Bill Marriott describes one of the vital aspects of Marriott’s business – standard operating procedures (SOPs). These rules and guidelines are devilish in the details and they have helped sustain the standardized and consistent product and service offerings at Marriott. An example of an SOP is a guide setting out sixty-six separate steps for cleaning a hotel room in less than half an hour. It is an example of operations on steroids.
However, he understands the limitations of this engineering approach and makes the point that it has its place.
“What solid systems and SOPs do is nip common problems in the bud so that staff can focus instead on solving uncommon problems that come their way … by nailing the basics into place, systems allow employees to provide more customized customer service. They can just get on with the job of delivering the kind of quality attention that distinguishes extraordinary from ordinary” (Marriott and Brown, The Spirit to Serve, p. 25-26).”
He describes this type of extra-mile customer service as “stuff that no SOP can cover.” It reminds me of Atul Gawande’s point about checklists in the surgery room. Gawande shared during a lecture that the pilot who landed the plane over the Hudson river was only able to do so because he didn’t have to worry about the basics (since they were all covered) and could focus entirely on landing the plane over the Hudson, something that he wasn’t trained to do.
An excellent passage on the humanistic aspect of Marriott’s philosophy and some thoughts on service design possibilities:
“The philosophy of putting employees first is particularly important in our industry, because Marriott is in the people business, not just the service business.
What do I mean by that? When your job is to supply customers with answers to two of life’s basic needs – food and lodging – you’re touching on pretty special human territory. Even if our customers aren’t conscious of it, they have very definite expectations about not only the tangible parts of eating and sleeping – good food, a comfortable bed – but also the intangibles of those experiences: how they’re greeted, how their questions are answered, how their special problems are handled. That’s where the right human touch can make all the difference between a mediocre or poor experience and a positive, even unforgettable one” (Marriott and Brown, The Spirit to Serve, p. 35-36).
