Each month, The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center (RCLC) features an interview with an employee—also known as a Lady or Gentleman of The Ritz-Carlton—in order to share an insider’s view of the organization. This month’s interview is with Mercedita (Mercy) Fernandez, Director of Housekeeping at The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai International Financial Centre. RCLC: Can you please talk a little about your role with the organization? Ms. Fernandez: Essentially, my role is to oversee and maintain the cleanliness of the hotel, or ‘the house’ as I like to call it. For me, however, my most important role is to lead and nurture my wonderful team of 51 Ladies and Gentlemen as well as an additional 54 contracted staff. They refer to me as ‘Mom,’ so I like to see myself as the Mom of the house! RCLC: How long have you worked with The Ritz-Carlton, and why do you stay? Ms. Fernandez: I started in housekeeping with The Portman Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai in 1998, before moving to The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain and finally The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai International Financial Centre in 2009. There is one reason I have stayed for 17 years and that is the people that I am fortunate to work with every day. I always promote from within, and it gives me so much pleasure to watch my Ladies and Gentlemen, some of whom start in housekeeping with zero skills, blossom into fantastic housekeepers and leaders. RCLC: What do you value about the culture of The Ritz-Carlton? Ms. Fernandez: I value everything about the culture, and I realized this when I no longer needed to study the Credo Card. The Ritz-Carlton philosophy has become my own philosophy, and I believe those Ladies and Gentlemen who embody it will become the most successful. RCLC: What is your favorite Service Value or Gold Standard? Ms. Fernandez: Of course Service Value number 12, "I am responsible for uncompromising levels of cleanliness and creating a safe and accident-free environment," is always at the top of my mind, but my favorite is the Employee Promise. Trust, honesty, respect and integrity are the basis of how a team and a hotel function, and helping my Ladies and Gentlemen fulfill their aspirations gives me the greatest pleasure. RCLC: How does the culture impact your work? How do you convey this to your Ladies and Gentlemen? Ms. Fernandez: The culture is the foundation of how we work and how the division operates. I try to be a role model and walk the talk every day, which starts each morning with Line-Up. I also hold a second Line-Up with my leaders and try to be a mentor to each and every one of them. I am still very present around the rooms and believe it is essential for Ladies and Gentlemen to regularly see their leader on the front line. RCLC: How do you engage your Ladies and Gentlemen in less glamorous positions? Ms. Fernandez: I always try to communicate and help them understand the importance of what we do in housekeeping, and how it truly impacts the guest experience. I also try to teach the importance of motivation and passion; loving what you do makes it easy. It is also essential to ensure they understand that there is an opportunity to learn and grow and that if they are dedicated and passionate, there is an exciting career path for them within the company. RCLC: Do you feel that an emphasis on customer service is even more important for luxury brands? Ms. Fernandez: Yes, absolutely because customer service or guest experience define luxury, particularly in Dubai and much of the Middle East where luxury is found on every corner. We need to place the guest at the center of everything we do. RCLC: Do you have any interaction with customers or any opportunities to create "Wow" moments? Ms. Fernandez: My main interaction opportunity now is with long-stay or regular guests, with whom I try to build relationships. They appreciate that a senior leader from housekeeping is interested in how they like their clothes hung, or their pillows arranged, and this gives me a chance to personally anticipate and fulfill their needs. It is also important that I do this to set an example to my team, who I challenge to create "Wow" moments on a daily basis. RCLC: The Ritz-Carlton has a reputation for employee retention. Is there any aspect of the culture that you feel directly contributes to employee engagement? Ms. Fernandez: I believe in promoting from within wherever possible, and this gives our Ladies and Gentlemen a tangible goal to reach for. I also think that you can’t stop people from leaving if a promotion arises, and I always try to encourage my team as much as I can to apply for transfers in other departments or hotels if they are ready and the opportunity is right. RCLC: What does it mean to be a team player? How have you mentored or supported others? Ms. Fernandez: Being a team player means being there for and supporting your Ladies and Gentlemen. However senior, you cannot work alone, and teamwork is fundamental to success in any hotel environment. As well as mentoring within my division, I have also taken part in six task forces (editor’s note: task forces spend time working at other Ritz-Carlton properties), which I think is a fantastic initiative that allows experienced Ladies and Gentlemen to share best practices and knowledge with our colleagues, which ultimately benefits everyone. RCLC: You won an award for your contributions to The Ritz-Carlton. What was that experience like? Ms. Fernandez: I was lucky enough to be awarded the J. Willard Marriott Award of Excellence by Marriott International, and it is really very difficult to describe the experience in words. I felt the most proud to be Ritz-Carlton than I ever have in my entire career, and the experience we were treated to in Washington, D.C. was really out of this world and embodied everything The Ritz-Carlton stands for in terms of creating memorable experiences. It was the first time I had traveled to the U.S., and it was like winning every lottery possible in one go! What inspires you each day? Ms. Fernandez: The interactions I have with my team, colleagues and guests, and knowing that I am able to make a difference in peoples’ lives. I also enjoy the challenges that every day brings; no two days are the same, and every day throws up something new, which I love and embrace. It’s how we manage challenges that make us successful, and inspires me to be the best I can be every day. ∞ The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center offers advisory services, courses and presentations to organizations that wish to benchmark the award-winning business practices of The Ritz-Carlton. Your organization can learn about The Ritz-Carlton methodology for customer service, employee engagement and leadership development. We also guide organizations through a multi-step process in order to achieve sustainable culture transformation. The Blog Post Our Ladies and Gentlemen: Mercedita (Mercy) Fernandez appeared first on The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center.

While TalentLMS is a hugely capable eLearning platform on its own, its capabilities grow exponentially (that’s mathspeak for "quite a lot") when you take advantage of its myriads of integration possibilities. From our suite of built-in integration options to over 300 websites and services ready to be integrated with TalentLMS through its support for the Zapier middleware, if a service or software is even remotely popular, you can integrate TalentLMS with it. We’re happy to announce that, come next release, this list will also include Salesforce, the widely popular Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform. So what does this integration buy Salesforce-TalentLMS users? Single-sign on, for starters, as you’ll be able to access your eLearning courses from within Salesforce, through the aptly named "TalentLMS" tab in the CRM. No separate login required, and no more manual replication of your CRM accounts to your LMS. TalentLMS also gets the ability to automatically import Salesforce users, which are then given the same access to the eLearning capabilities of the platform as any user created in the usual way. The Salesforce administrator will be able to control which users get access to TalentLMS, by specifying one or more Salesforce user groups. Oh, and keeping with the legendary TalentLMS’ ease of use, integrating Salesforce will be an one-step process. We believe that the upcoming TalentLMS/Salesforce integration provides an ideal extended platform for Salesforce-using businesses looking to train their sales staff, or new businesses looking for a robust CRM platform and a best-of-breed LMS. As for our own sales staff, they’ll be glad to answer any question you might have regarding TalentLMS and its integration capabilities. Watch this space for integration instructions come release day, and may the Salesforce be with you. The post A force to be reckoned with: Salesforce integrated with TalentLMS appeared first on TalentLMS Blog.

If engaging Millennials is the goal, we must understand what defines their leadership experience—not just their preferences.

Oftentimes, people labor under the impression that once a sale is made, the sales and negotiation process ends. This, however, could not be further from the truth. The initial acquisition is the first in an extended series of talks, negotiations, compromises, and pitches that will continue throughout the newly established working relationship. Seek Feedback Feedback is just as useful to you as it is to maintaining relationships with your clients. They want to be heard, and you can use the information to improve the product or service, or even your own sales tactics. Engaging your customers will show them you genuinely care and haven’t forgotten about them. When consumers don’t like a product or service, they are likely to not return rather than voicing their opinion. Well, they will voice their opinion; it just won’t be with you. However, if you take the time to ask them for feedback, they’ll be more inclined to seek your service in the future because they know you care about their needs. Stay Organized If you’re maintaining ongoing relationships with clients, you probably have a variety of client types with an assortment of needs. Keeping your clients organized by what their wants and needs enables you to make more meaningful connections with them. It also helps you make better sales in the future. Knowing exactly what customers bought and how they feel about it makes them feel respected and "special," and keeping their information systematically organized is the most efficient way to do this. Additionally, keeping things organized internally gives you insight into your product or service. Are you consistent in your delivery? Do you have a set schedule for following up with clients? Do all your employees abide by the same sales policies? Answering these questions can improve your business and your ongoing relationship with clients. Look For More Opportunities Don’t build relationships with just one person within a company. Get to know other people within the office and identify his or her needs. Make an effort to understand the company culture, goals, and mission. You never know; someone else in the company could come to you for a product, or someone could move on to another company and tell them about your exceptional service. Keeping your options open and eyes peeled allows you to identify opportunities in the future. Plus, it’s easier to maintain a relationship with your client if his or her coworkers like you, too.   Sources: http://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickhull/2013/12/06/tools-for-entrepreneurs-to-retain-clients/ http://www.inc.com/adam-heitzman/5-strategies-guaranteed-to-improve-client-retention.html http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217513

When I tell people what I do, the topic of culture comes up a lot. And let’s be honest - it’s juicy. From Google, Tesla, and Yahoo to work-life balance, paid time off, and unlimited perks, company culture is in business news regularly. On top of that, research continues to be released stating that culture impacts (both positively and negatively) an organization’s bottom lines.Although people cerebrally understand culture’s importance, people tend to talk about culture as something external. For instance, a statement I often encounter when we are discussing fierce is: "My culture doesn’t encourage transparent, direct communication, so I can’t have those kinds of conversations with my executive team right now." Sometimes that also sounds like, "If my company’s culture was different, I would be different." Or "If other people modeled those behaviors, I could do them too." What I hear is "Look at those other people over there - no, not me, not here."Newsflash: Culture doesn’t live outside of you. That’s not how it works. You are the culture. You choose what it looks like every day. You choose it in the conversations you have. And even more so if you lead people, you model and reinforce those choices each time you interact with others.This week’s fierce tip is to take responsibility for your impact on your organization’s culture. Ask yourself: What kind of culture do I want to be a part of? What does that require of me?Yes, there will be issues that are legitimately outside of your control or purview. However, you have as much responsibility as everyone else to steer the culture.So as seducing as pointing the finger can be at times, when you are unhappy with the culture, make sure you throw some of that blame your way.The post Fierce Tip of the Week: Stop Your Excuses. You are the Culture. appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

27% of millennials are already managers. (source) Advice from Diana Oreck, Vice President of The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center: I often tease the President of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C., Mr. Herve Humler, and say, "I have the best job in the company, not you!" In my position as Vice President of The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center, it is an absolute honor to share the best practices of The Ritz-Carlton in the areas of culture transformation, legendary service and leadership with all different types of industries and companies. Over the last 18 months, the topic of millennials has come up at virtually every class, presentation and symposium. The thing that has struck me most vividly is there seems to be a significant amount of managers who are actually afraid of millennials. The hue and cry seems to be "but they are so different." I think some of us are suffering from editing history. Every generation has been different. Being frightened of millennials and throwing our hands up in despair is not constructive. After all, they are the future leaders of the world. In fact 27 percent of them are already managers. Many millennials are accused of having a sense of entitlement and are unrealistic about the time frame in which they expect a promotion. If we are being truthful, their parents and schools helped create this entitlement when they told the millennials they could be anything they wanted and gave them a trophy just for participating. Next time a millennial approaches and wants to know when their unrealistic promotion will be, I recommend this approach. Do not be dismissive or frightened Praise them on their passion and ambition Explain they must still get some real-world experience Explain the pathway they will need to take to attain their next promotion and approximate time frame I have found millennials to be very reasonable once they understand the "why" of situations. At The Ritz-Carlton one of our Key Success Factors reads, "Inspire Exceptional Ladies and Gentlemen." Developing millennials and growing their skills within appropriate time frames to mold them into terrific future senior leaders is definitely …."our pleasure." The millennials have been arguably referred to as "the next best generation of all." Let’s treat them that way. ∞ Join us for a one-day symposium on November 12th. The day includes a Ritz-Carlton executive panel with Herve Humler, president & chief operations officer of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. The Blog Post Significant Stat: Millennials are already Managers appeared first on The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center.

The Internet of Things (IOT) is all the rage right now. Certainly it’s exciting. But is there something even bigger just as close, if not closer? I think so. You probably know that the Internet had been running out of IP addresses. So natch that’s been fixed, with the new IPv6 schema. With this new approach we get a lot of IP addresses. I know you want to know how many, so here you are:   340,282,366,920,938,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 unique IP addresses. That’s 340 trillion, 282 billion, 366 million, 920 thousand, 938 — followed by 24 zeroes. I knew you’d be interested. So now we’ve got a lot of things we can put addresses on. Certainly enough for the (IOT). Although that’s fashionable at the moment, for me that’s not the really interesting application of all these new addresses. We’ve now got enough addresses, and then some, so that we can all - that is, each of us individually - have our own IP address! Think of it: I can now be 162.33.5049 instead of Ted Prince. Think what you can do with that! Not the Internet of Things; instead the Internet of Brains (IOB) Maybe your personal IP address is physically in a subcutaneous chip. Or your Fitbit band on your wrist. Or your iWatch. So now we truly have a handle on you. Seriously, if everyone in the world can have their own IP address it opens up new and revolutionary possibilities. I can know where you are, instead of your phone. I can send everything you need to receive to your IP address instead of an email which might have been discontinued, your Twitter handle or your WhatsApp moniker. But even that’s kind of boring compared with some of the things you can imagine. Maybe if you have some unique knowledge I can reference you through your IP address in citations and references. Or I can link you into multi-person networks in real-time just by IP address. So now we have a true online real-time personal network. It gets better. I can do this with particular subject matter. Now I get a LinkedIn-style group that is online real-time knowledge sharing. You get where this is going right? In science fiction we have always had the fantasy that the whole human race can be linked into one massive brain. It’s always looked like, well, science fiction. But having all these IP addresses coupled with communicating chips like those used for the IOT changes the equation entirely. Suddenly a globally-linked intelligence becomes possible, even relatively easy, at least from a technical point of view. And it’s not just about sharing intelligence and brains. It’s also about sharing emotions and feelings. So that we get the possibility of sharing feelings on a countrywide or even global basis as well as thoughts and insights. Of course there is infinity of issues - privacy, the potential for harm not to mention politics and so on. So that poses a bunch of challenges that are now clearly much bigger than the technical ones. But the IPv6 plan looks to most people like an arcane technical issue that only geeks should have an interest in. Instead IPv6 might have been the final stepping stone to constructing a global unified intelligence.                Read More

Research shows that ROI is becoming the fastest growing metric and a favorite among executives, particularly when they invest in major programs. Now is the time to develop serious capability and show the impact and ROI for selected projects and programs. ROI Institute is pleased to announce that there are now six ways to participate in ROI Certification, ultimately earning the designation of Certified ROI Professional (CRP). Whether you are an individual looking to enhance your capability or an organization looking to implement a measurement culture, there is an option to fit your needs. These approaches offer the same comprehensive learning and application requirements as the globally recognized live ROI Certification. The only difference is that now you can participate in a delivery format that fits your learning style, availability, and budget. 6 Ways to Build Expertise in ROI: 1. Individual Certification: Have one person attend the five-day ROI Certification with the intent of taking the lead on spreading the ROI process throughout the organization. This is the most common approach. For more information, look over the Certification Brochure then give us a call at 706-745-0014. 2. Team Certification: Send a team to the five-day ROI Certification with substantial discounts for team participation. Having a team ensures that ROI will be implemented properly and timely. For more information about team discounts, call us at 706-745-0014. 3. Internal Certification: Organize an internal certification, tailored directly to the organization’s needs and situation. This is a growing option. Call us at 706-745-0014 to quickly set up your Internal Certification Workshop. 4. Tuition Refund Program: Use the Tuition Refund Program through Villanova University’s online version to develop capability with tuition assistance. With some adjustments and additional steps, this can be an effective, cost-efficient method. 5. Blended Certification: Participate in a three-day option, instead of five days, building on previous training in ROI. Many people have taken the two-day or three-day program through the Association for Talent Development (ATD) or another professional association. You can also take a two-day ROI Workshop online. To see if your previous experience qualifies for a Blended Certification, call us at 706-745-0014. 6. Self-Study Plan: Use a self-study plan. In this approach, an individual can pursue the CRP designation with a custom tailored self-study plan. Call us at 706-745-0014 to develop your custom plan. For more information on any of these options, check out our 6 Ways Brochure. You can also call us at 706-745-0014 or email us at info@roiinstitute.net. Also, look over our Certification Brochure to learn more about what the program offers. The post 6 ways to build expertise in ROI appeared first on ROI Institute.

This week’s Fierce resource was originally published on Harvard Business Review and examines why many organizations continue to operate in fragmented silos, instead of focusing on improving cross-departmental collaboration.In theory, technology has sped up the way we communicate and has allowed us to make real-time decisions. New productivity tools like video conferencing, instant messaging, and virtual workspaces promise to create a hyper-connected global workforce. In reality, it just adds to the confusion and most communication continues to get lost in translation. That’s why we need to go back to the basics.Jack Welch’s Approach to Breaking Down Silos Still Works advocates adopting the "Work-Out" process - a series of structured and facilitated forums, bringing people together across levels, functions, and geographies to solve problems and make decisions in real time. The key is physically getting people in the same room, at the same time, and focusing on solving the issue at hand.What walls need to be brought down in your organization?"I learned this from working with senior executives at one of the world’s largest high-tech engineering companies recently, who were concerned that many of their big customer programs were over budget and behind schedule. After some investigating, they discovered that their fragmented, geographically dispersed matrix structure made it very difficult for the program managers to coordinate efforts across functions, keep everyone focused on the cost and delivery goals, and get people to reach consensus."Read the article.The post Fierce Resource: Jack Welch’s Approach to Breaking Down Silos Still Works appeared first on Fierce, Inc..

Imagine if every person acted like a lady or gentleman…. Engagement Tip: Ladies and gentlemen are calm when listening to others. Unhappy customers or patients can display anger or other challenging behavior; however, ladies and gentlemen must remain calm and composed in order to maintain their credibility and discretion. True ladies and gentlemen will actively listen, stay in control and employ empathy—even when facing challenging behavior. As Stephen Covey said, really listening is like giving people "emotional oxygen." The employees of The Ritz-Carlton—known as Ladies and Gentlemen—strive to listen carefully to guests and to each other. They listen for preferences; i.e., how does the guest take his/her coffee or does the guest like a specific snack. They can also improve their service by noting these guests’ preferences for future reference. When listening to a guest’s complaint, Ladies and Gentlemen are eager to own and immediately resolve the issue. However, they must remain calm as the guest explains their frustrations. Keeping a level head and actively listening to the guest supports our commitment to pride in our professionalism and engages our guests, even those who have experienced an unpleasant incident. ∞ The motto of The Ritz-Carlton is "We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen." This motto sets a tone of goodwill and grace for all. The Blog Post Etiquette & Engagement: Calm appeared first on The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center.