Cover Story - The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong

Generosity in Corporate Culture - Transforming Corporate Culture with the Act of Giving

By Pierre Perusset, General Manager, The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong

At The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong, the act of giving is an integral part of our culture. Every year, we are involved in many Community Footprint activities. In fact, our company, Marriott International, has a strong commitment to social responsibility and “giving back”. The act of giving in every continent, every country and every city where we operate hotels is alive and part of who we are as a people-oriented company. Indeed, many businesses around the world take pride in involving and supporting various charities, they are very active in supporting communities around them.

However, today, I would like to share with you a different act of giving which is less obvious, creates less publicity, but is absolutely critical in running a successful

business. This kind of generosity costs nothing and brings enormous benefits to any organization that deeply engages in such practice. As we all witness often when we patronize hotels, restaurants, shops, banks, taxis and other service providers, there is a lack of generosity provided to guests and customers. The kind of generosity I am referring to costs nothing, it is easy to practice and brings great benefits to both customers and business operators. Let me elaborate on the kind of generosity each service provider should engage in by practising the generous acts of:

SMILING GREETING ASSISTING THANKING

One may be flabbergasted with the notion that the most obvious act of generosity is not giving away a gift or money, but it is a simple and basic human behaviour, which sadly has been partially lost or rarely practised. Every day, I witness employees of service providers being disengaged and unwilling to be generous when facing customers. Smiles are missing, greetings are lacking, and eventually, minimum assistance is provided. THANK-YOU is a

simple and powerful word but is not used enough. If such behaviours are not part of the company culture, there will be little chance for the employees to demonstrate these simple human acts when facing customers.

At The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong, part of our culture includes our Gold Standards, and one of them is called “Three Steps of Service”:

Three Steps of Service

1. A warm and sincere greeting.

2. Use the guest’s name. Anticipation and fulfilment of each guest’s needs.

3. Fond farewell. Give a warm goodbye and use the guest’s name.

Though it is simple and easy to practice, if such behaviour is not clearly written, and energized (daily) in the company culture, such warm behaviours simply won’t be displayed. To measure the benefits of generosity has on any business, all we need to do is to visualize how you would feel when dining at a good restaurant where the service provided was warm, kind, and genuine as illustrated above; versus a cold and disengaged type of service. Surely if the service was generous, one will be more inclined to return versus a restaurant with cold service where one

will probably never visit again. Generosity is one of the pillars in life and lacking in generosity will not bring real success to any business. Instead, it will jeopardize the happiness of both the giver and the receiver. Therefore, I strongly encourage leaders to take an objective look at their company culture. If such a simple act of giving is not clearly written and therefore not widely practised, perhaps it is time to review the company’s direction.

As we live in such a fast-paced world, let’s remember that a little generosity (smiling, greeting, assisting and thanking) to others will completely transform your day and enhance your life.

Thank you to all of you.