Visit from Home Office

March 22, 2012

I’m from Corporate and I’m here to help. Those are the words that no remote location employee of a corporation wants to hear. Having been one of those corporate employees visiting divisions I’ve certainly been the object of that criticism. When people from the corporate office of any corporation arrive they do so with good intentions yet with a major hurdle to overcome. If they are wise they understand that is the perspective and they must humbly work to address that impression.

Still it is vital that the people from the Home Office visit the field to understand the reality of the operation and to ensure a connection between the front lines and those who support the operation from afar. And so, while at port in St. Maarten three of our senior Vice Presidents, from Marine, Hotel, and Human Resources came to visit Silhouette. In an attempt to maximize their time the group from home office planned to visit both Silhouette and Eclipse who as at port with us at the same time. This resulted in a very compressed schedule and a lot of intense coordination between the two ships.

As a result the schedule for this event was refined multiple times as we prepared for the day. Yet, everyone was intent on making this a high impact day for both ships even if it was the favorite port for the crew to go ashore on any Caribbean itinerary. The visit was scheduled to begin with a presentation by the executives on the current objectives and plans for the company. The second step was for our VP of Human Resources to meet with the Crew Welfare teams of both ships. Finally, there were Starring Crew Brunches scheduled for each ship to celebrate the amazing role are crews do in serving our guests. Unfortunately, Eclipse went into OPP Level 2 meaning that our crews were not able to visit each other’s ship. Since it was not possible to join together for the Crew Welfare meeting, no Crew Welfare meeting was done on either ship. This was extremely unfortunate as it limited the interaction between our corporate officers and the crew.

The initial presentation to officers on each ship, done separately, was very informative and inspiring as we celebrated the great work that had been done and clearly embrace the opportunities ahead.  But sadly, for an event that was advertised as a Starring Crew Day was now being mostly conducted at a distance from most of the crew. There was, of course, the Starring Crew Brunch, but on a day when if the crew was not working they would rather be in port the attendance was likely to be sparse. It was an unfortunate choice for those who didn’t stick around.

The brunch was truly spectacular. The main dining room the Grand Cuvee Restaurant was closed for the mid-day meal and turned over to the crew and served an amazing assortment of all the finest foods that are offered to the guests. Prime rib carvings, sushi stations, amazing pastas and soups, crepes, dishes of all kinds and for every taste. The desserts by themselves could have provided an attractive diversity out of which to create an entire meal. (Not healthy, of course, but a whole lot of fun.) To make things even better for the crew the officers served behind the lines, our chance to serve them.

My job at the event, though, was to run our Shining Stars of the Month presentation in which we give awards to the top two guest facing crew members as identified by their peers, the top two non-guest facing crew, and the top manager. The key to the success of this was that our visitors would be there for the presentation. However, they were bouncing back and forth between two ships. Once they returned to Silhouette they needed to eat which delayed the presentation even longer. Fortunately, our Celebrity Orchestra was providing some outstanding jazz to accompany the meal, but more and more crew were finishing their meal and heading into the island. Still, since we had a raffle for a laptop and several other prizes at the end of the meal we still managed to hold onto a couple hundred of the crew. The awards are always fun as they allow us really make the day of five of our crew. Each crew member receives a commemorative plaque, a cash bonus, a shirt and lapel pin, and finally a picture with our captain. What was very special to me was that my cabin steward, Joseph, was one of the recipients which made this truly a personally special day. Overall, the day was a great event. Still, it struck me that due to the defined limitations of time and port the even was less personal for our crew than it could have been, and perhaps needed to be.

So I appreciate the effort of our VPs coming to visit the ship but really look forward to helping them refine this approach to make it even more meaningful for the crew. Ideally crew will look forward to these visits instead of seeing them as an interruption to their schedules.

And the adventure continues . . .