Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross

1/ Notice

This headline on LinkedIn caught my eye:

Every detail matters.

Written by my friend Dean Moon, it reminded me of a sales leadership workshop I attended years ago.

We were at the Whately Hall Hotel right next to Banbury Cross in Oxfordshire.

Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
To see a fine lady upon a white horse;
Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,
And she shall have music wherever she goes.

The company I worked for used this hotel for most of their courses because the training and development manager lived nearby. Graeme was a brilliant teacher, sharp as a tack, an old-school executive trained by Xerox and Burroughs Corporation

I used to attend these courses with a mixture of trepidation and excitement.

What has this got to do with “every detail matters”?

Well, in the evenings we would have a formal dinner (silver service) in the restaurant and at lunchtime there was a carvery. As well as being trained in sales leadership, we were being groomed in etiquette to entertain executive level clients.

On the occasion I remember it was lunchtime. Our cutlery was laid out on the dining tables. We sat down.

And at this point Graeme called over the maître d' and gave him an elegant, but almighty roasting.

All because the hotel had laid the tables with paper serviettes, not cloth table napkins. Such a small thing, right?

Why was this important?

First, the expectation is that fine dining in a five-star hotel demands cloth napkins. Graeme saw the hotel was "trying it on". There was no way that was going to happen on his watch. He demonstrated how to confront an issue of standards in real time.

Second, he was able to fix in the mind of his students that "every detail matters". The context doesn't change that. I'm recalling this years later because it was embedded in my psyche. I still look for signs of sloppiness. I aim to make event venue performance perfect for my clients.

Finally, allowing standards to slip, allowing people to get away with it is, as Dean said in his post, “a sign of sloppiness.” It's a sign the leader is prepared to accept average, not striving for excellence.

2/ Question

Where have you corrected a situation because every detail mattered?

3/ Act

Today, find one small detail that falls below the standard you want to be known for. Now correct it immediately.

Keep me posted.

That’s it until next week.

Clive