Although Ruby Newell-Legner is not a pool
or spa professional, she has
inspired new service cultures
for owners, managers and guest-relations
staff in around 1,700 sports,
leisure and recreation facilities all
throughout the world for almost three
decades. Specifically, she designed
customized staff development
programs for 400 municipal and
county governments, 144 leisure
facilities, 97 stadiums and arenas, 66
professional sports teams, 60 schools,
universities, colleges and military
installations, 44 new facilities, 15 hotels
and six international sporting events.
Using Newell-Legner’s expertise
in leadership, guest experience
and employee engagement, one
organization moved from the No. 85
to the No. 1 position in the ESPN Fan
Experience rankings. She went on to
share this specific experience with
attendees of the AQUA Live Leadership
Retreat in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., this
past December, 2023. She set the scene
by claiming: “Employee engagement
will determine your staff’s ability to
influence your customers; it’s the secret
sauce to a successful business.”
CUSTOMER SERVICE MANTRA
Newell-Legner began her presentation
by asking the audience to raise
their hands if their company had an
internal slogan. Around a third of the
attendees’ hands shot up, so she went
on to pick a few people from the crowd
to share their saying with the rest of
the group. Internal slogans like, “We
want our clients to make more money”
and “Build a better pool for a better
customer,” were shared. Newell-Legner
then shared the internal slogan of the
San Antonio Spurs basketball team, of
which she helped successfully execute.
“You can tell your staff what it is,
but it’s better if they’re engaged and
create the mantra themselves,” says
Newell-Legner. “It’s not necessarily
a marketing piece that you put on a
billboard; it’s something that really
resonates with your employees, and
it’s an internal piece that you’re all
working towards. However, the mantra
can apply, and should apply, to both
the internal and external customers.
“Treat everyone like family and
create meaningful memories amongst
themselves was the mantra, or mission
really, of the people who worked for
the Spurs. They put that slogan up
at the guest entrance, the employee
entrance; all throughout the building,
really, so that everyone would see it
upon arrival. They had events around it,
merchandise, you name it, they had it.”
After giving the example of the Spurs, Newell-Legner went on to ask the
audience an important question. “What
steps are you taking as a pool and/
or spa industry leader to really create
passion in your employees through the
implementation of an internal saying
or slogan? Whether it’s a strategic plan,
or an emotional jingle, your customer
service mantra will make a big difference
in the happiness and success of your
employees, and in turn, your customers.”
CLEAR EXPECTATIONS
Another step you can take as a
business manager or owner to
make a happy and successful work
environment is to clearly state the job
roles, responsibilities and expectations
of all your workers, including yourself.
“When I worked as a facility manager,
I replaced the same management
position three times in six months; it
was like a revolving door,” says Newell-
Legner. “It’s unbelievably disappointing
when you invest in someone and take
the time to train them, only to have
them quit right after, which happened
to me two times in a row. I remember
sitting down with the third management
hire, going over things, and within a
week, they were outside my door with
a ton of questions. I forgot to tell them
everything there was to know about their
new job due to the revolving door effect.”
It’s important to note that as a
manager or business owner, you
have to make sure your employees,
especially your new employees, are
given clear expectations in order
to effectively complete their work
functions. You can’t expect anyone to
read your mind or know how to do
something without direction.
Newell-Legner then went on to ask
the audience what three words their
employees would choose in order to
describe what was expected of them.
“The three words should be what
your company represents; what you
stand for. It’s everything we as leaders
expect from our employees. And if
your employees can’t come up with
any words, or their words are different
from your own, then you don’t have
clear expectations. In the previous
example, I was able to sit down and
clearly state I expected customer
service, teamwork and initiative from
my employees. However, at that time,
most of my employees wouldn’t have
known those three expectations.
“I spent some time defining
what each of those three words
meant, and I started using them in
a variety of places. I used customer
service, teamwork and initiative in
job descriptions, in interviews, when
validating references and when
offering someone a position. On
their first day of work, regardless of
if the new employee was full time or
seasonal, I now had a process that
outlined my three expectations with
concrete examples of each so that
they knew what was expected of them
from day one. I also gave them a list
of don’ts. At the end of that first week
of onboarding, I would now ask them
what three roles were expected of them
above all else, and if they couldn’t
immediately say customer service,
teamwork and initiative, then I hadn’t
done my job well.”
POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT
To emphasize the importance of
positive reinforcement, Newell-Legner
used the example from when she
worked with a professional sports
team that went from No. 85 to No. 1 in
ESPN’s fan-experience rankings.
She started with the franchise
employees, and a recognition program.
Employees who scored a perfect
100% would get their picture on the
wall and a congratulatory buzzer of
arrival to work everyday. Management
would also thank their employees for
providing world-class service on their
way out of work.
“Studies say you’re 78% more
productive at work if you are
recognized more frequently,” says
Newell-Legner. “This statistic goes
hand in hand with being more
engaged, loving your job and sticking
around for the long haul.”
These and other efforts to simply
recognize and reward excellent work
produced immediate results.
“We started out at 4,000 season
ticket members, and within the first
year of implementing this positive
reinforcement plan, we sold 10,000
tickets, which included personal
jerseys,” says Newell-Legner. “If the
season ticket members wore their
customized jerseys to the games, they
would get 35% off merchandise and
25% off concessions, which incentivized
them to wear the jersey even more.
We eventually went up to 14,000
members within 18 months, which got
us from the No. 85 spot in the ESPN
fan experience to the No. 1 spot in all
of sports. Moral of the story — if you
set a bar that everybody can reach, and
they get rewarded for reaching it, then
all your employees will be incentivized
to succeed, which in turn, makes your
business succeed.”
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