Mr. Lobo

Guest Service / Customer Experience Mgmt

Recipe for a Sustainable Service Culture: The Essential Ingredients

By Nigel Lobo, Vice President of Resort Operations, Grand Pacific Resorts

To make a service culture a reality everyone needs to be on board. This includes the top level executives all the way down through all of the line level associates. Not only does everyone need to buy into the concept and implementation but also play a part in the development of the concept and processes. For, in fact, we with a passion for a service culture know that the process begins with the heart of our operation, the staff members who interact with our guests on an ongoing basis.

In order for a culture of Service Excellence to grow and thrive, the resort operations team must have a burning desire for it to be that way, and the energy to ensure that this desire spreads throughout the resort and kept alive.

Memorable Vacations are Created by Going Above and Beyond.

Our “Building Service Culture” process was rolled out in the last quarter of 2008. The development of the program was across all 14 of the resorts managed by Grand Pacific Resort Management. The course of action focused on specific Associate and Guest satisfaction strategies.

Associate Satisfaction strategies centered on providing associates with feedback and recognition, as well as getting them totally involved in the key elements, such as the development of their own resort credo and goals.

For instance, one resort team came up with “Building Friendships through Genuine Hospitality” as their motto. Another went for “All Hands on Deck”. This exercise got the ball rolling with everyone from housekeeping to the front desk providing their input and voting on the final outcome.

Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions

A key component of ensuring associate satisfaction centers on providing them with timely and meaningful feedback. In a recent associate satisfaction survey of line level associates, “Full appreciation for a job well done” ranked higher than “salaries and compensation”. While this seemed surprising at first, it simply reinforced the importance of consistently providing timely feedback and recognition to associates. While associates love feedback, it is also an opportunity to ingrain all of the acceptable behaviors and ensure everyone is in alignment with the overall service culture.

We adopted the “TSS” feedback formula – which incorporates the three critical ingredients to ensure effective feedback as part of the ‘Building a Service Culture’ rollout: - Timely, Specific, and Sincere.

The following management programs were designed to keep feedback and associate involvement “alive” at each resort.

• Take 10s:
  Spend 10 minutes 1 on 1 with each associate providing them with specific feedback about their performance. This would include positive reinforcement as well as opportunities for improvement. Specific Skill Development Cards are used that allow for a 10 minute meaningful interaction with the line level associate. This allows for positive reinforcement on behaviors that are recognized, as well as an opportunity to highlight specific deficiencies that need to be addressed moving forward.

• Spend 60:
  A department feedback session at least once a week that provides input to the team on their performance as well as allow them to share ideas on how specific processes may be improved. This session is typically hosted by the department manager and the focus of the session is on getting the associates involved in sharing specific issues and concerns as well as ideas to improve.

• GM Listens:
  A Monthly forum with the General Manager where the GM invites a few associates across several departments over lunch. The objective is to solicit feedback and have a healthy discussion on our service delivery to our guests. There is a nice recognition piece at play here as well, as line level associates always welcome the opportunity to be invited to this luncheon and feel very important as well.

The Guest Satisfaction strategies zeroed in completely on enhancing the overall guest experience. All associates were engaged in a service skill training process called the “Grand Treatment Program”. The Grand Treatment training streamlined the service behaviors and standards in every one of our properties. As an example, in the training program, we focus on how we interact with our guests when they are in our Greeting Zone – using the 15-10 Rule. When an associate gets within fifteen feet of a guest they make sure there is eye contact; after the visual acknowledgement, and at ten feet of the guest, they are to greet them verbally. The 15-10 Rule is enacted while thinking “I like you!”

Both “Building a Service Culture” and “Grand Treatment Program” are our overall roadmap to achieve Service Excellence at Grand Pacific Resorts. An important expectation has and always will be for each associate to strive for consistency in execution and have their efforts reflected in the Resort Service Scorecard.

“No involvement, No Commitment”

A key component of our Service Culture hinges on achieving Associate Commitment. How do we gain associate commitment and teamwork consistently with each and every service opportunity? Our Service Culture action plans target associate involvement at every opening which then builds buy-in and team spirit. As Stephen Covey says – “No involvement….No Commitment”.

“Moments of Truth”

Our associates also attempt to drive consistency via peer pressure and self-monitor every “moment of truth” interaction. In 1986, Jan Carlzon, the former president of Scandinavian Airlines wrote a book,* Moments of Truth*. In his book, Carlzon defines the moment of truth in business as this: "Anytime a customer comes into contact with any aspect of a business, however remote, is an opportunity to form an impression." Mr. Carlzon talks about how the first 15-second encounter between a passenger and frontline associates, sets the tone of the entire company in the mind of the customer.

From this simple concept, Jan Carlzon took an airline that was failing and turned it around to be one of the most respected airlines in the industry. A slip up by one associate reflects badly on the entire team, and possibly creates a “Moment of Misery”. Each team member is held accountable by their peers to consistently drive “Moments of Magic”, deliver excellence at every opportunity and ZERO tolerance for average or poor performance! Being average is akin to failure. Memorable vacations are created by going above and beyond!

As part of our service culture we work hard every day to bring our moments of truth to life at Grand Pacific Resorts. With over 45,000 owners and over 1000 associates we have well over 45 million moments of truth…opportunities to consistently showcase our service culture and Grand Treatment to each and every owner and guest!

Every Interaction Impacts Our Guests

At Grand Pacific Resorts we strive to make a great impression on our guests at every interaction. Every customer interaction counts. We emphasize how every small moment of truth impacts our customers. Every interaction impacts the customers’ perception about our resort and our organization. We encourage our associates to constantly “look for opportunities to serve” and exceed expectations associated with each interaction. This is the heart of our Service Culture.

Our daily efforts strive to consistently “raise the bar” on our service delivery, as we attempt to create memorable vacation experiences for our guests. In order to sustain our Service Culture, our associates make a genuine effort to delight our guests- one customer at a time.

Nigel Lobo has the overall leadership of Resort Operations at Grand Pacific Resorts, including Inventory Management, Owner Services and HOA Support, as well as Resort Maintenance, Design and Purchasing and new Business Development. Mr. Lobo is responsible for building and retaining a strong management team to maintain Grand Pacific Standards of Excellence across all resorts. Mr. Lobo is a hospitality veteran and has held various senior executive positions in the hotel and resort management field for various hotel brands including the Intercontinental Hotels Group, Marriott, and Hilton Brands in Asia, Europe and the United States. Mr. Lobo can be contacted at 760-431-8500 or nlobo@gpresorts.com Extended Bio...

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