The BurbleIn a recent blog on Instructions I made the point that experience counts for very little when the world around you changes. Cars used to be easy because experience teaches you how a car should look and how to drive it. But when something about that changes all your experience can actually end up being a bad thing. You get stuck.
So what’s it going to be like in the future when ‘they’ will do it all for you. How will your experience be of use when you have no idea how things work anymore?
I wondered in an earlier blog about whether Instructions are important or not. They are.
I was recently in the UK and as usual when there I rented a car. This part of the process is very simple. I apply on line, get the confirmation, get an email when I arrive telling me which car I have and where its parked. Ignore that email and go find the actual car that they want me to have – a Mercedes Model B . Usually from arriving at the garage I am on the road in under 5 mins. This is great customer service.
However, in this instance, getting the car to move became a whole different problem. Nothing is the same anymore.
I have had one of those weeks where I can’t quite work out if it went well or not. And as is sometimes the case, this particular concern is based on a difference between my perception of myself and that from people around me who I trust.
And from my wife who I trust and who sees everything.
The issue that has caused me to stop and reflect is how I go about building teams.
From the feedback I have got there is little doubt that the people who work for me understand what I want them to do and actually spend a fair amount of time and effort getting on with it. The question is what happens when I am no longer there. Have I created a team that works well together even if individually people are pulling in the right direction.
Stopping, reflecting and deciding to look at what you do is probably something we all know instinctively we should do but I suspect we find it incredibly difficult to do. I know I do. And I know that my typical reaction to being told something that I don’t understand is to ignore it or take it personally. Or both.
But the word at the end of the first paragraph is key. I’ve got feedback from people I trust and if they are saying something I probably ought to listen. Its taken me a long time to get to this point but I do feel ready not only to listen to the advice but to do something about it.
I think we all know we need to do some things better or differently. No one (and maybe not even me) is that good. But actually recognizing it and then doing something about it is difficult.
Oh goodness this is sounding like a self help blog. Its not its meant to be about business.
Finding people you really trust, listening to them and then acting on their advice isn’t easy. But in business it take so much to just keep going and keeping your head above water that we don’t do enough of it.
And we should do more.
Its a lot easier than looking back and realizing what you should have done.
Let me know what you’ve stopped to reflect on? And what you did about afterwards.
Hotel California by the Eagles includes amongst its many lines ‘you can check out anytime you like but you may never leave’ which provides the perfect point from which to launch this weeks posting all about hotels and travel. I have been fortunate enough to stay in many hotels, in many countries and for many different reasons.
Some have been dire (you know who you are) and some have been great but what is it that makes the difference? Surely having high quality shower gel makes the difference? Well no. Maybe its the free newspaper that is hung on your door at night? Again no. So it must be the staff? Yes to a point. Good staff will make a poor hotel better and poor staff will ruin a good hotel but that’s only half the story.
And while on the subject of ‘poor staff’ let me digress for a moment. I doubt many hotel owners go out of their way to recruit ‘poor staff.’ I doubt you’ll see a job advert seeking ‘staff with no idea and no desire to help wanted as a hotel receptionist.’ Poor staff are inevitably the result of poor recruitment practices and even more importantly a lack of suitable training. Poor staff is an excuse and any business leader who’s staff are accused of being poor should hang their head in shame. No really, hang your head in shame if your staff have ever been called poor. Or change your HR people. Do both. Now.
So good staff help but at the end of the day I have summed up what makes a good hotel as ‘its one that just works’. Meaning what exactly? After giving it some thought there are three things a great hotel does well
Actually when you think about it these three could apply to any business. And yet so many places I stay can’t make these three simple things work.
I wonder why? What makes a good hotel experience for you? Or for that matter what makes any customer experience good?
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