The Ritz Carlton is one of the most luxurious hotel brands in the world and as is known for having amazing customer service. One of the more well-known pieces of this customer service is the $2000 rule. Staff members are allowed to solve any of the guests issues that will cost less than $2000. This isn’t $2000 per stay, it is $2000 per incident.
For instance, if the guest spilt some wine on their shirt, they can just go and take it to be dry cleaned. They don’t need a managers approval, there is no chain of command, they are able to solve the customers problem right there and then.
The CEO of the Ritz Carlton, Simon Cooper, talks about the reason behind the $2000 rule – “The concept is to do something, to create an absolutely wonderful stay for a guest. Significantly, there is no assumption that it’s because there is a problem. It could be that someone finds out it’s a guest’s birthday, and the next thing you know there’s champagne and cake in the room. A lot of the stuff that crosses my desk is not that they overcame a problem but that they used their $2,000 to create an outstanding experience.”
The Ritz Carlton have given away a lot of control from the managers to the staff, what can that teach us about having a high performing team.
Lead by Logic and Policy
The $2000 number isn’t just drawn from a hat, the Ritz Carlton know that the average customer will spend $250000 with them over their life and so they are focusing on the relationship, not the individual transaction.
The $2000 limit is not often hit, and they can spend more with managers approval but it is to show that they trust to the team to do the right thing.
Trust your team, empower them
You hire smart, good people, why don’t you let them be great. If you can’t trust your team then you need to look at your hiring policy or your communication and training.
Have you communicated the values and the goals of the organisation? Do people know how they are expected to act when no one is watching?
Be an Inspiration, not a Dictator
As a leader, you want to act in a way that you want others to act. If you are always using chain of command to enforce behaviour then you are forever going to have to do that.
If you can create a vision of how to behave and consistently demonstrate that behaviour you can inspire your team to act that way when you are not watching.
The ultimately quality of leadership is to be able to walk away and know that the work will be done to a high standard because you have supported and coached your team to act according to your values and for a common goal.
Luke McMeeken-Ruscoe 