Last Thursday and Friday, I had the honor and privilege to work at the United States Air force Academy. Doesn’t that just say it all? The hillbilly from Arkansas (if you don’t know, I was born and raised in Arkansas) got to teach leadership and customer service to the food and beverage folks who serve 4600 cadets 3 times a day. Boy, is that a big group!
Amazing–incredible–unbelievable–mind boggling–remarkable and every other word you can think of describes this feat that they pull off in record time – 30 minutes to be exact. Seriously, those cadets march in to the music of the USAFA band (very cool by the way), stand at attention until everyone gets into the dining room for lunch, sit, get served by the fine employees of Mitchell hall, eat, and are out of there in 30 minutes! I stood with tears in my eyes as these young men and women came to lunch. Isn’t that crazy? I was touched by the discipline, the unity, the youth, and, most of all, their commitment to serve us and our country. Plus, if you saw a 1 ½ acre dining room wrapped in the panoramic view of the mountains in Colorado Springs, you might cry too!
The systems that are in place are amazing. Breakfast and lunch are served in this manner (it’s no buffet). They are served family–style by the front line waiters that work at Mitchell Hall. I wondered who was going to teach whom. Although I was hired to teach leadership and guest service, I was learning a lot from them just by watching the process.
We had 2 great days. Thursday I worked with the management and leadership team and Friday with the front line and the supervisors. The leadership day was structured so that we talked about them during a personality class that allowed each person to be introspective. In class two, we talked about the people that worked for them. In today’s work world, we have four generations of people working together. The gap in generations can present a host of challenges and opportunities. This team seemed to get a lot out of looking at better ways to lead a multi–generational team. Finally, we ended the day with a conflict resolution class. That class presents an interesting opportunity in that we stir up our own brand of conflict as we get things going. It’s interesting to watch how quickly things can fall apart over the simplest things (ask me about the Hula hoop exercise)!
On the second day, I had the opportunity to work with the front line on great guest service. Unlike the civilian world, these front line employees aren’t selling anything. The young men and women attending the United States Air Force Academy are showing up at mealtime whether anyone delivers great guest service or not. It was fun and insightful to listen to their challenges, commitments, and thoughts about guest service. You know what? We are all the same. We want to be treated with respect. We all want to know that we have value and that our contribution means something. We all prefer to work with a team where everyone understands and intends to complete the mission together!
It is no surprise to me that they talk a lot about “the mission.” They are serious about honoring the mission no matter what department they work for at the USAFA. I’m so pleased and honored to have participated in training at the Academy. Like I said in my opening comments, I just can’t quit smiling!
Do you know what the mission is at your center? Does your management team know? What about your front line? If you need help, call me. TrainerTainment® offers a strong leadership program. Vision, Mission, Planning is an exciting course that will help you get your team focused. We would love to teach any of our courses to your team. Mark your calendars for our upcoming sales seminar in November. Thank you for reading my update, and remember to check back next week to hear about getting to meet Zig Ziglar in person! That was pretty awesome!
Remember – sign up for our next webinar, October 14, 2010, Make the Most of Your Holiday Season.
