It happens all the time.  I’m in a frustrating situation outside of work and I think to myself,  ”This is ridiculous!  If this was my business I could fix this.  I WOULD fix this!”

I’m sure you find yourselves in situations like that as well.   Think about it…the long line at the grocery store when only one register is open…the highly unfriendly gate attendant at the airport…the coffee shop attendant who butchers your mocha frappe one-sugar-two-ice cube-shaken-not stirred-over-priced-coffee (not saying that I drink that).   

When we are the customer it is easy to see what the problem is because we can look through our own eyes and feel our own emotions.  We don’t know that operational practices such as staffing guidelines have been deployed and someone guessed attendance wrong.  We don’t know that a staff member called off or had a bad day at home before they got to work.  We just know they are unfriendly and rude.  We don’t know that the guest right before us just chewed out the employee and we were next in line.  All we know is that we are the customer in this moment and we are frustrated.

The greatest service we can provide our guests is to keep our teams focused on what it would be like and feel like to be the guest.    We model how to address and remove obstacles that stand in the way of achieving great performance IN OUR GUESTS EYES.  That is what we are journeying towards.  The daily obstacles that get in the way of success give us opportunities to earn our stripes.  Our Journey toolbox helps us be successful at this each and every day.

These moments also produce great war stories.  Please share your stories of how you have coached your team to overcome an obstacle that has stood between your operations and absolute guest satisfaction.  I can’t wait to learn how you lead with The Journey.