Remember when you were in college and you found a course that you were dying to take, but you had to meet the prerequisites? Perhaps you wanted to learn more about one specific artist, but you had to take introduction to art history first. Or you were interested in advanced marketing but had to take a general business course first. It may have felt counter intuitive to take an introductory course when what you really wanted was a deeper dive. However, curriculum is developed to give students a solid foundation before pursuing more in-depth learning. Businesses and healthcare organizations need to meet similar prerequisites. Your organization may be interested in empowering employees or offering better customer service or patient experience. However, before you can focus on these in-depth topics, you need to make sure your organization has a solid foundation—a well-developed, enlivened culture, which everyone in the organization regardless of role can articulate. Tackling culture may seem like a daunting task. And let’s be honest. We’re a society that values efficiency and shortcuts. We like convenience, quick fixes and immediate results, and addressing organizational culture sounds like it could be a long process. If your goal is simply to improve service, why do you have to begin with organizational culture? Because culture is the foundation of your organization. If you try to make changes without establishing your culture first, it’s likely those change efforts will fail. Think about it like buying a new home. If your home inspection indicated a faulty foundation, would you reconsider your purchase? Or would you move forward with your decorating plans—knowing that your home is not stable? While some defects may not seem hazardous to your overall structure, one construction expert warns that, "any mistakes you make in the foundation will only get worse as you go up. It’s known as compounding defects and it means that mistakes grow." When foundational mistakes filter up throughout your organization, you can only truly solve these challenges by addressing them at a foundation level—through your culture. A strong culture creates unity, consistency and provides the framework for sustainable change. Establishing A Unified Organization The Ritz-Carlton is able to offer legendary service because of the attention given to culture. The Gold Standards—the Credo, Motto, Three Steps of Service, Service Values and Employee Promise—are the bedrock of The Ritz-Carlton. Each employee of The Ritz-Carlton—known as Ladies and Gentlemen—carries a Credo card of the Gold Standards, and before completing orientation, every new employee must memorize the Credo. The first sentence of the Credo is: "The Ritz-Carlton is a place where the genuine care and comfort of our guests is our highest mission." Notice that it says "our mission." We all have the same mission—from the president to the front desk agents to the sous chefs. We are working together to serve our guests. Cultivating Consistency The Ladies and Gentlemen at every Ritz-Carlton around the world participate in Daily Line-Up, a brief meeting. Each day one facet of the Gold Standards is highlighted and enlivened. By reinforcing the culture, the Ladies and Gentlemen of The Ritz-Carlton are continually reminded of the importance of living the Gold Standards. This repetition also helps ensure consistency. While the Credo serves as a collective precept, the 12 Service Values outline how each person is individually responsible for the Gold Standards. For example, the 6th Service Value states: "I own and immediately resolve guest problems." Each Service Value begins with "I," and this first-person approach instills accountability and directs the actions of our Ladies and Gentlemen. Ensuring Sustainability Because the culture of The Ritz-Carlton is so well-articulated, it is possible to make changes to the organization without disturbing the overall integrity of the operation. The Daily Line-Up provides a communication channel to roll out any new initiatives and quickly incorporate them into the current culture. A strong culture also means that the business model can be replicated in new locations. So if you visit a Ritz-Carlton Hotel in China, it should have the same dedication to service as a Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Florida. Addressing Organizational Culture Whether your organization wants to increase employee engagement, enhance your customer service or empower your employees, you should begin with a cultural assessment. You may be tempted to skip this prerequisite. However, when you invest your time and energy into cultivating and maintaining a healthy organizational culture, your organization will experience long-term benefits. ∞ 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 Addressing Organizational Culture appeared first on The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center.

The name is "IT pro . . . Your IT pro." This week, the latest James Bond thriller hits the theaters, promising action, adrenalin, and acumen. That got us thinking about what impressive stunts 007 will show off this time around. Bond is known for his competence, the ability to work well under pressure, and of course his arsenal of the latest tech gadgets. These tough traits and tech tricks have relieved him from many a boondoggle. From keeping calm and strategizing his survival technique while falling parachute-less from a plane in Moonraker to skiing down a mountain on just one ski while firing a machine gun in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, James Bond is a master of strategy, troubleshooting and advanced technology ‒ much like your IT guy or gal. In fact, strip off the short-sleeve button-down shirt and cell phone carrier case from his belt loop, and hand him a suit and sunglasses, and you might not be able to tell the difference. Which brings us to . . . 5 Reasons Why Your IT Pro Isn’t So Different from James Bond They’re international agents. James Bond is prepared to travel the world over to protect your freedom, just like your IT guy or gal, who, with the right tools like remote support, is able to solve your network problems from the beach in the Bahamas or anywhere else that suits them. Their technology tools fit in the palm of their hand. In Skyfall, James Bond uses a gun that is programmed only to fire when in contact with his unique palm print. And your IT pro? They’ve got remote access to their computer and yours from a tablet or smartphone using a unique pin number. Hero is their name; protection is their game. James Bond wants nothing more than to save the world from terrorists, preferably while entertaining a beautiful woman and driving a ridiculously cool car. Your IT pro might love a fancy car and a pretty face too, but they’ll settle for encrypted networks and passwords with symbols substituted for letters. They love a good challenge. Look closely and you’ll see the same look on James Bond’s face when he pulls off the mission that your IT pro gets when they secure your connection to the network just in time for your presentation to start. They rely on innovation. James Bond doesn’t need superpowers, and neither does your IT pro. Instead they pair their intellect with a powerful array of technology tools that proves their reputation for fastidious and heroic work. How does your IT pro remind you of James Bond or Jane Bond? Be more like Mr. Bond with GoToAssist. Get your 30-day free trial today. Want to learn more? Download the white paper "3 Reasons IT Managers Love GoToAssist."  

"Leaders cannot work in a vacuum. They may take on larger, seemingly more important roles in an organization, but this does not exclude them from asking for and using feedback. In fact, a leader arguably needs feedback more so than anyone else. It’s what helps a leader respond appropriately to events in pursuit of successful outcomes." — Jack Canfield, author and motivational speaker The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center: When leaders take on more responsibility, they tend to have less direct interaction with customers and daily operational processes. The majority of their time is spent behind a desk or in meetings with other senior executives focusing on "high level" plans. Consequently, leaders distance themselves from the pulse of the customer and must rely on their front-line teams for vital information. If leaders have established a foundation of trust and honesty, then they will receive needed feedback from the front lines. Employees will feel comfortable sharing when customer behavior indicates that a process change might be needed or when a new process works or doesn’t work. Leaders who are open and receptive to feedback are more approachable, and the feedback they receive gives them greater acumen and allows them to make more informative decisions. Leaders at The Ritz-Carlton understand that continual feedback is needed to ensure a five-star, luxury experience. They go to great lengths to maintain multiple avenues of communication—such as walking the floor and talking to the front-line employees (the Ladies and Gentlemen of The Ritz-Carlton), reviewing Gallup surveys and monitoring social media channels. Gathering feedback is a large part of their daily routine. How do your leaders ask for feedback? ∞ The Blog Post Inspired Thinking: Leadership Feedback appeared first on The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center.

When we first saw the new S Pen functionality on the GALAXY Note II, we immediately saw the opportunity to give GoToMyPC customers an easier way to get things done from anywhere. Our engineering team saw the opportunity to build something cool. And they turned it around fast - working nights and weekends to get the integration ready in less than a month. Now, we’re excited to see GoToMyPC selected as one of the featured apps in S Suggest to use on the new GALAXY Note II with the S Pen. GoToMyPC enables you to easily and securely access all your computers and files from any computer browser, or from your iOS or Android smartphone, tablet, or Kindle Fire.  And if you have a GALAXY Note II, you can now use the GoToMyPC app with the S Pen to enjoy super-precise remote control. So, how will it work? Continue reading to be among the first to find out exactly how the S Pen makes mobile remote access easier. Precise Control Try as we might, our fingers are not precise tools. Navigating through websites, email and different windows on our phones with our fingers can slow us down. That’s why on all of the GoToMyPC mobile apps, we offer a precision control mouse, which certainly helps. With the GALAXY Note II, GoToMyPC senses when the S Pen is withdrawn from the device and shifts from finger to pen control. Instantly, you’re able to work faster, using the precise pen point to drag and select text, hover and click on links, and navigate multiple windows. The S Pen lets you hover to easily show tooltips or navigate submenus. Simply drag and select some text, right click, and copy it. Then, by pressing the S Pen button, you can easily find and navigate to the window where you want to paste the text. Plus, with the S Pen, you can actually handwrite sentences on your GALAXY Note II and they’re transformed into type within your document on your host computer. It’s really cool! A Better Mobile Experience Our customers regularly tell us how crucial their mobile devices are for getting work done. And not only do we listen, but we strive to make that experience even better. Configuring the GoToMyPC app to work with the S Pen and being selected as a highlighted app by Samsung further enables us to provide our loyal customers with the solution they’ve grown accustomed to, but now with even more functionality. Our goal is to keep making the mobile working experience even quicker and easier so you can get back to enjoying your free time. At Citrix, we believe in doing it all, even when life throws daily emergencies our way, and the S Pen is going to help us do it all even faster.  

Dear Ritz-Carlton: How do you get employee buy-in from your workers in the "not-so-glamorous" positions (i.e., bellman, valet, etc.)? The above question is from an attendee at "Symposium: Your Journey to Service Excellence" in April. The following answer is from John Cashion, Corporate Director, Culture Transformation at The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center: At The Ritz-Carlton, our Employee Promise talks about five key principles that apply to all of our employees—known as our Ladies and Gentlemen—around the world. Trust, honesty, respect, integrity, and commitment are earned at every level, and must be practiced every day, by everyone. When leaders focus on these principles with the Ladies and Gentlemen who work in some of our "not so glamorous" positions, it creates an engaging work environment and strengthens the experience of our guests. The Ladies and Gentlemen must understand their worth and importance in the organization. Our Service Values and our Employee Promise are instructional, inspirational and instill pride in our organization. Leaders must continuously create an inclusive work environment that not only accepts and motivates those who want to be lifelong housekeepers, stewards etc., but also supports those who need help creating a path to future goals such as school or becoming a banquet server, supervisor or manager. ∞ 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 Dear Ritz-Carlton: Employee Buy-In? appeared first on The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center.

Our thoughts are still with the thousands of people still dealing with the aftermath of Sandy. I believe we can learn a lot from those working hard to rebuild their homes, personal lives and work schedules as much as they possibly can.  There are many stories of resiliency in the face of destruction - even from companies trying to maintain business as usual without putting employees in harm’s way. According to BusinessWeek, Ernst & Young used teleworking to manage 167,000 employees scattered across the globe throughout the crisis. Businesses that haven’t been able to telework during the storm’s aftermath are more likely to lose revenue - and even market share - to rivals that can enable people to work from wherever they are. In a situation where so much is out of your control, it’s nice to have some sense of normalcy.  In times of crisis, we are happy to know that our products can play even the tiniest part in helping our customers keeping people’s lives and businesses on track.  One long-time New Jersey-based GoToMyPC customer and controller of a small custom machinery manufacturing company was kind enough to share his story about how he’s getting back on his feet after the disaster. Hopefully his success can help others looking for a way to get back on track. My Life with GoToMyPC, by Anthony DeAquino "My responsibilities do not stop at 5 PM, nor on weekends, vacations or even sick days, therefore I needed to find a way to remote access my office computer. I learned about GoToMyPC in March 2006, and since they had a 30-day free trial, I thought, "What the heck, I should give it a try." So I downloaded the program. That day changed my life, and I have been a GoToMyPC believer ever since. I was able to successfully access my office computer and company server and perform nearly every task as though I were sitting at my office desk. GoToMyPC helped me convince my boss to keep me on staff when I moved miles away from the office and subsequently helped me put my children through school. As you know, Hurricane Sandy recently struck New Jersey, making landfall approximately 20 miles south of us. The Jersey coastline is in shambles. Fortunately, my family and I only suffered a seven-day power outage - a mere inconvenience compared to the losses incurred by thousands of New Jersey Shore residents. The company I work for, located in North Jersey, also experienced a power outage.  Due to the conditions of the roads and the gas shortage, I was unable to drive into work. However, on the day power was restored at my office, I was able to make my way to a friend’s house, where power had been restored the day before. I plugged in my laptop, fired up GoToMyPC and, within seconds, I was back to work." If you’re still stuck working remotely like many East Coasters, we recommend checking out this article from The Wall Street Journal to help find your work-from-home groove. Photo credit: chrisschoenbohm

I love this time of year. The days are drawing in, the trees are afire with reds and yellows - and the world’s greatest rugby players are in the depths of the mud and glory of the annual Autumn Internationals.      All sports coaches know that the key to success week after week is mastery of basic skills, and this is no less true for world-class teams like the New Zealand All Blacks than it is for everyone else. Getting the little things consistently right - passing, catching, kicking - is the foundation for succeeding at the big things, like winning test matches.    Every gifted sportsperson has put in hundreds of hours of practice, to the point where their actions seem effortless and instinctive. In the same way, we should never be afraid to take time out to hone our own basic skills, whether that’s practicing a pitch or simply reviewing a delivery process.   It’s a truism that our natural gifts can only take us so far. The people who truly excel in life are the ones who keep practicing, developing their existing skills and adding new ones. For them, just "good enough" is never an option. So what’s the lesson for us all? Never stop learning or striving to go further, faster, harder. If you do this, victory will be yours.       

Each month, The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center (RCLC) features an interview with an employee — 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 Leeny Oberg, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. RCLC: As a financial expert, you’ve worked for a variety of institutions such as Sallie Mae and Chase Manhattan Bank. What attracted you to the hotel industry? Ms. Oberg: In my first two jobs, I advised companies to help drive them toward a successful business strategy which ultimately had to work for customers and employees in addition to succeeding financially. However, in the long run I saw myself as being part of one team rather than being an advisor to a number of companies. So the whole idea of working with a lot of people—being in a business driven by people, serving them, building their careers through apprenticeship—was stimulating for me. Also, I found the culture at Marriott and The Ritz-Carlton, to be a good fit with me personally. I’ll always like finance, but The Ritz-Carlton culture fits my values. RCLC: What most impressed you about the Marriott and The Ritz-Carlton philosophy? Ms. Oberg: Wall Street has a culture all its own. When I worked in banking, I saw CEO and CFO types who knew all the answers and told everyone else what to do. It was within the first five minutes of meeting Bill Marriott that I distinctly remember saying to myself, "This is so different." He kept asking questions like, "What are you interested in?" and "What are you bringing to the table that can support our growth?" In effect, he said, "I don’t have all the answers." There is such mutual respect across all levels of the organization. RCLC: Your bio describes your job as "aligning the finance function with the brand’s vision." How do you boil that down in day-to-day activity? Ms. Oberg: I focus on three components: The Ladies and Gentlemen who work at The Ritz-Carlton Hotels. The customers, because without them, what are we? The owners, who expect a return on their investment. Unless I‘m spinning and balancing all of those "plates," we aren’t going to be a leader in the industry. RCLC: Why do you think The Ritz-Carlton Hotels are so successful? Ms. Oberg: At the end of the day our Credo—a statement defining our mission—drives the behavior of our employees and puts our principles to work. When the Credo is consistently emphasized by a General Manager to their team, it becomes a guiding star and employees use it to respond in any given situation. To have that done globally, drives success. I’m a huge believer in Line-up meetings, where department heads meet with their team to prepare for the day. They prompt thought, everyone learns something new, and it’s an excellent time to review the Credo. It keeps our principles top-of-mind and gets everyone on the same page so we can put the Credo into action. RCLC: Do you ever "mystery shop" at your hotels? Ms. Oberg: Through our customer knowledge system, I’m recognizable at our hotels. So I mystery shop at our competitors, and our competitors are good. I let employees know how well we are doing but that there are other luxury hotel companies out there doing well, too. I come back from a competitor and talk about my experience at our Line-up meetings. What stands out to me is how we deliver service. My favorite word in The Ritz-Carlton Credo is "genuine." To me, when you provide service that is genuine versus service that is laissez-faire, that’s a huge differentiator. We can’t overplay the need for our service to be delivered sincerely. RCLC: What do you appreciate about working for The Ritz-Carlton? Ms. Oberg: The fact that the culture is built into the whole company. I can look to a Ritz-Carlton parking valet for business acumen and learn what’s going on at the hotel. Granted, I get different information from him than from the finance director, but both are just as valuable. To me, that’s phenomenal and I cherish it. ∞ Ms. Leeny Oberg will be a member of The Ritz-Carlton Executive Panel at the Symposium: Your Journey to Service Excellence on Thursday, November 12, at The Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner in McLean, VA. The Blog Post Our Ladies and Gentlemen: Leeny Oberg appeared first on The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center.

Many of us think of "the office" as the place where you go to work - a place to get things done. But how work-friendly is the typical office?  I used to work in a typical office. I also spent an unavoidable amount of time, well, not working in a typical office. My work was constantly delayed or interrupted by all the little things, adding up to a staggering amount of lost time. This is why I’m a passionate supporter of a different way of working, of freeing people from the confines of the office and letting them work wherever they work best. The infographic below says it all.  How does your experience compare? And are you adopting a more flexible approach to work with the holidays at hand? Let us know in the comments or tell us on Twitter.  

"When you really listen to another person from their point of view, and reflect back to them that understanding, it’s like giving them emotional oxygen." — Stephen Covey, Author and Businessman The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center: So much of life—whether at home or at work—seems to be about hurrying. You are rushing to work. Hustling to meet deadlines. Dashing to meetings. There are probably even days when you barely have time to eat. When you feel like you’re always racing against the clock, it can be difficult to "really listen" to your colleagues. "Really listening" means that you have given your whole attention to someone. You’re not thinking about how you want to respond while you pretend to listen. You’re not interrupting—because you already know how you’re going to respond and you have other tasks you want to get to. "Really listening" can be challenging because you have to stop all those thoughts about what you need to be doing and how you’re going to get it done. You have to resist the urge to give a perfunctory answer or to problem solve without truly understanding the situation. In an interview with Bob Kharazmi, Global Officer, Worldwide Operations at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C., he shared the following advice on leadership and listening: "When people come to me with issues, I try to really truly understand by using good listening skills. I don’t jump in and ask questions too early. Once they are finished talking, if I’m not totally clear, then I will ask questions. After I completely understand the issue, I ask them what they think the best solution is—and only after listening to their solution will I provide my advice." Really listening to someone shows respect and consideration, but most importantly, it shows that you care. If we each made "really listening" a priority, can you imagine how that would impact your work environment? ∞ The Blog Post Inspired Thinking: Really Listening appeared first on The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center.