Empowering the Front Line

The café I owned and operated for 7 years was dubbed "The Village Square" of First Canadian Place (Canada's largest office tower),  due to enrolling the fine folks that worked on my team to the joys available to them for delivering outstanding service. My explicit service strategy needed to be expressed, expectations made clear, and nutured - through demonstrating the kind of behaviour I expected while training staff on how to deliver it to each guest of the café  in a way that would place a smile on both faces.

Recently, while flying Porter Airlines to and from Ottawa, I became freshly delighted with the Porter experience The initial motivators to choose Porter included the Island airport convenience (the island airport is much closer to home) the schedules and price competitiveness. But the "wow" elements of the experience with Porter quickly overshadowed the rest.

From the moment I caught the Porter shuttle, I was acknowledged and attended to by people who showcase the Porter brand. Ground staff were helpful, pleasant and friendly, and attentive to the possibility that I may or may not be familiar with my way around YTZ. I was greeted on board by attentive and professional cabin staff who demonstrated a high level of energy and grooming that made them brand ambassadors. It was a very light load on the way to Ottawa, but the crew ensured there was a presence in the cabin at all times.

On the way home, the passenger service agent in Ottawa went out of his way to be helpful, patient and understanding.

My husband and I had separate business in Ottawa but were booked on the same return flight home--he was delayed in traffic and arrived with only minutes to spare before flight departure. The young man who was working the desk whisked us through security personally, facilitating our ability to board the flight we were booked on just before the doors closed. Without his assistance we would have missed it. It was a 'problem' we completely owned and the agent would not have been 'wrong' for not taking it on.

Porter's service was consistent on the way home; the crew were consistently polite and service-focused with every customer on a relatively full flight. The announcements were concise and communicative, including keeping the passengers 'posted' while we waited for an hour after landing during a red alert - this, like any other delay, could foster disgruntlement amongst passengers -

By creating one's own reality, one's empowered to foster the reality of one's customers - positively or negatively.  As the service industry faces increased competition for market share, I wonder why the benefits of having a keen and service-focused front line staff are seemingly inimportant to so many organisations.

Service strategy needs to be explicit, consistent, and modeled from the top down.  I am excited about adding value to an organisation that places emphasis and value on the customer's experience, and seeing vision and mission statements become a thriving reality.