Saturday, July 13, 2019

Magical Teamwork

Steve Wynn, the founder of Wynn Resort & Casino, shared a story of his family’s vacation in Paris. They were staying at Four Seasons and had ordered breakfast in bed. His daughter only ate a half of a croissant, leaving the other half for later. Wynn and his family left to explore Paris, and upon returning to the hotel room, the pastry was gone. His daughter was disappointed, assuming the housekeeping had got rid of it.

On the telephone, there was a message from the front desk. They said that housekeeping had removed the half croissant from the room, assuming that upon arrival, they would prefer a fresh pastry. So the front desk contacted the kitchen to set aside a croissant, and room service was informed that upon request, they would need to deliver the pastry.

The level of teamwork and communication between different departments in the hotel was simply magical. All participants understood the end result – customer satisfaction. And everyone accepted their role in making the experience fantastic.

It shows that in order to achieve satisfaction on different levels within the organisation, employees should be empowered to be creative, intuitive, thorough, and generous.

Friday, July 12, 2019

Dare to be Different

A carpenter and his apprentices were travelling through the province of Qi in search of building materials. They saw a giant tree; five men all holding hands could not encompass its girth, and its crown reached almost to the clouds.

'Let's not waste our time with this tree,' said the master carpenter. 'It would take us for ever to cut it down. If we wanted to make a ship out of that heavy trunk, the ship would sink. If we tried to use it to build a roof, the walls would have to be specially reinforced.'

The group continued on its way. One of the apprentices remarked:

'Such a big tree and no use to anyone!'

'That's where you're wrong,' said the master carpenter. 'The tree was true to its own destiny. If it had been like all the others, we would have cut it down. But because it had the courage to be different, it will remain alive and strong for a long time yet.'