It’s the people of the business . . .

The level of enthusiasm of your guest experience can never rise higher than the enthusiasm of your OWN employees - Joel Manby

Difficult to imagine anyone disagreeing with this, but for many this is just head knowledge or intellectual knowledge, known but not acted on or used. Why? Great service is difficult to measure, particularly any link to the bottom line, and far too many organizations have the bottom line as their vision or purpose.

"But don't organizations exist to make a profit?" you may ask. Profit is the positive outcome of whatever it is your organization does. The organization didn't start with the sole purpose of making profit. Sure, it [profit] was a motivator, but the true reason was the product or service offered.

If you actually want enthused employees, there are two types of motivation: extrinsic and intrinsic.

• Extrinsic motivation is the reward from outside sources such as pay, benefits, promotion etc.
• Intrinsic motivation is internal, the feeling of accomplishment and gratification that we derive from doing a good job.

Pay your people well. Pay them at the high end of the scale for your industry and hold them accountable to your clear expectations. The accountability part is key, you will attract many to your organization but the accountability will "weed the garden" so to speak and retain the very best.

Infinitely more important is tapping into intrinsic motivation. People want to matter, to contribute, to be empowered, to be autonomous. They want responsibility, to work independently, and provided with freedom to show ingenuity. If you treat your people like "cogs in the wheel," you will get "cogs" and your guest experience (any interaction with customer) will be just about as routine, flat and un-engaging as using an automatic gas station pump, self-checkout or ATM machine.

Focus on the people of the business vs. the business of the people.

It’s the people of the business . . .