Page 210 - The New Gold Standard

PRINCIPLE 4: DELIVER WOW!
composed of hotel leadership who select five recipients each
quarter. These award winners are recognized at a banquet or a
luncheon hosted in their honor. The winners are also publicly
acknowledged during the hotel’s lineup. These recipients receive
special pins, which designate them as Five Star winners. The Five
Star recipients from each quarter become ambassadors for the
hotel and frequently are called upon to meet with clients or share
their stories with customers or business meeting planners. They
also frequently participate in the orientation process for new
employees in the organization. Each year, 5 of the 20 quarterly
recipients are selected as the annual Five Star recipients at the
hotel. Those annual winners receive a financial award of approx-
imately a thousand dollars, round-trip airfare for two within
their geographic area, and a week’s stay at a Ritz-Carlton prop-
erty.

C Aligning the Wow D

Most businesses have mechanisms for acknowledging excep-
tional performance, yet so many rely completely on an annual
awards banquet honoring the accomplishments of a select few.
In contrast, through daily and weekly presentations of service
recognition, leadership at Ritz-Carlton links Wow stories back
to the core values of the business as a way of demonstrating how
extraordinary service lives in their culture. Specifically, Wow sto-
ries are presented to Ladies and Gentlemen in the context of the
Gold Standard that is specifically exhibited in the service deliv-
ery.
The strategic selection and presentation of Wow stories fits
recommendations for increased corporate storytelling from busi-
ness consultants such as Stephen Denning. The author of The
Leader’s Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of
Business Narrative, Denning suggests that “although good busi-
ness cases are developed through the use of numbers, they are
typically approved on the basis of a story—that is, a narrative

190