Sunday, February 2, 2014

More on Management

After decades of developing training materials addressing powersports management, I can't help these days but look at all service providers in a special way, whenever I am in a hotel, or a restaurant, or an airport. Basically, I look for signs of good management. You can see it in front line staff. It is easy to tell a plastered-on smile and the minimum customer service murmurings and attempts, from a genuine service ethic that is modeled and instilled by management. And management is where that ethic comes from, good or bad.

I can almost guarantee that the front line staff who merely go through the motions have managers who similarly don't care. In worse case scenarios service people actually complain about customers in front of you, another customer! This, if you will, is evidence of a service business that is in deep trouble. Granted, the hospitality industry has the highest turnover of any other business, so that on virtually no two occasions will you see the same staff. But this is no excuse. Part of having truly service-minded people on your staff, way before even training them right, is hiring them right.

As I say, I can see management in their eyes. I can tell exactly what their supervisor's service ethic really is, just by observing how they treat customers. However they are motivated, mentored, and themselves treated, will determine how they treat customers.