CHAPTER 3 JOURNEY

“Culture is the most difficult organizational attribute to change, outlasting organizational products, services, founders and leadership and all other physical attributes of the organization.”

Professor Edgar Schein¹

The journey of 31Practices started more than ten years ago, and has emerged through an evolutionary process to be what it is today.

THE BEGINNING…

Hanbury Manor, a five-star Marriott hotel in UK, provided the first inspiration and the initial principles upon which 31Practices is based.

The Ritz Carlton luxury hotel chain developed their credo: “Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen”, offering a sense of purpose that all those serving the Ritz Carlton brand were asked to demonstrate by living a collection of service behaviours called “Basics”.

Ritz Carlton was a subsidiary of Marriott and the parent company adopted the “Daily Basics” routine, where everybody focused on one of 22 hospitality behaviours (or Basics) each day. At the time, Marriott had 3,000 hotels. One of the stories from that time was that Bill Marriott (CEO) would telephone a hotel, ask for a department at random, and would expect whoever answered the phone to know the Basic for that day.

A number of performance milestones were achieved at Hanbury Manor between 1997 and 2002: the most improved Associate (employee) opinion survey across Marriott hotels, globally; the most improved guest satisfaction survey in UK; uniquely, “all green” balanced scorecard business measures for three consecutive years; and AA Hotel of the Year. The Basics approach was a key tool enabling this success.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Will Durant²

The next evolution of 31Practices was during the creation and implementation of an innovative service delivery model for the corporate offices for one of the Big Four banks. The front-of-house services (catering, reception, meeting rooms, housekeeping, security, audio visual services, telephony) were provided in a number of new and existing properties in the UK for the bank. A key challenge was finding a way to resolve the fragmented approach to service resulting from a number of supplier organizations providing different services.

The bank was not alone with this challenge, it is one faced by numerous large businesses.

It seemed worth adopting something like the Basics methodology as it offered an opportunity to create a unifying culture and approach across the supply chain of different service providers. The Basics methodology had been so effective elsewhere, it seemed to be a good fit for the challenges faced, with some specific improvements.

First, because at Marriott there were 22 Basics, there was no synchronization with the day of the month and the number of the Basic behaviour being applied. Although this sounds crazy, it did have a negative impact on employee perception. One frustrated employee summed it up “I get confused when it is Basic 15 and it’s only the 2nd of the month”. A simple answer to this was to have 31 behaviours as there are never more than 31 days in a month.

Second, and possibly more profoundly, there was a significant opportunity to integrate organizational values into the methodology.

One of the things that we had noticed and discussed (so it’s unlikely to have escaped your attention) was how often the core values of an organization were in beautiful frames in the lobby or the boardroom, sometimes even making it to a cube on an employee’s desk – but not explicitly lived through employee behaviours. What if employees received service in their place of work in a style that was aligned to the core values of the organization? Surely those values would be more credible and would be reinforced – and would start to become business as usual. In this way, service style may vary across organizations, but the customer / employee experience will be aligned with the values of the organization. For example, the style of service in the workplace of a progressive, media organization would be expected to be very different from that of a traditional law firm.

With these two considerations in mind, the leadership team in the banking organization created a set of 31 behaviours, all linked back to the core values and service promise called “Our World Class Way”. A credit card-sized card was issued to all employees and, importantly, an operating platform was created connecting day-to-day operating processes with the 31 behaviours. The operating platform considered processes and activities such as selection interviews, the induction processes, standard operating procedures, daily buzz meetings, performance and recognition programmes, etc.

In this way, the first version of 31Practices was born. The results at the bank were dramatic, resulting in significant improvements in customer satisfaction (+10%) and cost reduction (a 10-15% reduction). A global property industry innovation award was received for the initiative together with an award from the bank for outstanding customer service. This core methodology forms the underpinning of 31Practices today.

THE MIDDLE...

The company, SERVICEBRAND GLOBAL, was started in 2005 to assist organizations with improving the quality and effectiveness of face-to-face service delivery in built environments. One of the first clients was a global investment bank who wanted to create a consistent culture and service standards in key locations globally.

At this time, the 31Practices name was created and it seemed to be appropriate because of the focus on “practising” the value-linked behaviours on a daily basis. It was during this first project that the power of co-creation was also recognized. A series of workshops enabled cross-functional/organizational contributions as to what the 31Practices should be to represent the organization’s values. These high-energy, participative and experiential learning-based events enabled individuals from across the organizational hierarchy to feel ownership for the 31Practices subsequently designed. No surprises then that the level of engagement with the approach was high.

One particular example involved an employee from the post-room in the New York office of the investment bank. Sometime after the launch of 31Practices, he said with pride “Look! Number 16! I suggested that Practice in our workshop!”

Once designed, the organization’s unique 31Practices approach is implemented through a series of employee workshops delivered crossfunctionally and cross-hierarchically by a team of trained supervisory-level employees. It is important that those who are involved in the roll-out are involved in the day-to-day operation of the organization. Where new facilities are being opened, or new hires engaged, it’s important that 31Practices is part of the induction process. Supervisory-level people are the ones that are there day in, day out, side by side with their front-line colleagues. They are the ones that have the biggest influence on 31Practices being “lived”.

Once live, employees are able to nominate colleagues who they see displaying the 31Practices excellently (they can even nominate themselves). This works best when a cross-functional group (nonmanagement) is responsible for selecting the best examples on a monthly basis. Nominated employees are recognized and their actions and stories are publicized through the organization and become part of the culture, the “way things work around here” that is central to an organization’s impact and brand. This can be a standalone process but is even better when integrated into an existing recognition programme. The organization’s heritage is created through the communication of stories.

Notably, employees play a co-creation role and take ownership for development of the way the tool is used, and latitude is given to employees to apply each daily Practice as they wish in their place of work. For example, if the core value is Excellence and today’s Practice is “We display meticulous attention to cleanliness”, the hotel receptionist may tidy a cupboard, the engineer may sweep the boiler room, the chef may book the de-greasing of the filters, etc.

Finally, while the overall framework and principles of the 31Practices methodology are consistent, the specific details of the 31Practices are unique to each client.

WHAT CAME NEXT...

The next stage of development has been to consolidate the business proposition: develop the commercial model and the brand. 31Practices is a registered trademark with a distinctive logo. It is provided to client organizations on a licensed basis with the premise that clients get the most from this approach when every employee applies each daily practice. The cost of a licence equates to the annual spend on uniform. The eyecatching appeal of a uniformed employee is a good start, but employee behaviour being aligned with the values of the organization is much more fundamental and meaningful. As a client recently shared, “I spend that much each year on making sure my people look the part, so if this helps them behave right, it is great value”.

A leadership team event has been specifically included in the implementation phase to design and support the operating platform for 31Practices. How will the methodology be embedded into everyday processes such as interviews, induction, standard operating procedures, daily buzz meetings, recognition programmes and more? Every organization is different and it is critical that 31Practices “fits”, is owned, and that leaders feel accountable for the effective use of the framework. This powerful set-up process, together with planned reviews, keeps 31Practices fit for purpose, lived, and impactful.

In 2011, Alison joined the team and lent her considerable knowledge, experience and expertise to help identify the supporting theoretical underpinnings that makes 31Practices such a powerful tool. Little did she imagine that two years later we would have co-authored this book.

Ten years may seem a long time to develop what is, on the surface, a very simple tool, but perhaps this is its strength. The development has been grounded in practical application rather than management theory and books. 31Practices brings an organization’s core values to life through the behaviour of every employee, every day. The approach helps instil a common culture across departments, supply chain delivery partners and remote workers. Over time, consistency of behaviour is built through repetition. 31Practices has been used in a variety of local, national and international business environments and has played a major part in the measurable balanced scorecard success achieved in these businesses. It is now available on a license basis for 31Practices Practitioners to promote and deliver to their clients.

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

Confucius³

THE CURRENT FRONTIER...

One of the initial reasons for Alison joining the project was to support the development of a personal application of 31Practices, my31Practices. In the “perfect storm” that is globalization, economic uncertainty, family fragmentation, enhanced pace of business, instant communications, unlimited connectedness – we find that we are endlessly busy, both at work and in our social lives. Against this context, it is very easy to “do” without mindful awareness of what we are doing all of this for. The result? We end up “doing” without much thought about how we are behaving – caught in habits of thinking and action that are at best unsustainable, and, at worst, are destructive. Under this pressure, we can very easily feel out of control and lose touch with our personal core values, our core purpose and what creates meaning for us.

But there is another way. People can often see the benefit in joining a gym or creating a fitness regime to be the best they can be from a physical perspective. Might it then be possible that people would benefit from developing mental and behavioural fitness in a more holistic way? To do this starts with discovering and reconnecting with our personal core values: what’s really important to us. The next step is to align the way we think, feel and behave and this is where my31Practices can help by bringing these values to life through a set of very practical behaviours every day. In this way, people can be the best they can be. The development of the technology platform to become part of our day-to-day lives will be launched in 2013 and is outlined in more detail in Chapter 29, my31Practices.

It has been quite a journey over the last ten years. We started with a couple of core ideas and then built the 31Practices methodology in live, operational business environments, finding out what works well and developing the approach during this time. What has been consistent is the business impact. Some client organizations have been more focused on measurement than others. However, there has always been an improvement in areas such as employee retention and engagement, customer satisfaction and finance (where targeted).