Reading time – 39 seconds; Viewing time – 2:20  .  .  .

My men’s group has been together for over 30 years and we recently took a trip to Whitefish, MT, a picturesque town close to Glacier National Park. We made reservations at a new hotel and it wasn’t until we arrived that we realized just how new it was: We were the first guests to register.

That’s “first” as in: They just unlocked the front door.

Designing, building, supplying and staffing a hotel is an exercise in hundreds of thousands of details that runs all the way from design concept to ensuring that the hotel brand is on the coffee packets in guest rooms. Getting everything right the first time is borderline impossible. And so it was for owners Brian and Fabienne.

Even before opening the aforementioned doors they discovered that the hotel staff had some issues to overcome. The elevators worked intermittently. The kitchen wasn’t ready to serve breakfast. Even the front desk registration software was glitchy. There were lots of opportunities for frustration and frayed nerves.

Yet the staff remained pleasant, cheerful and eager to please. They carried suitcases to guest rooms. The chef used her ingenuity with what she had to work with and also got help from a nearby café and served wonderful breakfasts. The front desk folks soldiered on with a smile and sliced guest inconvenience to nothing. How does all that good stuff and even more happen?

It’s simple: Leadership. It’s being insanely selective in hiring just the right people. It’s encouraging them with a positive attitude and keeping their eyes on the bulls eye by giving them the authority to make things right for guests. There is more, of course.

The message for you and me is that everyone takes their cues from the leader. That is to say, we lead by example always. So, be intentional about it.

Consider the messages you send to your people with your presence, your words and your actions. Perhaps you can step up your game so that they step up theirs and people love doing business with you.

Maybe my men’s group will stay at your shop next.

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