"I Hear Things", He Said.

The question is:  Does every single person who reports to you know what these are and how to execute them moment by moment, day by day, and month after month, for your customers and fellow associates?

FOUR CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS ( In any organization)

• Make me feel special
• Treat me as an individual
• Respect my children (and me)
• Have knowledgeable Cast Members

Have you taught your fellow associates how to do these four things for your customers in a variety of situations?  It is different for manufacturing, health care, retail, insurance, lodging, restaurants, oil companies, auditing, etc, etc, etc.

These are things that you need tactics and training around in every part of your business.  For instance,  at Disney Housekeeping  learned that making towel animals and placing plush toys in different positions each day to welcome Guests back to their rooms makes the Guests feel special, treats them as individuals, respects their children, and shows that our Cast Members are very knowledgeable and well trained.  This is a big deal and one experience the Guests couldn’t get enough of.

Every business must continually be brainstorming how to achieve these four expectations of their customers. If you get busy and get this into place in  your competition cannot duplicate it because it takes years and years to develop caring, passion, pride, and professionalism. In most cases it cannot be duplicated by others because it takes great leadership; and it, too, takes a long, long time to put into place—if it ever gets put into place.  Make sure that every single person in your organization knows your expectations in the area of these customer expectations and what every associate in your organization should be doing in his or her individual position to make these expectations come to life for your customers..

Make sure that they have been taught how to perform these expectations, and then have a system in place to audit and observe if they are taking place.  If you did this with every customer every time you had the opportunity, you would completely shut out all other competition in the world.  You may do it very well already—but could do it even better.  Half the battle in life is for people to know what is expected of them and why it’s important.  Then if you will train them to do it, they will be happy to do it. 

The second part is to do the same for the Cast. 

FOUR EMPLOYEE EXPECTATIONS

• Make me feel special
• Treat me as an individual
• Respect me
• Make me knowledgeable, develop me, and know my job.

We all know how to make people feel special when we want to. so let’s just do what we already know how to do.

You make people feel special by paying attention to them, by thanking them for their work, by including them in the work and decision making, by recognizing them both in public and in private, and by developing them.

You treat people as individuals by doing your very best to take care of individual needs as much as possible.

You respect people by Respecting, Appreciating, and Valuing Everything about them.  It is not your place to judge their religion, natural origin, culture, sexual preference, beliefs, gender, or anything else about them.

And last, it is your main responsibility as a leader to develop your direct reports, make them knowledgeable, and to know their job.  Be able to do the work of the people you lead if you want credibility.  They know if you know; and they talk about it, so don’t be naive.  Your associates are either saying good things or bad things about you, and the truth gets back.

One day many years ago, my boss Al told me I was doing a great job and to keep it up.  I asked him how he knew, and he simply said, “I hear things.”

Your leader and your fellow associates hear things too.  A few years ago Erin Wallace who reported to me told me that she heard I was saying good things about her behind her back—interesting way to put it, I thought.  I said good things about all of my direct reports behind their backs all of the time.  If I have something that is less positive, I say that to their face so we can discuss it.  Saying good things behind people’s backs causes no damage.  Saying bad things does cause damage; and since they are not mind readers, they would not be able to correct those issues.  Remember that feedback is all about making people feel special; treating them as an individual; respecting them; and making them knowledgeable, developing them, and knowing their job.

I also tried to remind myself to say good things to my direct reports and others when I was with them face to face because I did appreciate the great work everyone did . . . and if I appreciated it, I should share it with them and not keep it to myself.

I can assure you that when Don Robinson left for a new job at Hong Kong Disneyland I sent him a note telling him how much I was going to miss him and what a great job he did at Disney World.  We had been great partners for the past ten years.  Erin asked me the one day what I appreciated most about Don.  My answer was easy.  I trusted him 100 percent.  He always told me the truth, and he always told me his opinion.  Without trust, you cannot accomplish much.  I felt the same way about Erin and Karl; Holz and while I wished deep down that Don were not leaving, I feel good because I had two new great partners to work with.

These four expectations of your customers and fellow associates are really powerful concepts; and if you can take them and use them to direct your own leadership, you will have a powerful team around you . . . and your results will be exceptional!   . . . Lee