World-Class Leadership: The ONE Thing the Best Leaders Do

Let’s just cut through all the clutter and get right down to it. Teams that consistently give excellent service have leaders who enthusiastically talk about excellent service everyday. How often? Everyday. There is no way around it. You can have the best training sessions, videos, and recognition programs. You can even fly in the best consultants and throw the most lavish employee parties. Those things are nice, but nothing can ever replace leaders using their mouths to speak about excellence. How often? Everyday.

“But I’m too busy!” “There is so much to do!” “We can’t add, yet, another initiative to our plates!” That’s fine. It just means you’re not ready to create a culture of service excellence. Culture means a way of life. Culture is a perpetual way of doing things that is collectively shared by a group of people. What you do is usually the result of what you say, and what you say is a result of what you believe. So, if you sincerely believe that each customer has unconditional worthiness, then your words must clearly reflect that.

Use every opportunity to drive that point home. Once you know it’s been driven home, then drive it in some more. Words that get repeated eventually soak into your subconscious, and those words get manifested into behavior. So talk about excellence how often? Everyday.

Put yourself on repeat. Talk until you are sick of hearing yourself talk. Then talk some more. Talk until your team is sick of hearing you talk. Then talk some more. Eventually, you will find yourself and your  team treating people extremely well, anticipating needs, and serving with love in your hearts. The last time I checked, treating people well never goes out of style, anticipating needs never goes out of style, and serving with love never goes out of style. So do those things enthusiastically.

In truth, enthusiastically doing anything everyday will guarantee that it will become part of you. So my challenge is to use enthusiasm to trigger your mouth to speak about service excellence everyday. Literally. Everyday. And you and your team will never be the same again.

Strong Leader Addendum

Strong leaders don’t make excuses. Strong leaders don’t allow others to make excuses for them either. They step forward, and do what must be done. If you accept that title as leader, then you have responsibility. Don’t rely on your corporate team to spoon-feed things to you. You are a leader. Leaders feed themselves and their teams. If they need some guidance, they may ask for help, but they NEVER expect great results without putting forth great effort. Be a strong leader. Everyday.