Nobody Ever Washes a Rental Car
Empowering Your Employees for Success!
Jan M. Smith
Inland Management Group
Do you? Or would you admit to tossing gum wrappers on the floor and leaving your lunch remains on the passenger seat?
Do you care for that rental car like you would your own? Most people don’t.
Why should they? It’s not theirs to worry about. This is the same issue with employees who work for you. What would make them take care of your place of business as if it were their own?
Ian MacGregor, of The Lobster Place in New York City coined the phrase “Nobody ever washes a rental car” years ago when he was trying to understand the essence of employee ownership and empowerment in the workplace. Like so many hospitality managers, he was tired of his employees treating their jobs with little motivation, pride, or ownership.
Jan M. Smith
Inland Management Group
Do you? Or would you admit to tossing gum wrappers on the floor and leaving your lunch remains on the passenger seat?
Do you care for that rental car like you would your own? Most people don’t.
Why should they? It’s not theirs to worry about. This is the same issue with employees who work for you. What would make them take care of your place of business as if it were their own?
Ian MacGregor, of The Lobster Place in New York City coined the phrase “Nobody ever washes a rental car” years ago when he was trying to understand the essence of employee ownership and empowerment in the workplace. Like so many hospitality managers, he was tired of his employees treating their jobs with little motivation, pride, or ownership.
According to MacGregor, “In order to reduce turnover and develop long-term employees with special qualifications that only time and training can give them, work every day to ensure your employees are empowered and connected. We all know that empowered employees - those who have a sense of ownership over their working lives, often generated through such things like giving them authorization to make decisions- not only perform better but are less likely to leave or steal. That means real savings in the employment column.”
With costly recruiting and emerging Talent Wars, (employees jumping ship with or without another job lined up), business owners might consider hiring and developing “ownership mentality” in employees. It could be useful to ask a question in the interview, “So tell me, do you ever wash a rental car?” The candidate might stare blankly, with a look of, “That’s a crazy question,” or, you may get someone who says, “I take care of my rental car as if it’s my own”. That may be the one who gets hired!
It’s actually possible to promote and foster this type of mentality by allowing your employees to take ownership of their specific area of responsibility in your company. Allow your employees to have some independent decision authority with regard to resolving customer issues. Help employees own their work and take responsibility for their results. Encourage employees to take pride of ownership in their job and ask them for their ideas to streamline operations or to provide service levels.
Following are tips to help empower your service employees:
Adapted from Susan M. Heathfield, Principles of Empowerment
1. Demonstrate You Value People
Your regard for people shines through in all of your actions and words. Your facial expression, body language, and words express what you are thinking about the people who report to you. Your goal is to demonstrate your appreciation for each person's unique value. No matter how an employee is performing on their current task, your value for the employee as a human being should never falter and always be visible.
2. Share Leadership Vision
Help people feel that they are part of something bigger than themselves and their individual job. Do this by making sure they know and have access to the organization's overall mission, vision, and strategic plans.
3. Share Goals and Direction
Share the most important goals and direction for your group. Where possible, either make progress on goals measurable and observable, or ascertain that you have shared your picture of a positive outcome with the people responsible for accomplishing the results.
4. Trust People
Trust the intentions of people to do the right thing, make the right decision, and make choices that, while maybe not exactly what you would decide, still work.
5. Provide Information for Decision Making
Make certain that you have given people, or made sure that they have access to, all the information they need to make thoughtful decisions.
6. Delegate Authority and Impact Opportunities, Not Just More Work
Don't just delegate the drudge work; delegate some of the fun stuff, too. Delegate the important meetings, the committee memberships that influence product development and decision making, and the projects that people and customers notice. The employee will grow and develop new skills. Your plate will be less full so you can concentrate on contribution. Your reporting staff will gratefully shine - and so will you.
7. Provide Frequent Feedback
Provide frequent feedback so that people know how they are doing. Sometimes, the purpose of feedback is reward and recognition. People deserve your constructive feedback too, so they can continue to develop their knowledge and skills.
8. Solve Problems: Don't Pinpoint Problem People
When a problem occurs, ask what is wrong with the system that caused the people to fail, not what is wrong with the people.
9. Listen to Learn and Ask Questions to Provide Guidance
Provide a space in which people will communicate by listening to them and asking them questions. Guide by asking questions, not by telling grown up people what to do. People generally know the right answers if they have the opportunity to produce them. When an employee brings you a problem to solve, ask, "What do you think you should do to solve this problem?" Or, ask, "What action steps do you recommend?" Employees can demonstrate what they know and grow in the process.
10. Help Employees Feel Rewarded and Recognized for Empowered Behavior
When employees feel under-compensated, under-titled for the responsibilities they take on, under-noticed, under-praised, and under-appreciated, don’t expect results from employee empowerment. The basic needs of employees must feel met for employees to give you their discretionary energy, that extra effort that people voluntarily invest in work.
Empowering your employees might just work to get them to take care of your place of business as if it were their own!
Jan M. Smith is the Founder and Principal of Inland Management Group, a Human Resource Consultancy located in Temecula, specializing in the Hospitality and Entertainment industry. You can contact Jan at (951) 302-6483,
Great article Jan. What a different world we would have if we all took some ownership... Excellent.
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