I am always astounded when I hear someone ask, “How do I get my staff to pick up a piece of paper and not just walk by it when it’s lying on the floor?” The truth is, no training program will ever teach the “5 steps to picking up a piece of paper.” Believing that training will make this happen is insane! Your people will pick up the piece of paper because they simply know it is the right thing to do. They understand that cleaning up the mess, even if they didn't make it, is everyone’s job. This is especially true when they see an executive lead by example and bend over to pick up the paper.

Every business has its own style and approach when it comes to the work it delivers. These behaviors demonstrate the values that are of utmost importance in your organization. These values reflect a vital part of who you are and define how you behave as an individual and as an organization. Strong and effective values demonstrate the vision, mission and market position of the business, which all ultimately have an impact on customer experience.

Managers from around the world ask themselves, “How do I get my people to do what I want, when I want it and how I want it?”

Defining, training and modeling the values of importance in your organization are keys to answering these three questions.

When you identify what your organization values and clearly communicate it, you ensure that your people, and the work they deliver, meet both your expectations and your guests’. Behaviors are your values in action.

In the beginning

The first day for an employee is always the most important. Within the first hour we tell our people, “This is how we do things around here.” As a leader, if you share your expectations clearly and demonstrate them fanatically, your people will model them exactly as you wish. More importantly, it is essential for your entire team to lead by example. A new employee will do what they see, not what they hear. If you have children, you know the power of modeling and mirroring ... like it or not!

Recently, I worked with a company whose primary value was the bottom line. It was strong, yet ownership and management were very concerned about declining guest retention numbers and a reported lack of customer confidence by J.D. Power and Associates. I shared with them that by looking at their values, they would find the answers they were looking for, as well as add some balance to their focus. Caring about guests is a value that every hotel must have in order to achieve any success in today’s competitive environment. When you retain customers, you drive profitability.

Tips for building your value statements

1. Value statements must support your vision, mission and market position.

2. Value statements must speak to actions and behaviors.

3. Post the values, speak the values and model them so that they are a part of everyday life.

4. Hire people that are congruent with the values of your organization. If you want to be outstanding in customer service, you must hire people who care about people.

5. Rewards and recognition must support what you value. If you say that you take care of customers, then the rewards must be toward making each customer happy and doing everything possible to make sure you handle and resolve customer complaints.

Example values statements

1. Help clean up the mess, even if you didn’t make it.

2. Respect all resources.

3. Take 100 percent responsibility for the work and the guest experience.

4. Make guests feel welcome.

5. Respect yourself, your peers and our guests.

6. Show you care in every way.

7. Take the work to completion and remember that the details count.

8. Own every request.

9. Do everything possible to keep every guest for life.

10. Solve the problem before it becomes a complaint.

Next Step

It’s time to check in and ask your employees what they think the values of your organization are. If you do not like what you hear, it is time to redesign your values so they reflect the behaviors you want ... every day in every way.