During a conference I attended, Jim Huling, author of the global bestseller “The 4 Disciplines of Execution” shared insights into setting goals within your organization and the secrets to unlocking the often daunting task of actually achieving them.  During his talk, he called reference to the countless Fortune 500 companies that utilize his teachings to improve their company and overall client/customer experience every day.

He went on to share a practical example from one of the top hotel chains in the world that aims to garner the highest customer satisfaction ratings from its guests.  As most of us would expect, room cleanliness is high on everyone’s list when it comes to the quality of their stay.  But instead of merely pushing room attendant staff to simply work harder across the board, they dug into their past customer surveys and uncovered a common complaint.  It turned out that a dirty mirror was often the number one reason people would rate the condition/cleanliness of their room poorly.

Taking this data to heart, the hotel chain instituted a new plan that would involve room attendants cleaning the mirrors in each room a total of 3 different times, with 3 different cleaning products, with 3 different cloths.  The rooms would then be checked by upper management and the attendants with the cleanest mirrors from the day would be entered to win a gift card at the end of the day.

The Result?

Guest satisfaction surveys continued to yield exemplary marks week after week!

The Point?

It’s time to look deeper and see what metrics you have easily accessible that could give you your own “clean the mirror” epiphany?  It’s often the simplest changes to our goals that make the most impact.