2 posts tagged “service”
Hospitality is to be a team sport - where we all get to play the entire game! Service is the technical delivery of a product. Hospitality is how the delivery of a product makes its recipient feel. Service is monologue - we decide how we want to do things an set our own standards for service. Hospitality, on the other hand, is a dialogue. To be on a guest's side requires listening to that person with every sense, and following up with a thoughtful, gracious, appropriate response. It takes both great service and great hospitality to rise to the top! ~ Setting the Table
Like many of you, I am addicted to good books. And, recently, I gave in to temptation by walking into our local bookstore while my wife was shopping elsewhere. Innocently, I found my way to the management/leadership section and browsed. Living in the Seattle area, my eye caught The Starbucks Experience by Joseph A. Michelli. I thumbed through the introduction and then found myself too "weak" to put it down. I sat in a chair and began to read. It was not long before the temptation to read turned into the compulsion to buy! I desire to adopt and experience the same five principles Starbucks has used to turn ordinary into extraordinary. Those basic principles include: The forward was written by the president of Starbucks, Mr. Jim Alling. Describing the mission and values of Starbucks, he presents powerful introductory points. I am excited about their direct connections with customer service. Aspire to enrich the human spirit: transformational service is inspirational service. Put people first: there is a great difference between serving coffee and serving people. There is a great difference between doing jobs and serving others. Be welcoming, be genuine, be knowledgeable, be considerate and be involved: personally connecting with others is a hallmark of excellent service. Make a huge difference in people's lives in a million small ways: one day at a time, one kind word, one enriching task make huge differences. Remove obstacles and provide tools: as managers must remove obstacles for their staff, the staff must remove obstacles so customers can fully experience service at its finest. Then, effective tools that benefit the customer and organization must be created. So much more can be said regarding the interrelationships between these basic principles and their expression. They are core values to Ho‘okipa. Do you see the values of aloha imbedded in them? Personally, I accept the challenge of turning ordinary service into the extraordinary! Can we imagine what will happen when serving rises from an aloha heart? When Starbucks was just a dream, Howard Schultz, former CEO and current chairman asked, "What would happen if...?" His answer: transformation! Let's get a quad, two-pump vanilla, one and one-quarter pumps sugar-gree hazelnut, ristretto latte, with one-quarter soy, one-half nonfat and one-quarter organic milk, extra hot, with three ice cubes and whip (combination mentioned in the book) and take the next step toward extraordinary service, the Ho‘okipa way! Postscript: This review is also being contributed to A Love Affair with Books at Joyful Jubilant Learning. See more about this readers forum here: For the Love of Books
