It’s 3:02am, and I’m on the redeye from Alaska back to Massachusetts, via Atlanta, of course. Sitting next to me is a partner of a CPA firm in Miami who’s flying back from the Kenai Peninsula. He just spent 30 days there with a construction team working to build his dream vacation cabin on the water.
For the last two years, that dream has been a nightmare. The service prov
ider he hired two years ago to build the house started it, and then poof he was gone…vanishing into the great Alaskan bush. A few years, a few lawyers, and a lot of heartache later, he flew his own team to Alaska from Florida to finish the cabin. Now, he’s got a great cabin to go along with the lingering bad taste of bad service.
Meanwhile, I spent a week at the Bear Bay Lodge fishing for Alaskan salmon, trout, char, and grayling. On the ride to the airport before the long journey home, Josh, the Camp Manager, spent quite a bit of time talking about how he strives to deliver the Disneyland Experience (minus the clean shaven look…this is fishing in Alaska after all) through each member of the staff to all the guests at the lodge. Since I was a recipient of that service, I knew quite well he meant it, too.
When we got to the Dillingham airport, the woman at the ticket counter was having quite a bit of trouble with the computer (Don’t they all?). Most of the lovely patrons in line seemed annoyed by their extra wait even though, once they were done waiting in line, there was no waiting area to speak of, no coffee shop…no nothin'. No one was harsh, but they were semi-snide, semi-irked, and semi-quiet about it. She could hear what they said.
Josh, on the other hand, had a different reaction to the situation. After the frustrated ticket agent finally got some love from the computer, and we were done checking in, he told her that she was doing a great job.
If I worked in Dillingham, AK, I’d work for Josh—but I don’t. So instead, I’ll just recommend other folks to visit him. It seems you can get good service in Alaska as well as good fish.
Joshes inspire loyal teams. Loyal teams deliver great service. Great service gets referrals from happy clients.
Are your leaders Joshes? Do they make your team understand what it means to deliver the Disneyland Experience? And then, do they lead by example by making a positive comment when it might have been unexpected?