Tom Clink, lift manager at Breckenridge, was concerned enough to call in a consulting firm, Wolfe and Associates of Denver, to see if they could help reverse this trend. Clink said, “What separates the successful areas from the others is how they compare in having guests come back, which depends on how good a time the guests have.”
The consulting team was headed by Cathey Bernhard (now operating her own consulting company, Bernhard & Associates) who brought the firm’s training program, Innovative Guest Relations (IGR) to Breckenridge. IGR is based on the premise that quality guest relations is a corporate culture issue before it is a training issue.
Corporate culture is defined as the beliefs and values of an organization—its stories, its history and a clear image of the way its guests and employees are to be treated. Corporate culture is easy to change once a commitment is made on the part of management.
Because the ultimate responsibility for changing corporate culture lies with management, Clink convinced his bosses at Breckenridge to try the IGR program in the lift department in 1982. It worked so well, they expanded it to the entire operation the following year. Aspen Skiing Corporation (parent company of Breckenridge) installed the program in their lift department in 1983, then purchased a newly-developed program for 1984.
Why? One reason was a reduction of mid-season employee turnover from 20 percent to 8 percent and a reduction of end-of-year turnover from 55 percent to 15 percent. Breckenridge also experienced a greater increase in skier days than any other Colorado ski area—18.5 percent—in 1983-84. In addition, Breckenridge shop and restaurant owners reported hearing from guests about how nicely they are treated on the mountain.
IGR is a four-step process which: 1) taught Breckenridge and Aspen employees skills for dealing with guests, 2) gave their managers skills for managing employees, 3) provided a program to reinforce these skills and 4) helped them choose tools to measure the effects of the program.
Employee Training
IGR staff training was designed so scheduling would cause a minimum of disruption to normal operations. At Breckenridge, employees received one day-long training session, but this could have been divided into three two-hour modules if an entire day had not been available for training. Group sizes at Breckenridge ranged from 10 to 20 people.
The day of training began with an explanation of the Business Proposition: why Breckenridge is in business, the corporate goals and how each employee could help the company achieve those goals. The employees were imprinted with an image of themselves as the “Dream Makers,” people who play a vital part in helping guests fulfill vacation fantasies.
During this presentation, Aspen’s president Jerry Blann spoke to the employees for about 30 minutes. He explained his commitment and that of his staff to the program.
The training then introduced Self Management skills. These skills taught the employees to handle situations objectively without involving their personal feelings. They learned how to control their feelings when faced with solving problems they did not create. For example, a lift is closed due to high winds. The lift operator did not make the decision to close the lift, but he has to deal with guests who are angry because they won’t get their money back. The lift operator is taught that the guest is acting emotionally, without control of his feelings, but the operator can control his reaction. He must realize that it is not a personal attack and he can put his temper on hold during the situation.
Employees saw the potential for using this training in their personal lives to choose positive solutions to stressful problems. This was perceived as something extra they could take away from their jobs.
The rest of the day taught Guest Management skills. IGR’s “Hear/Have Heart/Help Model” gave the employee tools for effective listening, problem solving and empathy. Employees learned how to apply different parts of the model to different kinds of guests and to deal with even the most negative guest in a positive manner.
Management Training
Breckenridge and Aspen managers received two days of training, the first of which was identical to the employee training. This was necessary because although managers already knew how to do their jobs well, they knew how to do them “in English.” IGR training is comparable to sending employees to an expensive Berlitz course to learn French. If they returned speaking French, and the managers (who only know English) responded with an invisible sign “Only English spoken here,” the employees would soon lose interest in French and go back to speaking English. Everyone must speak the same language for any program to work.
The second day of manager training focused on learning to create a more positive environment. In addition to the “Dream Maker” role, managers have additional responsibilities toward their employees. The day began with the managers’ version of the Business Proposition which related specifically to the managers’ functions: to monitor the physical environment of the employees, guide employee/employer relationships and support employee/guest relationships.
The remainder of the second day
concentrated on specific management skills. Learning the difference between commitment and compliance showed the managers how to use the basic tools of reward and punishment to their best advantage. Commitment makes employees eager to serve guests in the best possible way; compliance means they carry out their duties as assigned. To illustrate the difference, the managers visualized behavior patterns of their own past bosses and examined their commitment to each boss and job.
Reinforcement
As with any training program, reinforcement of the positive behavior skills learned during IGR training was necessary. Immediately following IGR training, Breckenridge formed a Guest Relations Committee of upper and middle management personnel as well as hourly employees. The committee determined appropriate rewards for improved guest relations.
The first year, Breckenridge guests gave coupons to employees who showed particularly good or friendly service. Employees earned gold or silver pins for certain numbers of coupons and the employee who received the most coupons during a month was treated to dinner for two and a bottle of wine.
The key to any reinforcement system is the ceremony. At Breckenridge, the “pinning ceremony” occurred monthly with the vice president and area manager handing out Pins. Any type of reward system will work as long as it is important to the company and designed to give the employees special attention. In addition, the Guest Relations Committee met regularly to evaluate the program, provide feedback to the employees on the company’s attitudes and change the system when necessary.
Although Breckenridge found the coupons were very powerful in providing the employee with immediate feedback, they thought the Program needed to be somewhat different each year to maintain interest. For the 984-85 season, management decided to conduct surveys by having frontline employees ride up the lift with guests, to get one-on-one feedback.
That season’s program also included wine-and-cheese forums. Eight or nine hill people met informally with several levels of management to discuss how things were going on the hill, review results and other concerns. These forums kept lines of communication open and reinforced the importance of the employees’ ideas and complaints. This season, Breckenridge plans to return to the coupon system because employees missed direct appreciation from guests.
In contrast, Aspen encouraged its managers to reward employee Performance with brief interviews and give $10 gift certificates redeemable at the company store.
Measurement
To evaluate the costs of the program against the benefits it produced, several reference points were established. Breckenridge saw an increase in the number of employees who returned the next season, a decrease in mid-year turnover and increased skier days.
Another positive result was an increase in feedback from satisfied guests at Aspen and Breckenridge measured by both spoken comments and letters. When people take the time to write an area manager, it is obvious something is being done right. One letter said, in part, “. . . your employees are responsible for creating this ambiance. They make your area the great place that Breckenridge is. Your employees should be commended for an obvious love for their work, and most importantly, their never-ending joviality. It was a pleasure to spend my holiday with you and I intend to do so again.”
A spinoff benefit pointed out by Emily Snyder, personnel director at Aspen, was the opening of communications between departments as well as between employees and management. “Aspen instituted a program which encouraged employees to submit suggestions, ask questions or pose problems,” she said. “The suggestions were reviewed by the Guest Relations Committee and answered or sent on to the appropriate department for an answer. This gave someone in the ski school an opportunity to comment on a problem in the lift department or for someone in the lift area to make a ticket suggestion.”
Steve Walker, Breckenridge lift supervisor, summed it up: “Turnover was down, everybody enjoyed their jobs more, and the general atmosphere was more congenial.” Esther Graham, another lift supervisor, added, “We have finally put some meat behind our words. We always thought we were giving good service, but now we realize we weren’t. This program helped us start a culture within the company that is definitely service and guest related. Our goal now is to make sure our guests have a good time. Our reward is the satisfaction of knowing they do.”
Costs
The cost of the IGR program varies according to the size of a ski area, the number of people employed and the method of implementation. The most expensive format is when a consultant evaluates present corporate culture, trains employees and managers and helps design the reinforcement and measurement systems. The least expensive method is when the program is purchased outright; the company purchases the rights to copy the training materials and then someone in-house conducts the training.
The total cost ranges from about $35 to $50 per employee. In an outright purchase of the program, the cost includes masters of the training materials, the rights to reproduce them, videotapes, leader guides and some amount of leader training. On a per-position basis, this is inexpensive relative to the overall benefits in terms of decreased turnover, increased sales, improved employee morale and guest good will. This investment can lay a foundation for continuing benefits, while giving employees the skills required to continue training new personnel.
The IGR program is an investment that will be amortized over five to ten years. Breckenridge’s program cost $9,000, but an increase in skier days of 150,000, which management partly attributed to improved employee/guest relations, meant an additional $2 million in revenues.
