Tip #1 on this, from the great Horst Schulze, founder of the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain, is below this post. Here's his second tip for after you've hired:

"Orientate them to WHO WE ARE so they can become part of the company, not just work for the company. This applies to everyone, even, say, dishwashers. I have only ever fired three General Managers. One of them was a man who said to me 'You want to give a dishwasher a process?' How arrogant of him!

"At every new hotel, I gave the orientation myself. I have done it at 45 hotels so far.

"From the busboy to the housekeepers to the room service chefs, I line up the new hires and say to them:

" 'Who's more important to this hotel, you or me? It's you! If I don't go to work on Monday morning, nobody knows. Nobody cares. If you don't, the food doesn't get served, the beds don't get made. You are far more important than me!'

Source: My shorthand notes from a talk given by Horst Schulze at a conference I helped organize in London

This tip is a sample from a book series I am putting together called
One A Day
365 Practical Ways to
Get Closer
to Your Customers