Employee Satisfaction begins with the Leader
Posted on February 14th, 2018
Satisfied and inspired employees in service industry who are genuinely respected, treated with compassion, well compensated, properly trained, involved in decision making processes and are recognized and rewarded for their outstanding work are the heart of a successful organization. They will do everything possible to inherently provide EXCEPTIONAL service to their customers. They love what they do and are proud of it. It’s called Service Excellence CULTURE!
The end-users may be patients in a hospital being served with their meals or their rooms being cleaned, retail cafeteria customers or any other service industry customers. These satisfied and inspired employees will support each other, be very productive and excel at their tasks. They follow the standards, go above and beyond their duties, immensely enjoy their day at work and make the department run smooth and efficient. These are Happy and Engaged employees!
It takes a dedicated and committed Leader who creates an employee focused culture and places employees first in almost all situations! To build a service excellence culture, the following six strategies and employee engagement practices can help tremendously! See the first of six below. Check back to our site for the reveal of the other five over the next few weeks.
1. Recruiting
The right people for the right jobs! Recruiting or hiring the very best people for any job in the organization is the foundation of a great service excellence culture. It starts with the position posting. The first sentence of the job requirement must state clearly about the service excellence culture and the importance of their individual role in enhancing it. In live interview it must be re-emphasized that if hired they are expected to make a positive difference in the prevailing culture of the organization or the department.
Hiring for technical skills is important but not as significant as a candidate’s personal presentation skills such as personal grooming, greeting, eye contact, politeness and a natural smile. During the interview process if they are paying attention to their personal details, they are likely to pay attention to service excellence details while at work. Technical skills can be improved by further training, once the candidate is on-board.
Many organizations utilize a pre-designed interview format with specific questions. No matter what format is utilized for the basic interview questions the Leader must also look for the following three qualities by simply asking some probing questions:
- Integrity – in their answers
- Intelligence – in their thinking
- Interactive skills – and their body language
What you see and feel is likely what your patients or customers will experience behind your back. This is also what the other employees in the department will encounter when the candidate is hired. Some organizations also conduct peer interviews which can be beneficial from a team building standpoint. But the Leader must make the final decision!
Khalid Shiekh
Consultant – Food and Nutrition Services
February 9, 2018
