Total Transformation

Century Rowland Plaza (Cinemark) is the multiplex in town.  Recently my family and I went to see the movie Frozen.

I looked forward to the movie, but not the theater.  It was typically dirty, the employees bored, and I just did not feel appreciated although it costs our family $50-$100 to see a movie.

Whoa, what happened?

 It all started when I bought my mega-popcorn that has the free refill.  That is the closest thing to a reasonable price for popcorn because we have two adults and five kids gobbling it up.

The very pleasant young lady asked me if I would like my refill immediately rather than go to the trouble of returning to the lobby.  Typically my impression was that management hoped I would not return so they would retain a higher profit margin on my purchase.

Then I asked for seven empty cups to fill with water.  Another smiling young lady gave me the cups and encouraged me to use the water fountain around the corner.

Then the capper:  As I was filling the cups with water I spilled the  popcorn.  Big mess.  Two young men who work for the theater saw me.  One assured me immediately that it was no problem at all.  They would clean it up, and he asked if he could go refill on my popcorn for me.  When I said yes, he asked if I wanted butter on it.

I apologized again for the mess as his associate started to clean up my spilled popcorn.  He assured me that it was no problem at all.  The other guy returned promptly with my newly filled popcorn container.

WHAT HAPPENED:  A new general manager started two months ago.  She or he apparently knows how to hire and train people.  For the first time I left the theater thinking I might hire one of those young people some day.

MY POINT:  It is never too late to start working on improving your company culture.  Your Clients and prospective clients can spend their money with a lot of other companies. Why not stand out from the competition? This is the work we do with our Clients.  If you would like to discuss your specific employee or company culture issues, then email me.

BE a 3STRANDS LEADER

Systematic Leadership;  inspiring others in Meaningful Work;  and consistently expressing Sincere Gratitude to people around you.

Meeting Idea

I suggest a meeting based on this example is best done as a team.  Ask your team to arrive at the meeting with stories of their best example and worst example of customer service.

Here are some quick ideas for your meeting:

1. Start the meeting by reading your company's mission statement (WHY you are in business), vision statement (WHERE you are going or growing as a business), and values (HOW you do business).
2. Ask your people to identify where the negative stories of customer service violate your mission, vision, and values.  Then ask the first person to share their story, and discuss the violations.  Repeat the process until everyone has shared their negative story and your team has evaluated that situation compared to how your company does business.
3. Now ask your people to identify where the positive stories demonstrate your mission, vision, and values.  Then have the first person to share their story, discuss the similarities to your mission - vision - values, and continue to evaluate each person's story one at a time.
4. Make a list of 3-10 things your organization could do to improve your Client Experience.
5. Make a list of 3-10 things your organization has to do to improve your company culture so that you can improve your Client Experience.
6. Ask your people if they would like to pilot one change in the way you interact with Clients over the next month based on what you've learned through this exercise.
7. If they say "yes," then agree on which process improvement you will pilot for one month - that is, one Client Experience process or interaction, and one action item to improve your company culture.

Test your new system as a 30 day pilot and assess the results.