The Choice to Serve

Judy - The Manhattan Grille

My wife and I had dinner today at The Manhattan Grille located inside the Grand Hyatt Dubai - next to Wafi City. We may have another Grand Hyatt in Dubai by the next time we visit, just like The Hyatt Regency - for the longest time, we had one in Deira and now there is a new sprawling complex called Hyatt Regency - that is a piece for another time.

Back to our dinner. After waiting for twenty minutes, I went to the bar area to request one of the waiters to come take our orders. And that is how we met Judy, the waiter who by his deliberate choice to engage with us beyond our orders for Nebraska Steak, recovered the evening. Judy, who is Chinese, told us of his remarkable story of working in a 500-seater restaurant in Geneva, Switzerland, where he learnt French by memorizing client order and repeating it to his supervisor. With very helpful clients and a support supervisor, Judy is now able to speak flawless French (my wife, who is a native French speaker confirmed to me).

When asked what he attributes his success in learning French and ability to be an engaging waiter, he said ''Attitude'', with a broad smile across his face. Wow, is that something.  What we would have chalked up as a poor customer experience, was turned around by Judy and his charm.

Judy exemplified the definition of accountability I found in the book OZ Principle by Roger Connors, Tom Smith and Craig Hickman, which defines accountability as ''A personal choice to rise above one's circumstances and demonstrate the ownership necessary for achieving desired results-to See It, Own It, Solve It, and Do It. It goes on to say that this definition includes a mind-set or attitude of continually asking, ''What else can I do to rise above my circumstances and achieve results I desire?''. They say this definition ''requires a level of ownership that includes making, keeping and answering for personal commitments''.

And Judy, in his engaging style - right questions, eye contact, knowledge of the menu and speed - was rising above circumstance of taking our orders late and initial cold entrees. He could have added to our frustration but did everything to make the evening a pleasant one. Judy saw the situation, owned it and solved most of it.

The experience with Judy reminds me of the various encounters we have with service providers - those who will choose to serve and those who will make you feel like they are doing you a favour. Or by their service or lack thereof, suggest that your presence is an inconvenience. I thought of providers who do it well had developed the ''script and compliance'' culture - you know those who will follow a script beyond the point that it is becomes a boring monologue. Now, no doubt, there is the script and lots of training but in the end, it takes the ''Judy'' to rise to the occasion, to truly choose to serve.

Just like the Dubai Taxi who offered to carry my family - all 6 of us - when most other cabs will go to great lengths to tell you how it is against the law to carry more than 4 people. There is the policy and there is understanding that Family of 6 with children below the age of 10 should be an exception - provided done safely. This particular Taxi was so helpful that we paid him the equivalent of two cabs for the trip.

And there is the Banking Assistant at Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) who went the extra mile to redeem my dividend cheque from Safaricom even though I did not have a KCB account. The Cheque was drawn on KCB but the procedure was that if you did not have an account you had to wait 3-5 business days for the cheque to clear. But this Assistant quickly saw the difference between the ''spirit'' and the ''letter'' of the law and cashed the cheque within ten minutes.