Page 243 - The New Gold Standard

Aspire, Achieve, Teach
The company looked for organizations that clearly demon-
strated leadership through cultural values, because, as Jonathan
explains, “We believe that individual service challenges can be
solved technically, but whatever temporary solution you put in
place can go away pretty easily without reinforced cultural val-
ues. We were intrigued by the Credo Card and with our personal
experience at the Ritz-Carlton property here in Singapore. We
were aware that when we went to the property, the staff seemed
to live and breathe the values outlined on the Credo Card. We
talked with the leadership at the hotel, and although they had
only an internal training program in place at the time, both of
our organizations were eager to forge this relationship.”
Businesses like Citibank Singapore can become distracted
in their customer service focus and require assistance to return
to their core service values. To help Citibank develop the inter-
nal training program that addressed their needs, a team of Ritz-
Carlton employees visited Citibank and observed service delivery
and the physical environment. Upon completion of their diag-
nostic review, the Ritz-Carlton team members offered a range of
findings. For example, they looked at Citibank’s setting through
the lens of scenography, examining how the Citibank property
looked and the emotional reactions that emerged from being in
their physical space. Further, Ritz-Carlton staff attempted to in-
fer what Citibank was trying to communicate by the look and
feel of their environment. According to Jonathan, “They showed
us things we had overlooked: a stain on the carpet outside an el-
evator that had obviously been there for several years; our sales-
people leaving their drink bottles in the foyers of the branches;
six different uniforms for our staff—things we just weren’t pay-
ing attention to but that make a very fundamental difference in
the impression the customer has. They just brought a totally dif-
ferent perspective to us.”
Jonathan acknowledged that the mere presence of Ritz-
Carlton staff surveying bank functions was met with initial re-
sistance. His staff wondered, “Who are these people? Why are

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