Page 162 - The New Gold Standard

PRINCIPLE 3: IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU
has come to understand Ireland well and the marketing tagline
for The Ritz-Carlton, Powerscourt, can rightly claim that our ho-
tel is ‘authentically Irish and reassuringly The Ritz-Carlton.’”
While listening does not avert conflict and tension, it does create
a foundation of trust that allows for adaptation and effectiveness.

C Soliciting Local Involvement D
in Business Processes

Ritz-Carlton Service Value 9 states, “I am involved in the plan-
ning of the work that affects me.” As such, Ritz-Carlton leader-
ship has perfected processes to make the work truly be about
their employees. Most hotel decisions are the result of a general
manager driving overall top priorities, with departmental lead-
ers’ addressing individual improvements within, say, housekeep-
ing or finance.
Brian Gullbrants, vice president of operations, addresses
how corporate leadership respectfully incorporates the input of
local leadership: “In addition to local priorities, you have brand-
level improvement initiatives. So corporate is also saying, ‘Guess
what? In the rooms division, we need to improve this particular
aspect of the customer experience,’ and so we’re going to create
some brand-level enhancement. Here at corporate we include
the local hotel leadership to give input formally through councils
and in more informal ways as well. Ritz-Carlton won’t improve
if we drive change from the top.”
Similarly, at the hotel level, the priorities driven by general
managers and their executive teams emerge from customer data
and analyses of process breakdowns. At Ritz-Carlton, these prime
target areas are limited to three local objectives, called “the T3.”
These top three areas of quality improvement receive the atten-
tion of cross-functional teams at the hotel level. Ken Rehmann,
executive vice president of operations, suggests that this process
is well known throughout Ritz-Carlton. “I would say the hotel
front line is very knowledgeable about the T3 team process. It’s

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