By Jim Mikula, President/CEO

Many years ago, when I was challenged by a mentor to be more curious and be a learner vs a knower. There is one book he recommended that I still reference today: George Leonard’s “Mastery.” Leonard was a WWII pilot who served in the Pacific theater and a 5th degree black belt in the martial art of Aikido. Seems like sufficient expertise to write a book called Mastery. A recent article in MIT Sloan Management Review caught my attention. Building Mastery: What Leaders Do That Helps – or Impedes, by Lynda Gratton.
Gratton states in her article “Mastery” is an idea whose time has come again. She defines Mastery as “the capacity to create a deep body of knowledge and skills, in the way that craftspeople master their crafts.” She advocates for “diving in and really knowing a lot about a few things” especially as we move into an age of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). Further, she sees the role of humans in a GenAI world is to use our innate abilities to have insights, wisdom, and memories, abilities that GenAI currently does not possess.
Sociologist Richard Sennett of the London School of Economics observed master craftsmen such as glassblowers and musicians. He described their advancement through three stages: apprentice, journeyman, and master. This progression is a process of observation, repetition and feedback - close observation of a master, repetition of the craft, and continual feedback. Gratton also found in her survey that 52% of her subjects stated their primary way of becoming a master is “practice and repetition,” and only 4% said attending a training program followed by 1% “watching online classes.”
The work of Gratton and Sennett leads to a question: If practice and repetition are so important, in today’s business world (or even in schools) do we allow the space and time for practice and repeat? This is an important question for our local businesses that rely on visitors. I think about mastering customer service and how we might create a “practice field” for our employees to master this craft. Thinking further, have we mastered or seek to master the craft of excellent customer service?
Having been an apprentice in a hotel kitchen I remember the masters who taught me and thank goodness for their patience. I think I fell into the slow-but-trainable category often enough. I remember the numerous times the butcher made me practice making hamburger patties without a form and working to maintain a consistent shape and weight for each patty. The Sous Chef had me practice before a shift making one of the four Roux sauces—talk about quick and clear feedback! While I have not become a Master Chef (more like an advanced beginner), I am familiar with the process of observation, repetition and feedback.
I am now curious about how we can bring the practice of observation, repetition and feedback into our businesses—especially those that rely on customer service which also coincides with high turnover of staff. These are also often the kinds of first jobs that young people hold entering the work world. For now, I do not have an answer and promise to dig into how to help our Chamber members create more learning opportunities for our critical line employees. For many businesses in our town, it is the lowest paid employees who have the most customer contact and can influence a purchase or get the party of four to order some desserts.
One of the Chamber’s Master Classes will focus on Creating Excellent Customer Service, and we will explore creating the process of observation, repetition and feedback.
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