Below is an Autogenerated Transcript

Our job is to do what I call TPR. Say it with me. T-P-R. Stands for what? Right. Now notice what is below the line. Blame.

Blame. Sounds like this [indistinct chatter]  Ready? Everybody. I don’t want words. I just want the tone. Ready? Take your hand. Take your hand. Ready. Blame. Go. [indistinct chatter] [indistinct chatter] Oh, you sound very good at that. When I was a little boy, I grew up in a family with five kids. 

Got an older brother, Kenneth. I’m number two, Ronald then Douglas, Theodore and Catherine. But we did not call ourselves by those big, fancy names. We called ourselves Kenny, Ronnie, Dougie, Teddy, Kathy. Every once in a while, my mother would come into the playroom and we’d be throwing things at each other and banging each other against the wall. Four boys and a girl. One day she came in and, you know, chaos breaking out. She goes [indistinct chatter] She just barked like she would do. That’s a mom, right?

Immediately, the kids started going, “Kenny did it”, “Dougie did it”, “Ronnie did it”, “Kathy did it” “Theo did it.“ My mother came over and she grabbed my hand. She said, “Ronnie, look, one finger is pointing at your brother. Three fingers are pointing back at you.” She said to me, “What did you do that made all this fighting happen?” I looked at her, I was about 11 and I still remember because I felt very emotional in that moment. I said, “Well, the only reason I punched him is because I knew he was going to punch me back.” The moment I said it, I realized what I had said and how stupid it was. 

At that moment, I felt embarrassed and I felt ashamed. At that moment I did not blame my brother, I actually blamed myself. I felt ashamed. So shame is a little bit better than blame because you’re not throwing it at somebody else. But if you throw it on yourself, then you’re not in good condition to improve your service because you come to work like this. “Oh, man, I’m so. I can’t believe I made the same mistake.” “Oh, God. I did it again. What am I going to do?“ You’re not going to make improvements like that. 

So we stop doing blame and we stop doing shame. It’s not your fault. It’s not my fault. It’s the computer’s fault. It’s the budget’s fault. It’s the system’s fault. It’s the economy’s fault. We make some kind of an excuse, a story, a reason. But stories and excuses and reasons, they don’t actually improve anything. They just explain the state of affairs. 

So, if you want to improve, you have to step up and go above the line to TPR. Stands for what? Yeah, but I want you to say, like [grunts] I chose the word “take” because it is an assertive word. It doesn’t say “accept personal responsibility.” It doesn’t say “welcome personal responsibility.” It doesn’t say “have some personal responsibility.”

It says what? Ready? One, two, three. Take Personal R-Yeah, [grunts] That’s what I’m talking about. Bringing that kind of commitment, that kind of devotion, that kind of “Hey, you know what? There’s a lot for me to learn here. There’s a lot of situations I can apply it to. 

I can use it externally with customers. I can use it internally with colleagues.” Just to keep you interested, that’s not all there is. and we don’t have time today to go through the rest of that. But I want to whet your appetite for continuous learning about service. So when you go to our website at upyourservice.com, you can read articles about all of these. If you go on YouTube and you type in Ron Kaufman Service, you will find hundreds of videos on this.

Don’t you think that in one day at the Atlantis Hotel you’re going to be transformed into an outstandingly different service provider? I can inspire you. I can educate you a bit. I can motivate you, I hope. But you’ve got to be taking responsibility to do the work and improve yourself. How many are up for that? Say yes. Yeah, me too. That’s why I’m here with you.