GM: Pam, what’s this?
The GM is at a table Pam just set up for dinner. Picture a burly, built, proud Irish man who has presence. This location is a private Golf and Country Club, membership fees start at $125,000 per year, and that is at the lower end.
Pam: It’s a table.
GM: No, what’s this! He points to the cutlery on the table. It’s more than one inch from the corner edge. Look, there is about 10% margin of error here.
Pam: Saying to herself, are you serious. This is not my career, it is just to pay for University. It’s just a couple that are off.
GM: Pam, what if 10% of the people on a flight experienced your service and were unhappy. How many people would that be?
Pam: Well, that depends, how many people were on the flight? Pam wasn’t too fond of this GM because she thought he was picking on her since he didn’t bother anyone else on the team. Little did she know he was investing in her.
GM: With a cheeky yet challenging look. 1,000 people Pam. There are 1,000 people on that flight and 10% of the people don’t make it out alive because you messed up. How many people is that?
Pam: Well, 100. That’s 100 people.
GM: Yes, and isn’t 100 people a lot of people?
Pam: Well that depends, are you saying that they didn’t survive the crash?
GM: Yes. What do you think they would say?
Pam: I would say it doesn’t really matter to them because they’re dead.
GM bites his tongue. Pauses. And walks away. Fix it up now, Pam. And I want you to walk to every other table and make sure it’s up to standard.
You, the person reading this post right now might think what a jerk or wow that Pam was cheeky and a challenge. And for those who have a keen eye, you know I was being GROOMED as a Leader and for providing impeccable service to my clients. Not only that, whether you are setting a table or leading a team of Executives or sitting across your client – you have to show up!
Impeccable Service – what is that? Well, I grew up in the hospitality industry, where you leave your problems at the door. As soon as you step through the doors, you’re there to provide a service. Anything you do behind closed doors are for staff and private meetings. But with the public, it is smiles and how may I best serve you? You put your best foot forward. All the time! No exceptions. So if you are short staffed, having a bad day, or short on supplies, the customer never knows. They don’t want to hear about your problems. They didn’t come in for tea and lunch with their friends to hear about your BACK END problems! They came in to forget about their problems and have a fantastic day and to be served. Back end is your end! Front end is theirs, and if you can’t provide that impeccable service, Go home. Take care of yourself. And show up when you can. That may be ‘old school’ but that is the foundation of front end service. Yes, things will evolve but this is key. This is the floor, you grow and evolve from that origin.
When Starbucks closed their doors for 3.5 hours to train their staff. They were telling the world, we are setting a standard in coffee service. We are training our internal clients to provide the best coffee every time YOU walk through our front door. They were making a statement to the world of their STANDARD OF SERVICE.
In the hospitality industry, I was aware of 2 types of clients. The internal and external clients. The internal clients are YOUR STAFF! The external clients are your paid customers.
I was groomed by the top of the top! The Gordon Ramsey leaders of this world groomed me and I thank them for it. For putting me on edge, which I may not have appreciated at the time, I now know they cared enough to invest their time in me and those meaningful demonstrations. They invested their knowledge and skill set in me because they saw something. They saw a spark! They saw wit! They saw a leader.
My Manager in Corporate World threw me into a meeting of ground staff that hated our department. He threw questions my way during the meeting. I was in crowds of 100’s of people in corporate world dealing with staff asking questions about why we were implementing new policies and programs that didn’t make sense to them. I was thrown to the wolves so to speak without me even knowing it, and coming back saying why did you do that!? Well, it was a growth spurt. It was a huge learning curve and because of it, I shaved off what didn’t belong and grew more into me – very quickly! At an accelerated speed!
When I first entered Corporate world in my early 20s, I remember I was given all these cool gadgets, a personal Corporate credit card, gear, and travelled the globe for conferences!
I remember going to a conference of 75,000 people in Las Vegas. My Manager said to me at that time, “Pam, now you can’t always be with me, go network and do your own thing.”
On the flight there, I sat in a row with two other Pam’s and all our birthdays are in October! And we were all in the same industry! We were planning on meeting in Vegas after the flight to gamble together, what are the odds! I heard Henry Kissinger, Tom Peters, and the actual man from the movie, The Pursuit of Happiness, giving a speech live! When my Manager asked me at the conference to come meet with him I said, “Not right now, I’m busy. I am heading to see the Phantom of the Opera, someone got me tickets!” Talk about deliberate manifestation.
I was being groomed.
The more you invest in your team, the more you get out of your business. Period.
I was exposed to leaders who were considered hard and hot tempered. They cared and the way they showed it was tough. My team consisted of a retired Israeli militant, a London police officer for the Queen, and senior advisors hand picked from around the globe to secure our assets!
Even as a child I was being groomed. I was asked to present our class cards to a Teacher who was leaving the school and heading back to Europe. It was an assembly in front of the whole Elementary school. Kids knew this teacher as stiff and firm. Let’s just say if family gave her cards and it had a spelling or grammatical error on it, she would get a red pen, correct it, and send it back. That was her excellence! I was shaking when I went up to thank her for her service. She flipped through the cards and came to one just by looking at the cover and said, “Pam is this yours?” I said “Yes,” puzzled as in how did she know without looking inside the card for my name. She said, “I knew it was yours because it was the BEST one out of the pile! It is my favourite! Thank you, I love it. You are so special.”
Mrs. Vanderhorst if you are reading this, I just want to say THANK YOU and I LOVE YOU! And please refrain yourself from correcting the grammatical errors on this blog and sending it back to me 🙂
Leaders know their people. They make them feel special. Leaders lead authentically. They take the time to know their team. They take the time to know each and every detail of the ‘sparks’ on their team from favourite ice cream flavours to what brings them joy!
Here’s a golden nugget:
People don’t always remember what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.
All leaders, regardless of their delivery or methodology, have a STANDARD. They have a benchmark. They have a baseline and they don’t let anything slip below that baseline. They hold people in the light and surpass that!
What most people consider their ceiling is my floor. That is my natural standard.
My Dad was an Executive Housekeeper at the Westin Bayshore, a high end hotel in Vancouver, Canada. When we cleaned as kids, he at times would run his fingers through counters and corners to inspect. That is a standard. That was his benchmark.
So, I ask you:
What is your baseline?
What is your standard?
And how are you implementing it and investing in your team?
Who is grooming you to be the best version of you?
Who is chipping away at the mould and taking away what doesn’t belong and holding you to your highest light form, so bright, that you can blind people by your beauty and spark!
Who is seeing your true essence, your true nature, and not believing the lies or fears you tell yourself.
A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight,
and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.
– Oscar Wilde
My mind sees you before you do. That vibrational essence of you. I don’t see it as punishment. I see it as a gift. Because I chip away at the masterpiece and we co-create together something so powerful and magical that at the end of our session, you will look back at you and say, “Who was that?! And, “look at me now!”
And how wonderful you are!
With unwavering love,
Pam
