If you haven’t already done this, I strongly recommend you sit down with your leadership team and create a list of your Operational Excellence fundamentals — the critical few things you have to get right, every time, for your guests.
Here’s how I’d run it. Have everyone write their own list first, then compare and discuss until you all agree on the core list. In my experience, a complete list comes down to just a handful of fundamentals. If yours runs long, one of two things is happening. Either you’re talking about multiple business units — the resort, the restaurant, the spa — and each of those needs its own list. Or you’re getting too specific. You don’t have to spell out every step of making a sandwich; you can simply say “make good food” and define the details somewhere else.
What makes the list is different for every business. A restaurant’s list probably includes speed of service, the taste of the food, the friendliness of the staff, and the cleanliness of the dining room. A bank branch might keep speed and friendliness, but add accuracy and security. Construction companies must meet design specs and building codes; family doctors must comply with privacy and prescription regulations. A resort is no different — your critical few might be the warmth of the welcome, the safety of every ride, spotless facilities, and how fast a problem gets solved.
When you’re unsure whether something belongs on the list, let your Customer Insight system settle it. Let the data tell you what is truly critical to your guests — and what isn’t.
Here’s why this matters so much. If you have not defined exactly what it looks like to operate with excellence, you could be struggling with consistency for one simple reason: your lack of clarity forces your people to guess — and they’re guessing wrong. That’s a leadership gap, not a staffing problem.
So you have a choice. You can hope your team figures it out through trial and error. You can reprimand them until they finally guess correctly. Or you can define excellence with a customized, clear, behavioral list — and give every person on every shift the same target to hit.
Clarity is the cheapest path to consistency. Name your critical few, define what excellent looks like for each one, and watch how much easier “world-class” becomes to deliver.