The Contented Cow Blog

Building Workplaces That Work

Working our way through Europe, we spent a couple of terrific days in the beautiful city of Luzern, Switzerland. My mom, who’s with us for the trip, has harbored a desire since childhood to visit Switzerland. Although my Scottish wife had been there before, none of the rest of had, and I, along with the rest, found it totally enchanting. The snowfall, just enough to be pretty, but not so much to be a pain, was the icing on the cake (pun completely intended.)

We stayed in the 3-star Hotel De La Paix, in the heart of the city. We were checked in by a friendly (but not overly so) woman of about 40, named Natalie. She spoke better English than many Americans I know, and couldn’t have been more helpful.

I awoke early the next morning, as I often do on vacation, and went down to the closet-sized lobby to soak up some of the free wireless internet signal to get some work done. Yes, I know this is supposed to be vacation, but in our business, neither Bill nor I can be 100% untethered for very long. That’s OK - let me get an hour’s work done, with a good internet signal, and I’m good for the rest of the day.

When the breakfast room opened at 7, my family was still upstairs groggy in our tiny room, but my coffee addiction was speaking to me in clear tones. Natalie, who had been on duty when we had checked in at 2 the day before, was once again, at her post at 7am. I asked if it might be possible for me to go into the breakfast room and bring a cup of coffee to the lobby to drink while I was working on my laptop.

“I’ll go and get it for you,” she offered.

I would never have dreamed of asking her to stop what she was doing, leave the reception desk, and go to the restaurant to get me some coffee. But she insisted. Two minutes later, she returned with a hot cup of coffee, in stylish china, with 2 packets each of sugar, and artificial sweetener, a small pitcher of milk, and a chocolate biscuit on the side.

Expectations exceeded.

The next morning, I repeated my part of the ritual. Natalie was behind the desk, attending to some kind of recordkeeping. “Guten morgen,” she said, knowing that her English was far better than my German, but somehow sensing that she should humor me. At about a quarter to seven (15 minutes before breakfast officially started), she disappeared from behind the counter, and again, 2 minutes later, returned, unbidden, with a duplicate of the previous morning’s coffee and biscuits.

I didn’t have a chance to spend much time talking with Natalie. If I had, I would like to have asked her what it is that causes her, on a routine basis (as I observed she did with other guests as well) to do more than is expected.

I suspect that somewhere, at the Hotel De La Paix, is an owner, proprietor, or manager, who lets Natalie know, on a routine basis, that what she does, and how she does it, matters. And tells her, with words as clear as I hope my words were to her, that they notice, and appreciate her going the extra mile, er, kilometer.

Richard Hadden is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and his co-author and business partner Bill Catlette, are the authors of the new book Contented Cows MOOve Faster, as well as the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

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