Feather Falls Casino:Feather Falls Casino:
How A Successful Casino
Becomes More SuccessfulPart 2: Actions To Turn Growing Pains Into Great Gains
Randy Carter discovered what Feather Falls Casino’s challenges were going to be in his first 72 hours as the new General Manager. The casino had people problems.
People problems are the most difficult issues to turn around quickly. These were going to require a lot of thought and skill to arrive at the proper and most productive solutions. Randy needed to act now – not next week – today! He began by interviewing all of the managers for their input. Then he talked to over 300 front-line employees - on their turf – on the floor and in the break room.
Employees were shocked to see their new GM working on the floor - making change for customers, seating restaurant customers, and helping a slot tech fix a machine. It became apparent that Randy was looking at the situation from the employees perspective.
After listening and verifying what he was told, Randy concluded the Feather Falls Casino needed a very large dose of people engineering and that he needed help to accomplish his goals quickly. This is when he called Bill Werst of Growth Associates.
Randy invited Bill to visit the Feather Falls Casino in January. The purpose was to informally assess the casino and develop rapport, trust, and acceptance by managers. Bill’s interviews with fourteen managers identified most of the concerns detailed in the first article [Part 1: Birth, Success, and Growing Pains] – lack of training, poor communications, inconsistencies by managers, lack of coordination between departments, and low morale.
Based on the managers input and Randy’s previous findings, we decided to pursue organizational and managerial improvements before tackling customer service improvements. This decision is based on research that shows that customer satisfaction and loyalty are directly related to and dependant on employee satisfaction and loyalty. Consequently, improvements that would directly and positively affect employee satisfaction and loyalty became the top priority.
The first action was to design and implement a customized employee survey in March. The survey contained 76 quantifiable questions and 15 comments areas divided into the following six categories:
- Job Knowledge, Skills, and Tools
- Job Authority & Responsibility
- Management Support, Direction, & Style
- Teamwork & Cooperation
- Performance Obstacles & Job Satisfaction
- Customer Perceptions of Service Quality
The survey produced an accurate, detailed, and specific picture of the strengths and opportunities for improvement for each department manager. It also established a base line for establishing management accountability. [See box at end of this article for Sample Employee Survey Questions.]
In May, Bill conducted two workshops for Feather Falls Casino’s top 40 managers and supervisors. The agendas were designed to address specific survey and interview findings. The first workshop agenda included:
- Establishing an employee treatment and communication policy [quick hit]
- Establishing a Procedure Change Procedure [quick hit]
- Reviewing the survey results and recommendations
- Reviewing departments’ strengths and greatest improvement opportunities
- Introducing the Action Planning format
The first two agenda items are labeled ‘quick hits’. A ‘quick hit’ is a valid issue that can be resolved fast - within two weeks. We used these quick hits to establish immediate credibility with managers and employees.
During the three working days between the first and second workshops Randy and Bill met with each department manager to review their survey results and identify their best opportunity for departmental improvement. Randy’s investment of at least one hour with each department manager was critical in demonstrating the importance of making improvements. Bill assisted each manager in developing their action plans to present at the next workshop.The second workshop agenda included:
- Creating and implementing a motivating work environment
- Identifying and implementing the basic elements of performance management
- Turning Feather Falls Casino’s organizational chart upside down [customer at top instead of bottom]
- Introducing Servant Leadership [Boss’s job is supporting and sustaining the success of direct reports]
- Presenting the Action Plans for improvement of each department
The workshop information was extremely well received. The first four agenda items introduced the managers to practical common sense tools they could apply to immediately improve their department. The tools included:
- Establishing department goals and objectives
- Including the department’s employees in goal setting and planning
- Establishing a measurable definition of job success for all positions
- Acknowledging employees efforts and successes
- Redefining the "boss" role – from giving orders to giving support and direction
- Flipping Feather Falls Casino’s organizational chart so that the customer is at the top and the next most important people are the front-line employees directly servicing the customers
- Beginning the process of empowering these front line people to make customer driven decisions and recommendations.
The fifth agenda item, Action Plans, involved establishing self imposed accountability for individual department improvement. Each department manager presented a written copy of their Action Plan. Making their plan public insured that all managers were aware of all the improvement plans throughout the casino. The public presentations also created very positive peer pressure to succeed in implementing the plans. [A sampling of the Action Plan objectives is included in a box at the end of this article.]
Randy and Bill continue to monitor the managers Action Plan progress. This included a visit by Bill to conduct a recognition and celebration of success meeting. Each department presented their improvements. The managers selected the Most Improved and Most Cooperative departments. The meeting ended with Randy and the top four executives modeling servant leadership by donning chef hats and aprons to serve the managers lunch.Conclusion:
Several managers have completed their initial plans and added additional goals and objectives for improvement. This is essential because Feather Falls Casino has only begun a process of continuous quality improvement. If managers completed one or two action plans and then stopped, the organization would slowly slide back into many of the original growing pains detailed in the first article.
The third article, Part 3: Great Gains Results, in this four part series will cover the results that Feather Falls Casino has attained to date. A sneak preview shows that Feather Falls Casino’s reduction in turnover alone has saved $58,000. That figure alone more that pays for Feather Falls Casino’s investment to date. And . . . that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
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[1062 words] [Two boxes = 250 additional words]
Sample Employee Survey Questions: Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly
Disagree Disagree Disagree Agree Agree Agree
8. I understand how my work fits in with what others do in my department 1 2 3 4 5 6
16. I have to stop my work to get management approval for routine tasks 1 2 3 4 5 6
28. My supervisor holds regular meetings with my group 1 2 3 4 5 6
54. I get the recognition I deserve for my contributions 1 2 3 4 5 6
Three things we could do right now that would improve Feather Falls Casino’s customer satisfaction are:A sampling of the Action Plan objectives include:
- Blackjack – Employee of the Month nomination form that is completed by each dealer
- Count Room – Every Thursday conduct a staff update of what was said in the morning meeting with the Controller and at the managers’ meeting. Always ask if staff has anything to add
- Hostesses – Establish daily performance standards
- Lounge – Provide an indoctrination booklet for all employees to reduce confusion and improve training
- Maintenance – Informing all personnel of interdepartmental procedure changes of any kind
- Restaurant – Design and implement specific job descriptions with "scripts" and duties for each step of the dining sequence [Scripts include up-selling desserts, wine, daily specials, and fruit juice.]
- Housekeeping – Have supervisors work together – walk through casino with next shift supervisor to show them what has and hasn’t been done
- Security – Seek employees’ input on solving departmental problems
This is the second of a four part series on organizational improvement. The four parts cover:
Background situation - Part 1: Birth, Success, and Growing Pains
Actions taken - Part 2: Actions To Turn Growing Pains Into Great Gains
Results to date – Part 3: Great Gains Results
Future plans - Part 4: Sustaining the Gains
The articles are written by Randy Carter, General Manager of Feather Falls Casino, and Bill Werst, President of Growth Associates, the consulting firm working with Randy and his staff to initiate the process of continuous organizational improvement.
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