'Flying-Fish' Market

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“There is a funny fish market in one part of the world. Before you enter this market many meters away, you can hear the cheering noise with thundering applause. You feel like you are entering a sports game. Suddenly you can see an energetic fishmonger is firing a slippery salmon at a coworker. He makes a spectacular one-handed catch. The crowd applauds. Then he invites a delighted customer to catch the fish. Their passion is electrifying. All fishmongers sing together. Amazing teamwork and coordination.

The fishmongers greet their customers like old friends. When a fishmonger serves you, you feel like you are the most precious customer on the whole planet! Amazing experience. Approximately 10,000 customers come to this fish market per day from everywhere. They do buy lots of fish! But at the same time, they enjoy it a lot. This is the world-famous ‘Pike Place Fish Market’, situated in Seattle, USA.

This is a fine example where front-line employees have initiated service revolutions creating an award-winning service culture. The employees throw and catch fish across the stall to give its customers an award-winning show. The employees came up with this idea themselves and they enthusiastically put it into action.

Because front liners have to follow rigid policies and procedures in a typical organization. Because they are not empowered and enabled. Because oftentimes the senior management assumes front liners are not educated and intelligent enough to take initiatives. Sounds familiar? So, they do the routine work as usual. But remember front liners are the people who constantly keep in touch with the customers. They are the people who know the customers' behaviors so well than any other employee in the organization. They are the people who have the potential to take initiates to deliver a WOW customer experience. 

What if they are empowered through proper training? What if they are encouraged, coached, and trained on the job constantly through their supervisors? What if you motivate them through a proper incentive scheme? What if you encourage their innovative ideas and behaviors through recognition and a reward system?

Leading service from all levels means that every employee takes personal responsibility for what they do.

Many argue service leadership should be initiated from the top. But what happens if it gets fragmented in the middle? Or in simple terms what happens if the serving philosophy doesn’t pass from top to the bottom smoothly?

On the other hand, others argue it should be initiated from the bottom. But what happens if they are not trained empowered and coached properly to take responsibility and service initiatives.

Therefore, Service leadership may be initiated from the top, but it is also embraced at the bottom and is encouraged and enabled everywhere in between. Remember, you have to focus on middle management at the same time. You have to have a lot of training, coaching in the place in developing a serving culture. When you empower the front office people, when you equip them with the right tools through training and development, when you encourage them to take initiative, and when you trust them, amazing things will happen in your organization! Just like in Pike Place Fishmarket.

Give it a try! No harm for trying. Who knows, your organization will be the next one to give an award-winning customer experience.

Stay Blessed!”