An Excerpt from Meaningful Work
Wes Adams and Tamara Myles write that strong employee engagement, happiness, and productivity stem from leaders helping employees find meaning in their work.
In recent years, the workplace has undergone significant changes, marked by the rise of remote work, increasing levels of burnout, and evolving employee values. In this complex environment, a key factor for high-performing teams is their belief that their work is meaningful.
Wes Adams and Tamara Myles, advisers to some of the world’s most successful companies, share stories from these organizations and their leaders to demonstrate how fostering a strong sense of meaning can help employees thrive.
In this excerpt from Meaningful Work, the authors highlight the workplace culture of the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain, showing how empowering employees to create memorable customer experiences promotes a positive environment for staff and guests alike.
◊◊◊◊◊
EMPOWERING EMPLOYEES
Chris Hurn didn’t make it to his family vacation. Instead of joining his wife and kids for a few glorious days at the Ritz-Carlton in Amelia Island, he got stuck in a conference room in California on business. He arrived home just in time to help unpack the car that his wife had driven to the beach. Disappointed to have missed the holiday but grateful to be reunited with his family, he took a deep breath and let the stress of the last few days leave his body. That’s when the screaming started.
“Where’s Joshie? I can’t find Joshie!” wailed Reilly, Chris’s young son. Chris looked at his wife, and they shared a moment of panic. Reilly’s beloved stuffed animal, Joshie, was nowhere to be found. His wife was certain the plush giraffe had been in the hotel room last night. Reilly never went to bed without Joshie by his side. He never went anywhere without Joshie by his side. This was not good. After digging through the car and turning their bags upside down, it was clear that Joshie had been left behind.
Reilly was inconsolable. As any parent can attest, the loss of a beloved stuffed animal can be devastating. When bedtime came, Reilly refused to go down without his giraffe. In an effort to calm him, Chris told him that Joshie must have stayed behind for some extra vacation days. Reilly looked at Chris with wide, teary eyes, but the idea of Joshie enjoying a longer holiday seemed to satisfy him and he eventually fell asleep.
Chris’s little white lie bought him some time, but he knew he had to retrieve Joshie and get him home as soon as possible. Chris called the Ritz-Carlton, praying that Joshie had turned up. Fortunately, the cleaning staff had found Joshie under the bed. He was safe and sound in lost and found. Chris was relieved and let the staff know he was grateful.
During the conversation, he mentioned the story he had told Reilly about Joshie’s “extended vacation” and asked the manager if he could snap a quick picture to back him up. The desk manager said he was happy to help and promised to mail Joshie back right away.
The next day, the errant giraffe arrived. When Chris opened the shipping box, however, he found that Joshie wasn’t the only thing in it. There was also a photo album, along with some other gifts from the Ritz-Carlton. Instead of simply mailing Joshie back, the staff decided to turn Chris’s little white lie into a true story. The photo album contained pictures of Joshie enjoying the best of the Ritz-Carlton’s many amenities on his extended vacation: Joshie getting a massage in the spa. Joshie sitting in a lounge chair at the pool. Joshie driving a golf cart to the beach. Joshie socializing with other stuffed animal friends in the hotel lounge. They even created a Ritz-Carlton ID badge for Joshie and made the giraffe an honorary member of the Loss Prevention Team.
Needless to say, Chris was blown away by the time and care the staff invested in making sure his story was airtight. Reilly was thrilled to finally have Joshie back, and he enjoyed the album, but Chris was the one who appreciated it most. The employees at the Ritz-Carlton didn’t just help Chris out of a jam; they went above and beyond to create an unforgettable experience for him and his family.
The experience was meaningful for Chris, but it was just as meaningful for the employees who made it happen. The idea for the album was entirely their own— thought up and executed without following any guidelines or getting approval from any managers. This team saw an opportunity to put a smile on someone’s face, and they knew that their own initiative was responsible for making someone’s day.
The Ritz-Carlton, part of the Marriott family of hotels, is renowned for its legendary customer service. Given that the Ritz-Carlton has been a leader in the luxury hotel market for more than a century, you might expect them to have developed an encyclopedic set of rules for dealing with customers. Leaders at the Ritz-Carlton, however, have taken a balanced autonomy approach.
Joshie’s vacation is an example of what sets the Ritz-Carlton apart when it comes to empowering individuals to make their own decisions. At another hotel, the staff member who found Joshie would have had to follow a strict policy for tracking and returning lost items. If they wanted to take Joshie out of the lost-and-found locker, let alone make a photo album, they would have had to fill out a form and get a senior manager to sign off on it. Even if the request was approved, spending the money to create an album would have required an expense report and a whole lot of other work outside the manager’s normal job description.
It probably would have taken days before the staff member heard back on it. Knowing all the hoops they would have to jump through, it’s unlikely the staff member would have bothered at all.
Instead of micromanaging employees with rules or a cumbersome approvals process, leaders at the Ritz-Carlton empower them with the autonomy to engage and delight customers in the way they believe is best. They begin by creating alignment around the organization’s values. Then, they give employees the space to find their own way forward. As long as employees stay aligned with the organization’s Gold Standards, such as “creating Ritz-Carlton guests for life,” they are given the freedom to choose the best path.
When staff members join, they are trained extensively on each value and its aligned behaviors during a three-day orientation. To build cultural mastery during onboarding, a practice we explored earlier, leaders give examples of how employees have brought the company’s values to life. In one example, a manager at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, DC, found out that a couple was celebrating their wedding anniversary during their stay. The staff worked with the Ritz-Carlton in Tokyo, where their wedding was held ten years earlier, to get the full details of their special day. The staff surprised the couple with an evening that included photos from their wedding and an exact replica of the bride’s bouquet. They even remade their wedding cake. The couple was delighted, and the staff successfully created Ritz-Carlton guests for life. Sharing these “wow stories” is a regular part of the culture at the Ritz-Carlton. Leaders continue to highlight them each week to reinforce the organization’s values and to emphasize the autonomy that employees have to bring those values to life every day.
