Page 234 - The New Gold Standard

PRINCIPLE 5: LEA VE A LASTING FOOTPRINT
best global training company in 2007 as ranked by Training
Magazine. In his summary about why the global learning arm of
The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center was chosen for the award,
Jack Gordon, contributing editor of the magazine, remarks,
“There is much to recommend Ritz-Carlton as the No. 1 com-
pany on this year’s Training Top 125 list: the fact that it invests a
whopping 10 percent of payroll on employee training; long-
standing excellence in areas such as leadership development and
employee orientation; customer-oriented diversity training that
extends even to interaction with service animals such as seeing-
eye dogs; management and training philosophies that account
for an annual voluntary turnover rate of 18 percent in an indus-
try where 100 percent rates are the norm. But what really made
Training say ‘Wow’ was the way the company went about shift-
ing its perception of its very hallmark: elegant service.”
The magazine award reflects the long-term value of making
the difficult transition from being a training organization to a
true learning culture. To leave a legacy, companies not only must
transfer information and corporate knowledge from the top
down but they must also focus on developing skills in accord
with the individual needs of staff, support formal and informal
opportunities that are driven by staff, and create process-based
approaches that weave learning systems into the enduring cul-
ture of the company.

Staff Pride and Learning
While accolades and awards are always appreciated, the legacy
aspect of Ritz-Carlton training ultimately lives in the impact the
global learning center’s curriculum has on giving staff members
the tools they need to creatively respond to customer needs
and powerfully drive customer loyalty. The company’s learning
focus—to develop the right tools delivered at the right time
through the right methods—facilitates the development of ser-
vice professionalism not only across their worldwide properties

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