today.

 

Ruzanna Hernandez: A super busy mom, wife, public school administrator, small business owner, writer/author, and content creator focusing on efficiency, organizational skills, productivity, time management, planning, and self-development.

Check out her website: https://ruzannahernandez.com

Clarify your expectations...

It doesn’t get much clearer than this. And yet so many mangers and companies ignore this simple business proposition. Most of them support the concept of job descriptions as the foundation of letting employees know what to do, but how much effort do they put into keeping them fresh, using them as the basis of training and coaching, and building into them the results that are expected. My experience is that they are quick to list the duties and responsibilities in response to an HR request and are then satisfied when pointing to them on the shelf in their office that they’ve done their part for new employees. But the boss – the head of the company, needs to remind them to keep and use them continually as the basis of performance management, and that requires the inclusion of specific objectives and measurable results that can be reviewed and discussed regularly, not just annually. Because people with clear written goals accomplish more than people without them. Put that in your policies, hold managers accountable to actively using them, and get the most out of your people today.

 

Brian Tracy (born 1944): Canadian American motivational public speaker and self-development author.

Create a learning environment...

The "10,000-hour rule," popularized by Malcolm Gladwell, suggests that it takes roughly that many hours of deliberate practice to achieve mastery of a skill. Others suggest that it takes less time, like 20 hours, to become reasonably proficient in a skill. Most, however, would argue that it’s the quality of the training and practice that most affects the amount of time it takes to become proficient. And others say it has a lot to do with coaching, mentoring, and supporting employees by their direct supervisors and managers. I suspect the truth is somewhere in between relative to the hours needed and that a combination of all these elements is what it takes to become competent and confident. All that said, it’s important that employees be given the right amount of training to make them proficient and productive – because the faster they do that the better they’ll be in supporting their company’s objectives. The proof is in the quality and overall acceptance of whatever it is the company produces. Creating this type of professional approach is what great companies do. Make sure your employees are as good as they need to be by giving them an effective learning environment today.

 

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797 – 1851): English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction.

Don't run out of time...

Mastering the use of time is easier said than done. So much of the work in the service and hospitality industries is based on shift assignments, set to maintain coverage if customers are present. Meaning: employees are there because they’re scheduled to be there, not because they want to, creating a reactive rather than a pro-active mindset. The challenge for management and those supervising those shifts is to make the work engaging and challenging – it’s not just responding to a request, it’s equally about planning how to best plan and prepare for them, satisfy them, and make the most of their reactions. But that doesn’t often happen – one of my pet peeves is seeing employees standing and talking to each other rather than being productive. I liken this to athletes in soccer, hockey, and basketball constantly running to find the best open spot to support their team’s efforts; think what happens when they don’t. It’s about spending time versus using time – just being somewhere isn’t focused on excellence, while using your time anywhere wisely increases the opportunities for excellence. Talk to your employees about this, get their input on how to use time more wisely, and give them the latitude and freedom to fill their time to everyone’s best advantage. Watch what happens if you do that today.

 

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 – 1860): German philosopher who was among the first philosophers in the Western tradition to share and affirm significant tenets of Indian philosophy, such as asceticism, denial of the self, and the notion of the world-as-appearance.

Learn how to be effective...

Professionals must balance multiple priorities, all of which must live in harmony. Many of the casinos transitioned to public companies during my tenure in that industry, potentially setting up conflicts between customer expectations and quarterly reporting expectations. Prior to the transition, long-term customer satisfaction meant riding the ups and downs of winning and losing, knowing that in the long term the odds were in the house’s favor. But those listening in on quarterly earnings calls seemed to focus primarily on the short term. While understanding the benefits of having access to the markets, we knew intuitively that if they waited, those same markets and shareholders would benefit from this kind of business. Ultimately, shareholder value is dependent on customer experience and satisfaction. Thus, having integrity, honesty, and a sincere regard for the customer is ultimately what’s best for this and most other businesses. They’re not in conflict. Professionals who balance short and long-term interests ultimately do what’s best for their businesses. Professionalism is understanding what makes their businesses operate and thrive – meaning do your homework, ask the experts, and listen to their answers, and learn to balance all these competing priorities. That kind of expertise benefits everyone today.

 

Eric Lippert: Director of Golf at Pebble Beach