Page 129 - The New Gold Standard

It’s a Matter of Trust
We are confident that they will deliver the experience for which
they are trained. That training in turn is ongoing and secures
their skill sets. Ultimately, however, we know that we have to let
our Ladies and Gentlemen figure out how to take their training
and fit it with what is right for the guest. So, as leaders, we create
the sandbox and general rules of how our people are expected to
play in it, but for them to really generate the unique and mem-
orable, we have to empower them. You just can’t micromanage
unique and memorable outcomes.”
If there is a skill that can be alien to “take-charge” manage-
ment-type, ego-driven personalities, it is the ability to step back,
and in the words of Kathy Smith, “let [staff members] figure out”
how to make their training effective in serving their customers.
Gary Weaver, an employee who has worked for The Ritz-
Carlton Hotel Company for 19 years and is currently a hotel
chauffeur in Atlanta, puts it this way: “The hotel leadership tells
me what they expect of me, but they let me create what I need to
do for the guest. I am not told what to do; I can figure that out for
myself. When I pick up guests at the airport, I facilitate the check-
in process and have their room key ready for them so that they
don’t have to go to the front desk upon arrival at the hotel. Or if
a guest comes in late and hasn’t eaten, I am quick to offer to call
room service to make sure food is waiting for them. No manager
told me to do that. In fact, even though I choose to do those
things, my managers don’t require other drivers to do them as
some kind of standard operating procedure. Leadership exercises
the patience and respect to step back and let my colleagues find
their own ways to offer guests a memorable experience, just as
leaders have encouraged me to create my own memorable ways.”

C Transferring Trust D
to Empowerment

In distrusting work environments, it is common for frontline
workers to say, “I will have to get my manager’s approval on

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