The Customer Rules: The 39 Essential Rules for Delivering Sensational Service by Lee Cockerell In the previous post, Employee Engagement and “Creating Magic,” I discussed Lee Cockerell’s book, Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney.  Mr. Cockerell is a former Executive Vice President, Operations, Walt Disney World Resort and in this book he conveys the most important leadership lessons he learned during his sixteen years at Disney and prior tenure at Hilton and Marriott.

 

I discovered that Mr. Cockerell had written a second book entitled, The Customer Rules: The 39 Essential Rules for Delivering Sensational Service to target not only leaders but everyone directly involved in customer service. Below are the 5 Rules that most resonated with me in relation to their applicability to employee engagement.

 

1.  Rule #1: Customer Service is not a Department

“[Customer service] is a personal responsibility.”1 “It’s the responsibility of everyone in the organization, from the CEO to the newest and lowest-ranking frontline employee.”2 Like customer service, employee engagement is everyone’s responsibility. At a minimum, you are responsible for your own engagement.

 

2.  Rule #4: Don’t Get Bored with the Basics

“In business, the seemingly small things are easy to overlook, but they can set your company apart from the competition and in turn increase your sales, your repeat business, and your bottom line.”3 Employee engagement has its own basics. Employees want to work with a manager and teammates that care about them. They want to hear “Thank you” and “What do you think?”  Employees want feedback and communications in a timely manner.  And finally, they want development opportunities.

 

3.  Rule #13: Expect More to Get More

“That attitude of high expectation should be present everywhere in the organization. Top executives should expect more from their management, and management should expect more from staff. In turn, the staff should expect more from their managers, and managers should expect more from the big brass. Most important, everyone should expect more from themselves.”4 To improve employee engagement, employees should expect more from themselves and every other person in the company. Setting clear expectations will allow everyone to be accountable to the same standard.

 

4.  Rule # 15: Be Like a Bee

““I’m like a little bee that flits from flower to flower, taking a little pollen here and a little pollen there, and I build up all the honey in the honeycomb.” He [Walt Disney] meant that he buzzed around the Disney facilities, pollinating the imagination of every employee to help them become more creative and more productive.”5 Everyone has the ability and responsibility to pollinate employee engagement.

 

5.  Rule #17: Listen Up

“Great listening means paying attention to not only what people say, but also to what they don’t say and to what they’re trying to say but can’t articulate.”6 Listening is also a key component of employee engagement. Listen to what your employees or coworkers are saying, not saying, or trying to say.

 

Bonus: Rule #22: Always Be the Giving One

“Some studies have found that people who engage in service work, such as helping the needy, are healthier, feel happier, and live longer. Research also shows that serving others improves mood, increases like satisfaction, lowers stress, and strengthens the immune response.”7 Employee engagement requires a constant state of giving. Giving your time, showing compassion, and connecting people are a few examples.

 

What are your top 5 of the 39 Essential Rules for Delivering Sensational Service? With which of The Customer Rules above do you resonate?

 

1 Cockerell, Lee. The Customer Rules: The 39 Essential Rules for Delivering Sensational Service. 1st ed. New York: Crown Business, 2013. 1. Print.
2 ibid.
3 ibid., 13-14.
4 ibid., 34.
5 ibid., 69.
6 ibid., 83.
7 ibid., 108.

 

 

Let’s Engage!

I’m Agent in Engagement Simpson…Gregory F Simpson.

Employee engagement is a critical mission. I hope I can count on your help! Subscribe to the RSS Feed to receive the latest intelligence/insights and/or register to make entries in the comments log.

 

I'm Simpson....Gregory F Simpson, Agent in EngagementYou can follow me @agtinengagement.
Email me at g…@a…t.com.
Connect via LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/GregoryFSimpson.
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