Mary Gober International

Improving Employee Engagement

and Customer Service

Introduction

Virgin Holidays is one of the UK’s largest and most successful transatlantic tour operators and always strives to enhance its service. When it wanted to improve its customer service and refocus its corporate culture, it turned to Mary Gober International (MGI) for expert guidance and training. MGI has now worked with Virgin Holidays for two years, training all the company’s 580 staff in the unique 2-day Gober Method™ seminar, adapted specially to the client’s brand values.

Amanda Wills, Managing Director, is passionate about the Gober Method. She was determined to drive it into the business and demonstrated this by personally introducing all the seminars. Amanda says:

“If there’s anything a company should invest in during an economic downturn, this is it.”

The results, in the words of Virgin Holidays’ directors, have been “staggering”:

• Staff satisfaction is now at 97%
• Customer complaints have been reduced by an incredible 20%

Jon Holmes, Finance and Business Support Director, says:

“We thought that becoming more customer focused might affect our profitability in the short term. In fact we’ve become more customer focused and more profitable.”

The Drive for Culture Change & Consistency

Two years ago, Virgin Holidays recognised that it needed to enhance its customer service. Pauline Wilson, Virgin Holidays’ Head of Customer Services, says:

“We had great products and pockets of brilliant service, but we needed more consistency and focus.”

Amanda Wills indicated that accountability was also an issue:

“There needed to be more common ownership of the customer, more taking responsibility and a greater sense of a group of people working well together to deliver excellence.”

The newly appointed Head of Finance Operations, Sarah Kershaw, recognised that her Accounts Payable team was under huge pressure from suppliers:

“They weren’t making it easier for themselves by how they were responding.”

Damian Fazackerley, General Manager of Operational Excellence and IT, also felt that his team could perform better:

“We needed more passion, more consistent language and behaviour and a better perception of IT among our internal customers. We needed to change from being technology-centric to customer-centric.”

Employee Engagement

Internal surveys in 2006 had shown that the company’s values were not sufficiently well understood by staff, and that too few lived by them when dealing with customers and fellow employees. In response, the company launched a new set of values in 2007:

• Passionate about making holidays perfect
• All working together
• Being ‘Bright Red’

The company’s leaders were determined that staff should understand the vital importance of passionately living these values and creating what Jon Holmes calls:

“the ‘magic touches’ that enable us to live up to the Virgin promise and create perfect holidays.”

Working with Mary Gober International

Pauline Wilson had attended an MGI seminar before she joined Virgin Holidays. Impressed by what she saw, she arranged for MGI to train Virgin Holidays’ entire Service Delivery team in a tailored 2‑day seminar in early 2007, which was hugely successful. As a result, Sarah Kershaw arranged for her Accounts Payable team to attend a dedicated 2-day seminar in early 2008. And that September, staff at Virgin Holidays’ V ROOM at Gatwick – the country’s first airport lounge for families – also received Gober Method training.

Meanwhile, Virgin Holidays’ Board of Directors attended an executive briefing delivered personally by Mary Gober in February 2008. They were so convinced by the importance of the Gober Method that they asked MGI to train the entire company’s staff in nine large-scale “Living our Values using the Gober Method” Seminars in the summer of 2008.

Training Excellence in Action

Virgin Holidays has been impressed by MGI’s professionalism, outstanding attention to detail and ability to tailor the training to help all staff understand and live the company values. Pauline Wilson says:

“They really embody their own principles.”

Terri Bailey, General Manager of People and Performance, points to MGI’s creativity:

“Their ability to build energy through a variety of interactive techniques made the skills and learning come to life. They think of everything down to the smallest thing, and it really pays off.”

Tailoring the Training Experience

Meanwhile, MGI’s determination to match Virgin Holidays’ precise requirements impressed Sarah Kershaw:

“They were incredibly focused, professional and organised in every respect. Nothing was too much trouble. You quickly learn to expect high standards when you meet an MGI consultant.”

Damian Fazackerley says MGI’s consultants always ask for feedback and are constantly improving and adapting their approach to meet our needs. He says:

“It’s just about the slickest organisation I have ever worked with.”

An Immediate Impact

The MGI seminars were rated ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ by almost 90% of employees – results that Terri Bailey says were “fantastic” and Pauline Wilson describes the tangible difference that was immediately apparent:

“People were describing the training as ‘life changing’ and ‘the best thing we’ve done for years.’  We got an immediate sense we were on the right page. The Gober Method quickly became the currency for how we deal with customers.”

Sarah Kershaw agrees:

“The training had an immediate, positive effect on the team. Not only are they taking ownership, but the suppliers are getting paid on time. It’s clear that MGI’s training has achieved the all-important culture change the project sponsors knew was so vital.”

A Unifying Effect

Amanda Wills says the training:

“made a ‘huge impact’ leading to everyone speaking the ‘right language’ – MGI were second to none.  All our hopes were realised.”

The Seminars created a discernible ‘buzz’ around the whole business. People who had attended enthused others who were about to attend, and came back with a toolkit of useful information, skills and materials that they began to use immediately.

The Seminars were cross-functional, so Damian Fazackerley’s IT staff found themselves learning alongside other teams – something that he describes as “hugely beneficial.” Damian says his team is now much more focused on meeting the needs of their customers:

“They realise that service is just as important as function.”

Pauline Wilson agrees:

“It has created a cultural shift that has energised everyone in the business to genuinely care and take the right actions for customers.”

Bottom-line Impact

The Gober Method has had a measurable impact on Virgin Holidays, and the figures speak for themselves. Between early 2007 (before the company started working with MGI) and late 2008:

• Staff satisfaction increased to 97%
• The percentage of customers saying they “would recommend Virgin Holidays” increased by 5%
• First-time resolution of customer complaints went up by 3%

Virgin Holidays’ directors say they were surprised by the sheer extent of the impact. Jon Holmes was delighted with the results, describing them as “off the scale” and “a demonstration of two of the Gober Method’s key lessons: focusing on what you can control and influence, and staying positive.” Pauline Wilson describes the results as having “a very positive impact on the company’s finances.”

Amanda Wills says:

“Virgin Holidays can face the economic downturn with confidence, because customers keep coming back.”

Measurable Improvement in Employee Engagement

Virgin Holidays’ staff survey results for October 2008 showed a big improvement on 2006. Most importantly, the percentage of staff agreeing that the company lives by its values went up from 46% to 79%, which Amanda Wills describes as “phenomenal” and directly attributable to the Gober Method. Further results were just as impressive:

• The percentage of employees saying “I am proud to work for Virgin Holidays” increased to 95%
• The percentage of employees saying “I am satisfied in my present job at Virgin Holidays” increased to 79%
• 84% of employees say they would recommend Virgin Holidays as a place to work
• 93% say they understand the strategy and objectives of Virgin Holidays
• 89% say “working here makes me want to do the best I can”

The impact has also been felt at team level. Damian Fazackerley says of his IT Service Desk team:

“Our internal customer satisfaction rating used to be acceptable, at around 85%. But in six out of the last nine months we’ve delivered 100% satisfaction.”

Sarah Kershaw’s Accounts Payable team conducts a customer satisfaction survey every month and found positive responses “shot up to over 90%.” She also points to much happier suppliers, like Disney, who now contact her team directly to congratulate them on their help and support – something that rarely happened before.

Sustaining and Embedding Culture Change

Virgin Holidays’ leadership team understands the vital importance of embedding culture change and making it sustainable. The company has kept the Gober Method at the forefront of its day-to-day business, using it in management, in one-to-one and annual reviews, and by reminding staff of its key lessons through posters, call guides and other prompts. The company holds quarterly staff briefings where staff nominate colleagues for a prize awarded to the person who has lived each of the company values most effectively.

On-going Coaching and Training

Pauline Wilson has worked with MGI to get Virgin Holidays staff from all parts of the business accredited as Gober Method coaches, so that they live and breathe the skills that they learned in the training. And the 2-day “Living our Values using the Gober Method” seminar is now included in the induction programme for all new staff.

The Mary Gober Experience

The success of any culture change programme is best determined by a simple question: would you recommend it to other organisations? Virgin Holidays executives unanimously say ‘yes’.  They add that, to maximise the benefits, you should know what you want to achieve, have drive and buy-in right from the top and – perhaps most important of all – be prepared to build on the positive impact it will make.

Speaking of the MGI experience as a whole, Terri Bailey says:

“It’s resulted in a real change in behaviour.”

Jon Holmes describes MGI as:

“One of the few training companies that can genuinely achieve culture change, because they relate it to people’s real lives.”

Pauline Wilson sums up the views of many at Virgin Holidays:

“The Gober Method is the vehicle for a total change of mindset.”