service

Put that thing down!

January 10, 2011 by Rosa Say

This post goes with the value we call Ho‘ohanohano in Managing with Aloha; to conduct ourselves with dignity, honor and distinction. It’s a story leading to a New Year’s resolution I’m hoping more people will adopt.

I had a boss who was very anti-desk, and I learned a lot about the quality of attention from him. Attention isn’t just about getting into focus; it’s about hospitality, and always being ready to receive well.

His anti-desk feelings went beyond wanting ‘management by walking around’ from all of us, though that certainly was part of his coaching. They extended to the customer most of all.

I remember getting my first sense of how passionate he was about this in a construction design meeting. He wanted our builders to redo the counters of our spa’s reception desk so that all the registration computers would be dropped well below eye and shoulder levels: He insisted that arriving customers should never be greeted by the back of some computer terminal, and he simply wouldn’t listen to their cautions about the expense we’d incur destroying what they’d just built and doing it all over again. Nor did he care about the domino effect they described, and how the entire construction project might get delayed. He wanted it right, or not at all — he had a more critical domino effect in mind.

It wasn’t about the time, the desk or the money.

— It was about them doing a worthy job, so that every job following theirs would be done well too.
— It was about the customer knowing they were Job One with us, and that no barrier would ever be tolerated between us.
— It was about every Spa employee knowing people always trumped systems and processes, no matter what. Not just the customer, but with each other too.

There are lots of ‘service desks’ who get this wrong. They made it about the desk and the money, or a process other than service. And the time? Well, they’ve been stuck in years of keeping it wrong and not even noticing it anymore.

By the way, another interesting thing about this story is that the construction specs were right. This wasn’t a last-minute change my boss sprung on them. The construction foreman had made a correction during the build because “nobody else does it this way” it must be wrong.”

But you know what’s worse to me? Smart phones, and the other screens we look at instead of talking story with the people surrounding us. For goodness sake, put that thing down. You don’t have to rebuild an entire reception desk, you just have to drop your arm and lift your eyes.

Put down the techie gadgets, lift your eyes from the screens, and pick up the dignity and quality of your days. To borrow from the jargon of the day, keep your IRL channel open, your “in real life.”

Grandpa Joe, the Soldier

May 31, 2010 by Rosa Say

This Memorial Day, I am able to look upon a picture we found just a few months ago, of my grandfather as a solder. It was taken at Ft. Shafter on July 14, 1919, the day he was discharged from the U.S. Army. World War I was over, and he was 23 years old. It was time to return to the rest of his life.

Imagine: He was born and raised on the island of Maui, and he became an American soldier “of the Territory” more than forty years before Hawai‘i became a state.

Holidays like this one help us reflect on our ancestry, and on the values which have made us the people we are. I think about my grandfather, my father, who had served in the Korean War and Viet Nam, and my brother, who recently retired from a career in Army after serving in Iraq. This is from an email he had sent my family while he was there:

I had to laugh when you guys write about how hot it is in HI and AZ. This place is hot 115-120 degrees and climbing, that is outside and not the oven temp. 100 degree days we consider as cool, add in the finest dust you can imagine and then add in the smell of sewage and you might get the picture.

I tell everyone imagine the hottest day ever in HI add 10 degrees then stand with a blower dryer on high hot in your face then throw dust in your face while in a outhouse and you got Iraq. Don’t forget to wear long sleeves, boots and carry 40 pounds of junk around with you. That’s hot, then take a cool shower (when you have one) and feel good for 2 minutes then walk back to your room (when you have one) to get sweaty and dirty by the time you reach there. By the way do this everyday with no days off. I can’t wait to come home for some rest. It really is so bad, sometimes. When you see smiling Iraqi people’s faces and the letters from people supporting us all that grumbling is forgotten.

I would like to thank all of you for your support to me, my family and my fellow brothers and sisters in arms. I hope to see you soon.
Jeff

No matter what we may think of our involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan or any other war, Jeff reminds us that this is a day to be thankful for where we live, and for the values that America strives to be true to. It is truly a day to understand sacrifice, patriotism, and the gift of freedom.

I newly understand how incredibly fortunate I am when I think about these things.

From history.com:

Memorial Day, which falls on the last Monday of May, commemorates the men and women who died while serving in the American military. Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971.

I think it fitting that we stretch that a bit to honor other sacrifices as well, such as those now endured daily by all in our armed forces “alive and well” though in conditions as Jeff described, and in harms way for us.

This event also comes to mind for me, as a strong memory this past winter during a trip to Washington D.C.:

The Pentagon Memorial, located just southwest of The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, is a permanent outdoor memorial to the 184 people killed in the building and on American Airlines Flight 77 in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Sacred Ground — The Pentagon Memorial at night, Arlington, Virginia.

With help from Wikipedia:
“To honor the 184 victims, 184 illuminated benches have been arranged according to the victim’s ages, from 3 to 71, in a landscaped 1.93-acre (7,800 m2) plot. Each bench is engraved with the name of a victim. The benches representing the victims that were inside the Pentagon are arranged so those reading the names will face the Pentagon’s south facade, where the plane hit; benches dedicated to victims aboard the plane are arranged so that those reading the engraved name will be facing skyward along the path the plane traveled.”

We had driven into Arlington for dinner, and stopped here after our meal, eager to stretch our legs after eating way too much. I love this picture. I imagine it looks remarkably different during the day with sunlit details revealed, but it seemed very appropriate to me that we first saw the memorial this way in the dark mysteries of the night, for it is unimaginable what feelings that plane was charged with, filled with people about to make such a sacrifice.

On this Memorial Day, take a few minutes to think about your own ancestors, and how they served their countries and communities. You are who you are because of them and the decisions they made.

Update: If you are reading this via RSS, do click in for some Memorial Day additions I have collected in the comments this morning (links to other sites), revisiting this with my coffee.

Lead the Slow Charge

June 9, 2009 by Rosa Say for Say “Alaka‘i”

~ Originally published on Say “Alaka‘i”
June 2009 ~
Lead the Slow Charge

If you are a business owner, this recession may be doing you a favor. You may realize it in your head (albeit somewhat begrudgingly), but are you seeing it yet in the faces of your customers as you continue to collect those revenue scraps you are wishing will merge back into cash flow?

Why are they still leaving those scraps for you? Why do they keep returning? And what if it suddenly got crowded and busy for you tomorrow, the next day, and the day after that; would your recession-days faithful keep coming back?

I make a very good cafÃ© latte

I’ve been thinking about these questions as I watch what’s happening at several of our island businesses and consider the state of Ho‘okipa, their customer service.

Let’s use my local Starbucks as an example, for as ubiquitous as coffee has become in our lives, most of us can relate to it. There used to be three of them within a 15-mile radius of my home, but two became victims of the recession and were recently closed down, theoretically consolidating the business of three into the profits of one.

Theoretically. You see, we customers do have another choice, and that’s to make our own coffee and not patronize that one remaining Starbucks at all.

Starbucks has always been the first to admit that their business is not about the coffee, but about their “third place experience.” Here at the Starbucks remaining in my neighborhood, the struggle to maintain this experience is clearly evident as the line snakes out the door and the stress is glaringly transparent on the faces of the ‘local joint partners and proprietors’ who have become even more efficient technically, but are far less gracious baristas and cashiers-in-training again.

We, the “slow days” customers, miss our local joint partners, and we can tell they miss us too. We’re all still there (new brains in old bodies) ”“ still there for now ”“ but we are losing patience with the transition period, and we are afraid that our “third place experience” might be lost forever.

I use my Krups espresso maker way more than I used to.

Brand this New Day as your Slow Charge

Our habits are changing. I have cautioned you before: Leaders Don’t Wait for Any Cycle. Think of this recession as the shift it is, and not as an “economic downturn which will swing back up if we’re patient.” Get impatient; patience is not a virtue in a recession.

Throw out the cautionary, politically-correct but clueless language before it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for you: You don’t want to go back to the way things were, and your customers don’t want you to either. Neither do any of your partners and stakeholders ”“ even if they still think they do.

We, the people of 2009 have come to like being frugal and selective. Being green is being cool. Minimalist living is more mobile, and technology is helping us be more social and less material. The challenge of the day is about how well you can craft your life with
as little as possible, and we are discovering that we like being good
at meeting that challenge.

We are discovering that we like slowing down ”“ and we like it a lot. However nesting is anti-social, and connection is where it’s at. Communication is our Killer App.

We like making choices which we feel better about, in that they are better for us, better for our communities, and better for our planet.

Aloha the Few, Say Aloha to the Many

So you get that favor I’m talking about, don’t you. The recession is forcing your hand with changing the quality of your business for the better. For the Ho‘okipa experience better.

If you are a still-surviving business owner, your Alaka‘i leadership challenge today and every day going forward is this: How do you lead the “We Like it Slow” charge within your business, and still be profitable?

You love the few and faithful, and smother them with Aloha and Ho‘okipa, and you leave behind the many for good. ‘Aloha the few’ as the value of Aloha, that unconditional love you give with the utmost of grace and sincerity. ‘Say Aloha’ (as in saying goodbye) to the many who might give you short-term dollars, but not long-term profits.

It may sound cold at first, but think about it: If you never see them again, why bother? What does your business feel like to them? Does it feel good enough to return to and stay with? Are you creating cash register jingles or faithful customers?

If my local Starbucks can still pull off their “third place experience” goal despite these new hoards of people crowding their small space, my Krups goes back in the box for good. I’ll still be having my tall cafÃ© latte, double shot every morning. Chances are, I’ll pull up a chair and have a second one a half-hour or so later. Life’s too short to rush it. I like it slow.

Let’s talk story.
Any thoughts to share?

Photo credit: 6am Double Tall Latte and Grande Drip by Rosa Say.

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Ban Stock Signage and Get Creative!

February 19, 2009 by Rosa Say for Say “Alaka‘i”

If we just say “no” to stock signage, we can freshen up so much: We can exercise our creativity, wow our customer, give each other a higher value-standard to live up to (one worthy of Aloha and Ho‘okipa), and how about this: We can say what we really mean and want most to convey!

Since I already had my camera in hand during my recent visit to an O‘ahu shopping mall, I started to wonder what else I would find after this episode: Those critical first and last impressions. Here are two more signs to think about, both which you probably have seen before and now take for granted. What if we try to reinvent them?

First (and constantly repeated) was this one, found on every door I knew I could not open and peek through uninvited:

It might be clear and succinct, but come on now… surely we can do better than that! What if it said something like, “Doorway to the work we do for you behind the scenes; Swings open often in our enthusiasm!”

And is it really that ‘clear and succinct?’ Or are we now just trained in knowing, “that’s a place that I would not be welcomed to walk through.” The devil’s advocate in me really wanted to ask someone, “Service Area” great! What kind of Ho‘okipa-inspired service can I now expect with all these doorways to where your magic sauce of combined Aloha Spirit mixes in business inventiveness and community contribution?” And” “Suppose I wanted to work for you too; what kind of person must I be so I can be ‘authorized,’ hmm?”

Here’s another one: Is this at the edge of the escalator —where it is legible to me after my stroller wheels are already on it, and the crowd behind me is pushing me forward to just get my ascent over with, turning back no longer an option— because you really care about me, and my family’s safety, or because this is the surest way an attorney somewhere thinks you can avoid litigation?

Sure, it is likely true that almost everyone who has ridden an escalator knows this is there, and it is probably true that people take their chances and ignore it anyway, yet I still have to ask: What if we challenged ourselves to do better?

What if the sign were posted a bit farther away, but still smartly in my walking path toward the escalator, and with arrows pointing to where the nearest elevator waited for me instead?

What if it wasn’t about rules, but about a genuine care for my best interests?

What if that elevator I should use had a surprising mural of cartoon characters and piped-in nursery rhymes, so my children would be clamoring to use it instead of the now-more-boring escalator?

What if we treated people not as customers we need to herd and rule over as we squeeze their dollars out of them, but as guests we want to appreciate, care for, and delight?

So I will keep looking, challenging myself to think fresher, smarter, and more creatively. I would love to see more examples that are good versus not: If you have them, comment with a link to share, would you?

~ Originally published on Say “Alaka‘i” ~
Those Critical First and Last Impressions
and
Ban Stock Signage and Get Creative!