Gators vs Eagles (not a sports reference)

Gators are almost synonymous with Florida.  The fact that a college mascot is named after them and that they have their own theme park should be a clue.  So, it’s probably no surprise that someone living here could get a little complacent, even nonchalant about the cold-blooded reptiles.  I realized this was me a few weeks ago.

When I visited Minnesota in April, I was talking to a friend about when Linda and I went to Alaska hoping to see bald eagles.  Eagles are much more common in Minnesota than Florida, and we joked that seeing eagles wouldn’t have been such a big deal for Minnesotans.  Then my friend said, “but you have alligators!”

In my mind I’m thinking, “so? Gators are everywhere”.  But then it dawned on me, “not if you live in Minnesota”.  So lesson learned – I want to see eagles, others may want to see gators.

Why is this a blog post? Because it made me think of how we can sometimes be so focused on what others CAN do, and by comparison, what we CAN’T do, that it really limits us – and we are doing it to ourselves!

In this industry, comparisons are commonly made to the “big boys” in terms of what they can deliver.  But how many of us think about what the “big boys” can learn from a smaller operation?  Maybe not terms of the hardware, but certainly in terms of the heart.

Being a student of the service industry, I am constantly watching for companies that “do it right”.  And recently, I have been more impressed with many of the smaller, even ‘mom & pop’ operations than I have been with some of the “big boys”.  I think it comes down to the environment that is created for the employees… try as they might, it seems inevitable that somewhere along the way, some (certainly not all) employees at larger companies start to feel like a number, and it’s a downward spiral from there.  There could be a thousand reasons for this, but I think one of the main causes is when employees don’t feel connected to what the company does, nor do they see how their behaviors impact the companies results.

On the other side of the coin, smaller operators could be better at communicating with their employees about just how important they are to the operation.  This could be through direction communication or just the fact that in small companies, people wear many hats and therefore, ARE very important.  Sometimes it’s easier to see your value that way.

Here are a few other thoughts to help communicate value:

• Listen – Nothing says “you are valued” than really listening to someone.  Put down the phone and remove all distractions, and just listen.
• Tie their behaviors to company values – Every company has a set of values or guiding principles, yet how many people on the front line really know how they impact those values.  Make it part of your coaching and feedback.
• Acknowledge ideas and achievement – Few things feel better than when someone you respect gives you credit for an idea or accomplishment to others in their peer group.  “It was Ryan’s idea to change the queue, and it’s working out great!”

So, next time you (or someone you know) get’s hung up on what you can’t do based on budget or whatever, remember these points about communicating value – they don’t cost a dime.

Thanks for reading!

About the author: Matt Heller can solve a Rubik’s cube in 37 seconds, provided that you don’t mind the colors being mixed up.

Lessons from Colombia (and even before!)

As some of you know, I recently had the very good fortune of traveling to Medellin, Colombia to do a presentation for the Colombian Association of Amusement Parks.  It probably goes without saying that I learned a thing or two while there… like about how gracious and polite the people are, how beautiful the country is, and what a lifesaver Google Translate is. All of these are true, but that’s not what I want to talk about here.  Instead, I would like to share something that I learned while I was getting ready for my trip. (For a few pictures from the trip, click here).

Medellin, Colombia

My presentation was titled “Beyond the Smile, Building a Winning Customer Service Culture.”  For reference, I did some research on Zappos.com, as they have built a reputation for great customer service, and it all starts with their culture.  I wanted to see if there were things that they were doing that we could adopt in the theme park business – and there were.  I started with the Zappos Family Core Values, which are listed below.

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

Here’s what I found to be tremendously interesting about these values, especially when they are lined up against some of the things we typically associate with customer service.  I would say that 7, maybe 8 of the values fall under one heading – teamwork.  Maybe some have more of an indirect impact on teamwork, but even that is important.

I found this fascinating because I think sometimes the relationship we have with others is often overlooked in the pursuit of customer service.  Sure we think about how the employee relates to the guest, but how about how the employees relate to each other? But of course it makes sense… everything, and I do mean everything, works better when people openly communicate, respect each other, feel like they can be themselves, and have the confidence that they can tackle any hurdle that is put in front of them. Together.

Once I realized this, I made sure this was a key point in my presentation.  I often say that there is no magic pill, no secret sauce, no “one thing” that will improve customer service or your ability to lead others. This may be as close as we get.

Focus on better teamwork, and other successes (including better customer service) will follow.

Thanks for reading!

Sobre el autor: Matt Heller escribió esto en el Traductor de Google para ver si se trataría de traducir de nuevo. ¿Lo hiciste?

How strong is your brand?

Last week I had the good fortune of traveling to Minnesota to visit my old stomping grounds, Valleyfair.  It was wonderful to see all the fantastic people I used to work with, as well as all of the positive changes and additions that have taken place throughout the park.

One morning in the hotel, I overheard a question that really got me thinking about brand loyalty.

A guest walked up to the front desk and asked the employee where the closest Caribou Coffee was.  Ironically, not 15 feet from where he was standing was an assortment of FREE coffee.  He didn’t have to leave the hotel or pay a dime for it.  Yet he was willing to do both.

Before I determined that this was really about a particular cup o’ joe, I thought about other reasons why he would choose to leave the hotel.  One possibility was that he was meeting someone… but then he would have asked for a particular address, not just the closest one.

So it seems he was choosing to go out and buy a certain product when a free alternative was already well within reach.  Hmmm….

What was driving that decision?  If it’s truly about the coffee, then it has to be some fierce product/brand loyalty (or he had tried the coffee at the hotel and it was really that bad).  Is YOUR company brand strong enough to get people to choose you over the other (and possibly cheaper) alternatives?

Every business has competition.  In the attractions business, we often discuss that even if there isn’t another similar business in the area, we still compete with any place that potential guests can choose to spend their leisure money and time.  And often, that decision comes down to trust.

Can they trust that you will deliver what you promised in your advertising?  If they have visited you before, they have personal experience to help (or hinder) that decision.  If they haven’t, they are relying on your ads, recommendations from friends and online postings from other visitors.  If they do choose to visit you, then it’s time to make sure you are living up to your promise… so they’ll choose you again.

No one likes to be promised something only to have that promise broken.  Our friend who was seeking the nearest Caribou location had built up a trust with that company and their products enough to know that it was worth the trek (and the price).  They delivered on their promise in his mind, and he was paying them back with his loyal patronage.

What are you promising to your guests, and are you delivering?

Thanks for reading!

About the author: Matt Heller is not a coffee drinker, but he plays one on TV.

Believe it or not, most people DO want to be lead

Leadership ain’t easy.  That’s not a revelation to anyone who has been in a leadership role for more than 30 minutes.  What might be interesting to hear is that contrary to what we might have seen in our leadership tenure, most people are okay being lead by others.  In fact, they may even crave it.

This became evident on a recent trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa.  While walking through the park, there was a time when my friend Darren was walking a few paces in front of the pack.  I figured he knew where he was going and had assumed the leadership role to blaze the trail to get us there.  At that point, I stopped worrying about exactly where we were going, and just trusted that if I followed Darren, I would get there.

Then someone else in our group asked Darren if knew where he was going.  “Not really, just walking” was the response.

Until that moment, I was totally confident that I was safe and would end up where I was supposed to go.  Now I wasn’t so sure.  (Although walking through a theme park isn’t a super-dangerous undertaking… setting a new course toward a nearby roller coaster was a snappy process.)

My point is this: when I thought Darren knew where he was going (whether HE knew it or not), I was perfectly content to let him lead.  So…

Let’s think about your employees.  Do they WANT to be lead?  I think the answer is yes, but they have to be confident that you have their best interest at heart.  They have to know that they can TRUST you.

If you answered no, they don’t want to be lead, then there could be some trust issues at play. Think about those you follow without question and those you resist.  What’s the difference?  For the people you resist, have they let you down in the past?  Are you not really sure about their motives?  Is there some lingering feeling that they just aren’t being 100% honest?

Here’s the interesting part.  I followed Darren when I THOUGHT he knew where he was going – it was my perception.  Whether your employees perceive you to be trustworthy or not, that’s their perception.  Which also happens to be their reality.

Their reality will drive their willingness to follow you.  To make sure they think you are trustworthy:

• Speak to people respectfully – Understand how your tone communicates even more than your words at times, and that your emotions influence your tone.  It may sound simple, but a good rule of thumb is to speak to people the way you would like to be spoken to.
• Do what you say you are going to do – It’s one thing to not do something, it’s even worse to SAY you’ll do it, and then you don’t.  People remember that kind of stuff for a long, long time. (And they don’t like it).
• Admit when you are wrong or you don’t know something – Nothing communicates “don’t trust me” faster than not being able to own up to a mistake or lack of knowledge.  People don’t expect you to be perfect, they expect you to be human, and humans make mistakes. They just want you to be honest about it.

Thanks for reading!

About the author: Matt Heller has spent the last 24 years blurring the lines between work and play.  His extensive knowledge of amusement parks and roller coasters is impressive to some, slightly scary to others.

Is all fear bad?

Recently I heard Tony Robbins talking about fear… about eliminating fear to achieve a breakthrough that would change your life.  This hit home with me as a few years ago I realized that so much of what we do (or don’t do) as human beings is based on fear.

What also occurred to me is that there are really two types of fears: fears that motivate you and fears that hold you back.

Under the right circumstances, fear is a useful emotion.  It’s instinctual, and it’s entire purpose is to keep us out of harms way.  If we were not afraid of a lion in the jungle, we’d get eaten.  Fear drives us to survive… in some cases.

As we’ve also stated, fear can hold us back.  It’s still protecting us from harm, but is the harm REALLY that bad?  Are we in danger of losing a limb (or our life) or being embarrassed?  Some would say that being embarrassed is much worse, probably because they have never had their arm ripped from its socket by a hungry 500lb kitty cat.

Fear the motivates could be called a “healthy” fear.  If you have a fear of failure that drives you to work hard and be the best you can be, that’s a healthy outcome of the fear.  If that fear causes you to never try anything because you can’t stand making a mistake, then it’s not so healthy.

The worst fear of all is the fear of the unknown, and we play into that fear A LOT.  This happens when we don’t rationally know what an outcome might be, so our mind fills in the blanks for us.  And guess what?  We’re really good at making things MUCH worse than they really are to justify an action (or inaction).

So here is where you get to think about yourself… what are your healthy and unhealthy fears?  What motives you to move forward and what holds you back?  Once you figure out what’s holding you back, ask yourself a few questions.

• What’s the worst that could happen?  If death or dismemberment is off the table, you should be able to handle it.  Taming the fear of the unknown is all about perspective.  Once you see that you aren’t going to die as a result, the rest of the consequences don’t seem so bad.
• What would you do if you weren’t afraid?  You probably already know what SHOULD be done, but your fear is driving you to choose not to do it.  This allows you to remove your self-imposed rationale.
• (As a follow-up to the above question) Why aren’t you doing it?  If you know what to do, why aren’t you doing it?

Answering these three questions tells you some very important things: The outcome won’t be so bad, you already know what to do, and there really isn’t anyone standing in the way except you.

Once you realize that YOU are the only one standing your way, guess who can fix this problem… Yep.  You.

About the author: Matt Heller admits to having a healthy fear of large wild animals that he can’t out run (which is most of them).

One foot out the door

If you know me or have read my blog for any period of time, you know that I am a glass half-full kind of person. Recently, I’ve also been pondering about another way that we sometimes view our employees- are they one foot in, or one foot out?

It was an episode of Tabatha Takes Over that brought this out. (If you have never seen the show because you don’t have an interest in the ups and downs of the hair salon world, I understand.) However, Tabatha usually has some pretty good “tough love” lessons for ineffective managers. Worth checking out!)

Back to our story…. In this episode, an employee admitted that she was on the verge of quitting the salon because of how he was treated by her manager.  She said she already had “one foot out the door” and that it was only a matter of time before she left. (For an example of how her manager, Brian, treated her, click here). That got me thinking about how we view our employees, and how that might impact how we treat them.

If we think they are on their way out anyway, will we provide the guidance, feedback, care and compassion that we would if we felt someone was going to be with us for the long haul?

In my experience, the answer is no. Worse, is that we could likely treat them in a way that pushes them out the door faster – which is exactly what the ineffective manager did on this episode.

The big question for us is: in our environment of short employment seasons and high turnover, how many of us feel like many of our employees have one foot out the door?  And if we feel that way, are we treating them in a way that would push them out faster – even without knowing it?

Here are a few thoughts that might help us get out this pattern:

• Don’t assume they are unhappy – employees sometimes have trouble expressing what they are truly upset about to their bosses (especially if it’s their boss that they are upset about!). If they are complaining (just like a guest) they are looking for you to fix something so they can feel good about working for you.
• Don’t assume they are happy - employees can sometimes have a hard time expressing gratitude to their bosses. Take the time to talk to your employees individually to find out what’s really going on.
• Just don’t assume!  Refrain from assuming someone is already one foot out the door. The real problem with assumptions is not that they are usually wrong, it’s that when we believe them they typically lead to the wrong behavior.

About the author: Matt Heller has never met a bag, box or bowl of Peanut M&M’s that he didn’t like.

What are you going to do about it?

We’ve all either seen or been a part of an altercation where this challenge is thrown down:

“Oh yeah?  What are you going to do about it?”

Siblings are famous for this (especially in the back seat of the family truckster on a long trip). You hear it on the playground when one kid tells another to stop picking on them. And your employees think it when you tell them they shouldn’t be doing something.

It’s natural for us to wonder about the consequences of an action we haven’t taken, but were told we shouldn’t.  Sometimes it’s about curiosity, other times it’s about testing the boundaries.  Either way, you need an answer.

So, what are you going to do about it?

If the answer is nothing, then it’s going to be very difficult to build trust and structure among your teams.

Now, I don’t know many leaders who have a policy to ignore bad behavior, but in practice that happens all the time. We shy away from coaching or providing feedback for one reason or another, and the employee starts to see that nothing will really happen if they don’t meet your standards. Once the consequence of not performing is gone, so is the motivation TO perform.

There is a popular story in Hollywood about film director Orsen Welles. On the first day of filming, he would always fire someone, just to show everyone else that there are real consequences to not performing, and those consequences will be carried out.

Now while I don’t condone firing someone just to prove a point, I do endorse enforcing the standards and rules you have in place and if that leads to disciplinary action or termination, so be it.

At the core of all of this is the human’s desire for structure. Some require more than others, but everyone needs at least a little. Your employees have to know that the rules you outlined in training and that appear in the company handbook mean something. That if they don’t follow the rules, there is an undesirable outcome. And, that if another employee does the same, the undesirable outcome will happen to them, too.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Be clear – Clear rules are easier to enforce than arbitrary ones.  Be clear YOURSELF on what the rule is and why it’s there, and it will be easier to enforce with others.
• Be consistent – If there is one thing that people pick up on quickly, it’s inconsistency.  Consistency builds pattern and structure that people can count on and trust.  They can then, by the way, trust you.
• Be conscience – Being aware of WHY or WHEN you might shy away from coaching is as important as actually doing it.  Is it a particular person or maybe a certain situation?  Figure that out and work backwards to find out why you are doing it.

Without structure, people start to lose direction and focus. That’s chaos, and not a fun place to be.

What do you think?

About the author: Matt Heller wrote this post (it is his blog, after all).  He is a firm believer in the concept of less is more, although he is quick to point out that sometimes less is less, and occasionally, less just isn’t as much.

When poor communication happens to good employees

I am sure I am not alone in the realization that most of our management and leadership woes can be traced back to poor communication. The worst part is when a leaders’ poor (or lack of) communication has a negative impact on the front line employees (which is probably a lot!).

Jay Salazar is one of the maintenance guys at a place my wife rents to hold meetings. He’s consistently pleasant, easy going, and responsive to any requests we might have. He checks on us and remembers what we need from our last visit. We know that when Jay is there, things will be taken care of.

Except last week.

As she always does, my wife called the day before to ensure everything was ready to go. The person she normally talks to, Barbara, was not there, and she actually spoke to Barbara’s boss, Julie. Julie assured us she would pass the note to Barbara and we’d be all set.

That didn’t happen.

Julie didn’t pass the note to Barbara, who in turn did not pass the information to Jay.  Barbara was completely surprised when we walked in the door the next day. When we got to the room, Jay was there, however he was in the middle of replacing all of the light bulbs. He had no idea we were coming, either. Of course he was gracious and apologetic and helped us turn the room around in record time. Jay is a rock star.

Unfortunately, the all-to-often response in these situations is to take our frustration out on the person who is right in front of us… Maybe that’s why they are called the front line (of defense!)?

But that’s not right. Neither Jay nor Barbara had fault in this situation. The problem goes higher than that. In fact, there were multiple “dropped balls” concerning communication, and not passing along the note to Barbara was just the tip of the iceberg.

Turns out, the schedule that my wife set up of dates for the entire year had not been communicated to the staff. Not to Barbara and not to Jay. In addition, the room set-up diagram was out of date. (Jay was only getting right each month because he knew what it was supposed to be from working with us so often.). If we trace each of these missteps to their origin, we end up in the same place.

Julie. The boss.

When confronted, Julie placed the blame anywhere and everywhere except for her. It was kind of insulting.

If we didn’t know the back story, we would have simply shown up that day, assuming that Barbara and Jay were dummies who didn’t deserve to be employed, and we would weep in the face of poor customer service.  That’s not fair to Jay and Barbara.

Your job as a leader is to set people up for success, and in this case (and I’m guessing many) the lack of success was a direct result of simply not giving the employees the information they need to do their jobs correctly. Passing one note to one person would have saved at least 5 people a whole lot of undue stress, plus would have negated the topic for this post.

Here are few lessons I think we can take from this to avoid similar situations of our own.

• Pass along information – Often you are the conduit to bring information to your employees.  Don’t clog the pipes!  Give people the information they need so they can be successful.
• Know who needs to know – Nothing worse that being caught off guard or out of the loop. Think about everyone who might be impacted by the information you have… then tell them!
• Take responsibility – We all mess up. The unfortunate reality is that Julie will not see that this is her fault, and will likely keep spreading the blame (and poor communication) among her staff.  Only when you realize that you are part of the problem can you become part of the solution.

Thanks for reading!

About the author: Matt Heller lives in Orlando, FL with his wife, Linda.  When not helping leaders lead, Matt enjoys Geocaching, playing drums and reading Carl Hiaasen novels.

You’ll never know what you missed

When I was going to school at Full Sail, there was one particular guest speaker that I was really looking forward to: Bob Ludwig.

Bob is a mastering engineer, which is a big deal in the music business and Bob is one of the biggest guys. Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master); the source from which all copies will be produced.  Chances are that if you have listened to popular music in the last 30 years, you have heard Bob’s work (even if you didn’t know it).

One of the reasons I was so looking forward to hearing him speak is that he had done extensive work with Rush, one of my favorite bands.

As it happened, Bob’s presentation was at the end of a long day of lectures in a darkened theater. He had a lot of great information and stories, but there were a few times I felt the day and the dark catching up with me, and noticed my eyelids getting heavy. And then it happened.

Just as I opened my eyes and stretched in my seat, I heard Bob say this: “And that’s what we did on Rush’s Moving Pictures album”.

What?  Seriously? I missed the one thing I really wanted to hear him talk about. He wasn’t on DVR and there was no rewind button. The moment was gone.

How many of these moments happen to us each day, not because we sleep through them, but because we are too busy racing from thing to thing to stop and notice that they are happening?

I’m going to guess that “all too often” is the answer, but would we really know if we missed them?  Hmmm…

Most of us only see a fraction of what our employees do everyday.  Sometimes we may see them do something great and think, “I’ve got to remember to tell them later how cool that was”.  Unfortunately, later often turns into never.

And that’s the problem… we’ve missed a golden opportunity to let our employees know how valuable they are.  It doesn’t have to be a big gesture, but it does need to be sincere.  Even a glance and a smile to a busy employee communicates volumes.

Since you will never know what you missed, it’s a good idea to address the things you DO see.  Your employees will thank you.

Thanks for reading!

About the author: Matt Heller is famous for his ice cube recipes and ability to relate any situation to a Seinfeld episode.  His favorite color is cobalt blue.

Know what you do well

The very first time I presented at the IAAPA Attractions Expo was in 2006. I flew to Atlanta for the opportunity, and will never forget how it went.

It stunk. At least in my mind.

I remember talking really fast and having no life in my presentation at all. I tried to be funny, but it jut wasn’t working. I realized (too late, I am afraid) what my problem was.

I was trapped on the podium behind a long table and a lectern. I was trapped by my nervousness as much as my short microphone cable. I was separated and cut off from the most important people in the room. The audience.

I didn’t realize how much I really fed off of their energy and emotion until that presentation. The next year I decided to get off the podium and work the crowd from a closer proximity. I was much more comfortable, and I could tell that the audience was having a better time, too.

The lesson?  My presentations generally go much better when I can interact with the crowd.  Since realizing this, I have never let myself get trapped on the podium again.

Recently, I had another, similar lesson.  It seems as though just about every independent speaker or trainer out there has some sort of video, either of them presenting or talking directly to the camera. Since I am working on building a business of my own, I figured I should have one, too.  So, I’ve spent a good amount of time talking to my computer, setting up a decent shot, thinking of what to say, and trudging through footage of a recent class I taught.

I was über unsuccessful. I wasn’t getting my point across and even I got tired of watching after a few seconds. I just couldn’t see how anyone was going to be compelled enough to keep watching and hear my message.  (The video I shared last week is in direct response to my lack of success in this other medium).

Then it hit me. This is not what I do. It’s like being stuck on that podium at IAAPA. I realized my strength was in the live performance, so I should concentrate on that. Luckily, I’ve also had good response to my writing, so that’s worth pursuing as well.

I found this to be extremely motivating, because my efforts to do the same thing that everyone else was doing was not going well. I’ve never been one to blindly follow the pack, and maybe this was my wake-up call that I was trying to do just that.

If you have ever felt the same way, here are some questions for you to consider.

• What are you good at?
• Do you currently get to use your greatest talents in your job/career?
• What do you do that may seem effortless to you, but is a struggle for others?
• Have other people said, “You know, you would be great at X”… but X is something you’ve never considered?
• Are you trying (and not being successful) at something right now that isn’t really “you”?

As you move through your career, these are good questions to keep in mind.  Over the years, the answers can change, and that’s okay.  In fact, trying new things and working at additional skills is how we grow and get better at what we do.  I am certainly not saying we shouldn’t try new stuff.

I am suggesting that while we are trying new stuff (and maybe struggling with it), don’t forget about what it is that you do well.  For me, I’ll keep writing and performing live until I can master talking to my computer.

Thanks for reading.