Friday, September 26, 2008

SPEECH DELIVERED ON QUALITY CONSIDERATION

1995 Hawaii Regional Conference on Quality
Presented by Frederick Conte, RRP


OPENING

Aloha and good afternoon. I am very pleased to have this opportunity to address this esteemed group of business, community and international leaders who share a common interest:

Achieving world class quality by creating a road map to success through quality initiatives such as; benchmarking, process improvement, continuous training and development, leadership innovation and partnering with your constituents.

Today’s organizational leaders are faced with the dilemma of choosing between the status quo “reactive Leadership” to daily mishaps or a new paradigm of “Progressive Leadership”, Liberating people to do what is required of them in the most effective, efficient and humane way possible.

Progressive Leadership is prerequisite to achieving world class quality. What is Progressive Leadership? It’s:

Understanding the 5 C’s – Who are your constituents and how do you serve them?
Creating a strategic momentum and a legacy… clearly thinking through your business assumptions, establishing and acting on the long range plans, and measuring your organization’s performance.
Having ideas…. An arsenal of ideas, and translating these ideas into a successful reality and,
Accepting diversity and enabling oneself to connect the multitude of contributions that people bring to the work place.

BODY

These are the guiding leadership principles and practices of Conrad Hilton, in his book, “BE OUR GUEST”, he wrote of the never ending quality efforts and the strategic leadership challenges that he faced in order to make Hilton Hotels what it is today.. a successful international hotel and gaming company.

PROGRESSIVE LEADERSHIP

Constituent-Base

Quality is a never ending effort with no compromise. It is a part of everything we do. From developing products, performing daily job functions, partnering the community, improving the physical plant to the delivery of services. A quality-focus must be at the very cornerstone of every endeavor in order to exceed the expectations of the constituencies we serve. In defining who our constituents are within our industry, we categorize the constituent-base into five partners:

CUSTOMERS, EXTERNAL – Whose expectations we strive to exceed, analyze and evaluate the competition’s core strong points against our own.
Customers, Internal – who create that positive guest experience. Involvement of all team members, instilling the entrepreneurial spirit with a sense of vigor, pride and shared risk and cooperation.
Corporate shareholders/owners – for whom we create profits and enhanced property and share values. Today’s profit is an essential contributor for tomorrow’s growth and success.
Community – be sensitive to the needs of the community in which we operate, be the center of activities and source of civic pride.
Community, the media – help generate the perception of the brand, be positive, publicity is more credible than paid advertising.

With this clear understanding, we are able to formulate a strategic course for ourselves, “Globalization” and a common quality focus throughout each property.

Create a strategic momentum and legacy to carry your business into the 21st century. For our industry, this translates into “Globalization”.

Global travel and tourism becomes a more powerful force every day, a 3.5 trillion dollar industry, and in order to create leadership momentum one must understand each brand or company’s culture – “It’s sense of Place” and the culture of its people – “The Work Force”.

Our program, here in Hawaii, continues to foster Hawaiian culture awareness not only among our internal customers but with our external customers, the community, corporate shareholders and owners and communication—the media. The five C’s, once again!

Consider the development of a profit enhancement program in which internal customer ideas are implemented to improve productivity, work practices, financial gains and provide for opportunity growth, continue to build a strategic course and legacy of quality, introduce the beginnings of a total quality management process.

Having ideas, an arsenal of ideas:

As leaders, we must encourage, promote and accept ideas from our constituents, have a clear vision and an open mind to gain the competitive edge in the international market place. The more we are able to step out of our boxes and understand the strengths and challenges facing us, the better we can define our quality processes and realize our full potential. We must fuel the propensity to crate a “seamless customer experience” and constantly strive to improve the customer’s encounter from the moment of the first impression, making a reservation or the purchase a retail product to the moment of their last impression, the departure from our properties or the use of the retail product.

Countless ideas must be carefully woven into the intricate mosaic that offers the most to our potential, current and returning customer. Setting quality performance standards sensitive to the structure, without becoming too ridged, must be employed to ensure consistency. Zero defects – no rework and financial gain – doing it right the first time, every time.

We must continually ask what is the price of non-conformance? The margin of error must be securely minimized in order to gain the competitive advantage for all of us in the timeshare industry, this mean achieving our mission and globalization. This can only be accomplished by the generation and implementation of ideas accompanied with the right internal framework and discipline.

Accepting Diversity

It was expressed by a famous author and professor, that without people working together, you have no organization with shared goals, values or a common mission.

Learning to accept and abandoning oneself to the strengths of others will only help to shift paradigms but will allow oneself to capitalize on endless windows of opportunity.

Max Depress, Chief Executive officer of Herman Miller, wrote, “THERE ARE THREE ELEMENTS IN THE ART OF WORKING TOGETHER AND ACCEPTING DIVERSITY:
How to deal with Change
How to deal with conflict, and
How to reach our full potential”



WE MUST BE COMMITTED TO FULLY DEVELOPING THE SK LL OF OUR PEOPLE WHETHER IT BE HOW ONE PERFORMS A JOB TASK, HOW ONE PRESENTS HIM/HERSELF, HOW ONE FORMULATES GOALS AND REALIZES RESULTS, TO HOW ONE COMMUNICATES SUCCINCTLY.

WORKING SMART AND WORKING TOGETHER WILL AID THE ENTIRE TEAM IN ACHIEVING GOALS AND GAINING THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN A FIERCE AND CHANGING INTERNATIONAL MARKETPLACE.

Call to Action

BEING AN INTERNATIONAL DESTINATION, HAWAII, TOURISM DRIVES OUR ECONOMIC AFFAIRS. OUR ABILITY TO RESPOND TO THE CHANGING NEEDS OF WORLD-WIDE TRAVELLERS AND EXCEED THEIR EXPECTATIONS OF OUR "ALOHA” PARADISE GREATLY AFFECTS THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY. THUS, IGNITING THE SNOWBALL EFFECT WE HAVE ALL EXPERIENCED AT LEAST ONCE IN OUR BUSINESS ENDEAVORS. FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN AN AIRLINE'S BOOKING PACE IS DOWN INEVITABLY HOTEL OCCUPANCIES DROP, WHEN HOTEL OCCUPANCIES PALL SO TO DO THE SALES OF LOCAL ATTRACTIONS AND ENTERTAINMENT AND SO ON AND SO ON.
To achieve world class quality, we must:

ASK THE CONSTITUENT WHAT THEY WANT -- "HOW CAN WE MAKE IT BETTER?" CHALLENGE THE SYSTEM! LISTEN TO THEIR COMPENDIUM OF SUGGESTIONS,
COMMENTS AND FEEDBACK. TRANSLATE THESE NEEDS INTO WELL-FOCUSED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES AND DELIVER WHAT THEY WANT. WE MUST UTILIZE A MULTITUDE YET VERY SELECTIVE AND EFFECTIVE MEASUREMENT YARDSTICKS TO HEAR WHAT OUR CONSTITUENTS HAVE TO SAY: FOCUS GROUPS, ANNUAL INTERNAL CUSTOMER SURVEY, GUEST COMMENT CARDS, GENERAL MANAGER PRIVATE LINE LUNCHES AS WELL AS “SKIP LEVEL MEETINGS”, TELEPHONE QUESTIONNAIRES - CRI REPORTS, A 24-HOUR HOT LINE AND MEETING DISCUSSIONS.

PROVIDE AND INSTILL IN ALL OF YOUR TEAM PLAYERS FROM THE FRONT LINE PROFESSIONAL TO THE SENIOR LEADERS THE NOTION OF ACCOUNTABILITY, RESPONSIBILITY AND PARTICIPATION. FOSTER AND CAPTURE THE SENSE OF INNOVATION AND URGENCY THEREBY TRANSLATING FEEDBACK AND DATA COLLECTION INTO DELIVERABLE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES.
THROUGH THIS LEADERSHIP APPROACH, OUR COMPANY HAS INITIATED A CONTINUOUS MASTER PLAN RENOVATION WHICH INCLUDES NOT ONLY THE CULTURAL NEEDS OF OUR GUESTS BUT THE BEAUTY AND SENSITIVITY OF OUR LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL
REMOVE THE OBSTACLES AND THE UNLOCK BARRIERS WHICH PREVENT PEOPLE FROM PERFORMING THEIR JOB SUCCESSFULLY – ESTABLISH AND PRACTICE EMPOWERMENT
OUR TIMESHARE RESORT HAS SUCCESSFULLY ESTABLISHED EMPOWERMENT PROCESSES BY SUPPORTING QUALITY PROCESS TEAMS –STRATEGIC BUSINESS UNITS – WORKING TOGETHER TO BUILD A BETTER FUTURE; BY FORMING A QUALITY COUNCIL TO ENSURE THE SUCCESS OF THE INITIATIVES IMPLEMENTED FROM THE BOTTOM; AND BY IMPLEMENTING PROGRAMS SUCH AS “YOU’VE GOT THE POWER” IN OUR FRONT OFFICE OPERATIONS.
DEVELOP COMPANY INTEGRITY AND TRUST THROUGH CONTINUED COMMITMENT AND DEDICATION TO TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT OF YOUR PEOPLE.. RE-INVEST IN THEM.
COMMUNICATE!! THE BEST WAY TO COMMUNICATE FUNDAMENTALS OF YOUR COMPANY’S BEHAVIORS, ATTITUDES, VALUES, GOALS AND MISSION IS THROUGH BEHAVIOR. COMMUNICATION CLARIFIES THE VISION OF PARTICIPATIVE OWNERSHIP AS A WAY TO BUILD RELATIONSHIPS, EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION PRODUCTIVITY, AND ENSURE SUCCESS. FORCES YOU TO LISTEN, WITHOUT EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION THE STRATEGIC DIRECTION OF YOUR ORGANIZATION WILL DISAPPEAR INTO A CADRE OF TRIVIAL AND BUREAUCRATIC PROCESSES.
APPROACH EVERYDAY WITH ENTHUSIASM AND A FUN ATTITUDE. THIS IS PARAMOUNT TO SUCCESS…AS IT’S THE FIRST CHARACTERISTIC THAT PEOPLE NOTICE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR BUSINESS. QUALITY STARTS AND BUILDS WITH OUR ATTITUDE AND EVERYDAY BEHAVIORS.
CONCLUSION
IN CONCLUSION, LET ME SUMMARIZE THE MAIN POINTS:
IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE WORLD CLASS QUALITY WE AS WORLD LEADERS MUST UNDERSTAND AND KNOW WHO OUR PRIMARY CONSTITUENTS ARE AND WHAT THEY WANT:
CUSTOMERS, EXTERNAL,
CUSTOMERS, INTERNAL
CORPORATE OWNERS/SHAREHOLDERS
COMMUNITY
COMMUNICATION – THE MEDIA
WE MUST BE ABLE TO PROVIDE QUALITY SERVICE THROUGH THE “4-S’s” CONCEPT:
STRATEGY CREATE AND SUSTAIN A VIGOROUS STRATEGIC MOMENTUM. THE WILL TO SUCCEED MUST COME FROM BOTH THE HEART AND THE MIND. ESTABLISH PRACTICES TO DEMONSTRATE CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT AND ACHIEVEMENT THROUGH PERCEIVED ADDED-VALUE OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES. FIND SUBTLE BUT EFFECTIVE TECHNIQUES TO TELL YOUR CUSTOMERS WHAT YOU HAVE, WHAT THEY WILL GAIN BY USAGE OF YOUR GOODS AND SERVICES AND YOUR FUTURE PLANS FOR IMPROVEMENT.
SHARING – DEVELOP A SENSE OF PLACE, “CULTURE” ALLOW FOR THE RICH HERITAGE OF YOUR PEOPLE TO SHINE THROUGH IN EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR BUSINESS. FOSTER A CARING WORKFORCE WITH THE RIGHT ATTITUDE AND A WORKING ENVIRONMENT THAT SUPPORTS FLEXIBILITY, INNOVATION AND CREATES A FUN AND SECURE ATMOSPHERE.
STRUCTURE- SET APPROPRIATE PERFORMANCE STANDARDS AND SYSTEMS WITH SENSITIVITY TO THE COMPANY’S CULTURE. BY SETTING SERVICE STANDARDS IN EVERY FUNCTIONAL AREA AND FOR EVERY INTERNAL CUSTOMER YOU WILL CREATE A BLUEPRINT FOR “POSITIVE AND MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF TRUTHS” THAT CUSTOMERS WILL WANT TO TALK ABOUT, COME BACK TO AND PURCHASE TIME AND TIME AGAIN.
SKILLS – COMMITMENT TO TRAINING EVERYDAY! THIS MUST COMMENCE WITH THE TOP LEADERSHIP OF YOUR ORGANIZATION. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS. TAKE A PERIPHERAL VIEW OF “PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT AND SUCCESSION” AS OPPOSED TO THE TRADITIONAL “JUST-IN-TIME” TRAINING APPROACH.
LEADERSHIP IS MUCH MORE THAN AN ART, A BELIEF, A CONDITION OF THE HEART, OR A SET OF THINGS TO DO. THE VISIBLE SIGNS OF ARTFUL LEADERSHIP AND WORLD CLASS QUALITY ARE EXPRESSED, ULTIMATELY, IN ITS DAILY PRACTICE.
OUR SEARCH FOR REFINEMENT, FOR COMPLETENESS, FOR OUR POTENTIAL AS WORLD LEADERS ACHIEVING WORLD CLASS QUALITY IS A NEVER ENDING SEARCH.. WHAT A SPECTACULAR HORIZON OF REALIZATION WE HAVE AS WE ENTER THE 21ST CENTURY AND CONTINUE TO GROW OUR DYNAMIC INDUSTRY.

THANK YOU AND ALOHA!

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