Association Leadership - November/December 2007 - (Page 11)

TSAE update 60-Second Solutions How to do a Better Job Praising, Critiquing and Thanking People How do you know you are doing a good job praising, critiquing and thanking people? Do you have a model or do you just wing it? Included are models that will help you do a good job, because they focus on giving people you encounter more of what they want (respect). In return, you receive more of what you want (a speciﬁc behavior). Front Desk – Generally it is not necessary to tip, but you can for exceptional service. Never ask the front desk to distribute items to your attendees as they check in, this severely disrupts their efﬁciency and slows down check-in times for all guests. Instead, arrange with your hotel contact to have items delivered directly to the guestrooms by the bell staff or housekeeping. There will be a charge for this service. The Doorman is supposed to get you, your passengers and your luggage out of your vehicle and into hotel as efﬁciently as possible. He should orient you and direct to the front desk, then pass you along the bell staff. You should not ask the doorman to leave the front-door area. His job is to stay in the front to greet guests. Also, doormen can be a good resource for hotel and city information, just like a concierge. Bell Staff are responsible for escorting you and your luggage to your room. Never take or ask to take a bellman’s cart. Taking it from him, even if your intention is to bring it right back, severely impedes him from doing his job properly. Asking him to unload a box or two from your car is reasonable. But if you have several boxes that need to be delivered to banquet rooms, use the loading dock. The loading dock staff is responsible for that, not the bell staff. Valet – Most guests tip when retrieving their car, and hotels generally rotate valet staff to have equal amounts of park and retrieval time. However, tipping when parking is very much appreciated. Services to expect: valet runs to get your car and opens the door for you and your passenger. Banquet Staff – Most hotels already include gratuity for banquet staff in your bill. Feel free to tip additionally for any exceptional service. Catering Manager – Feel free to tip for exceptional service. Also, sending ﬂowers is a nice thank you. Surveys/CS scores – The best way to thank a hotel for exceptional service is to ﬁll out and return all surveys. When you can, mention employees by name in the comments section. The staff gets bonuses for 1) being mentioned in a positive survey and for 2) overall high customer service scores. Also, send thank you letters to managers mentioning staff as well. Source: Aug. 21, TSAE Learn@Lunch. Speakers: Tom Rice, director of rooms for Omni Austin Southpark; Romer Perez, director of food and beverage for Driskill Hotel Austin MODELS Praising – Praise the behavior, not the person. This avoids embarrassment to the person being praised, avoids confusion over why speciﬁcally the person is being praised and makes the praise sound more sincere. It also avoids the appearance of favoritism and encourages more of the same behavior you want from everyone, which is the whole reason to praise in the ﬁrst place. Critiquing – Critique in private, focus on the behavior – not the person – and use the sandwich approach. The sandwich approach works like this: First, say something good about the person’s behavior – this is the ﬁrst slice of bread. Next, use the word “and” (not “but”) and deliver the critique – this is the meat of the sandwich. Lastly, use the word “and” again, then say something else good about the person’s overall behavior – this is the second slice of bread. After you’ve used the sandwich approach, say how you would like the person to behave regarding the critique and ask for change, but avoid demanding it. Thanking – Say “thank you” to a person as if you are glad you are saying it. Point out why you are thanking them in as much detail as appropriate and use the person’s name. What does this look like in practice? Praising – “Mary, you did an excellent job managing the owner’s expectations during the negotiation.” Critiquing – “John, you are a good team player and the organization needs you to spend more time on your primary responsibilities. You have shown you are very good at them. Block out time to take care of your job ﬁrst and if there is time left, you can help others out as much as you are able. We have been working together for several years now and I hope you could help by coming over to my side on this one.” Thanking – “Jan, thank you for taking the initiative to ﬁgure out a solution to the client’s last-minute request. Initiative is valued here and you cannot be thanked enough for your leadership.” Creating your own models will increase your chance of doing a good job praising, critiquing and thanking. Doing so beneﬁts everyone. By Darren Smith, Cima Strategic Services. E-mail at darren@ cimastrategic.com. RECYCLE YOUR ELECTRONICS Americans tossed out a whopping 5.5 billion pounds of electronics – TVs, cell phones, computers, etc. – in 2005, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Only about 12 percent were recycled. The Consumer Electronics Association created mygreenelectronics.org to help people ﬁnd a recycling resource in their area. Got some extra cell phones stashed in a drawer? Sell unused cell phones to greeenphone.com. You’ll receive about $35 and the phones will be refurbished and resold. Source: Simple Magazine, Sept. 2007 ◆ November/December 2007 | Association LEADERSHIP 11 TIPS ON TIPS Housekeeping – Always put cash tips in an envelope with “Thank You” written on the outside. Also, housekeeping gratuities for an entire party can be added to the master account. http://mygreenelectronics.org http://greeenphone.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Association Leadership - November/December 2007

Association Leadership - November/December 2007 Contents Chairman’s Column Homepage 60-Second Solutions TSAE Annual Meeting and Educational Conference Award Winners Event Sponsors Conference Highlights Adaptability During Difficult Times/Reinvented Associations 7 Measures of Success: Organizational Adaptability Crisis Calling Association Case Study: Who is Minding the Store – External Factors Between the Covers New Members Community Spotlight El Paso Index to Advertisers/Advertisers.com Board of Directors

Association Leadership - November/December 2007

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