If a gilt-edged payslip isn’t an option, how can businesses introduce a culture where the richest rewards for both staff and customers aren’t monetary? Drew Stevens-King, Head of Culture and Development at Butlins, reveals how 3,500 ‘team members’ have been motivated by its Navigators and Roadmap Programme, catching the eye of blue-chip companies keen to hear about its success.
Billy Butlin, the founder of Butlins resorts, was famed for his innovation. He invented the concept of the British holiday resort and plucked Shakespeare’s line “Our true intent is all for your delight” to be the basis of the company’s ethos. It is this spirit that has been revived in recent years, as resonant in the 21st century as the 1930s when it was first adopted.
Nowhere is this more apparent than the company’s team ethos, which has undergone its own revival over the past decade. The Butlins culture had not always been rosy. Butlins at one point had really lost its way. It was 2004 when the company decided that it needed to revisit its roots; the business had been bought by Bourne Leisure from its former owners in 1998 and investment poured in to create a better product for guests. However the service levels did not reflect the changes, and with a seasonal team of 3500 the challenge was clear. The customer service strategy in place in 2004, as with many organisations, was perceived as a training course owned by the human resources team, where there was little ownership from the wider organisation and no assimilation to day to day working life. As a result the team became disengaged with the business. Butlins needed the work ethic of its team to evolve; for individuals to go the extra mile for guests, to have a sense of pride in the Butlins brand and to embolden this attitude amongst their peers.
To turn a worsening situation around and reconnect with its employees, Butlins teamed up with Wilson Learning, the organisation who had been working with the Walt Disney Company to revolutionise the way the business approached its customer care. After undertaking a company-wide audit, the newly proposed strategy centred on promoting ownership. This would require the business to allow empowerment at every level. The strategy enforced the belief that a strong culture must focus on positive language and behaviour from the top to the bottom of the organisation’s structure. Regardless of the role the individual performs daily, Butlins now believes that everyone is in sales and everyone is in service. A difficult guest issue on-resort should primarily be resolved by the team member the guest first approaches. Every member of Butlins is empowered to act immediately to find a solution. To achieve this, the key character traits of empathy and a problem solving attitude were identified. Butlins now looks for these qualities during the recruitment process, ranked higher in the final recruitment decision than the skills offered for the role, which it believes can largely be learnt.
Changing a company-wide culture was not an easy task; the culture team’s hard work and dogged resistance to internal scepticism were essential to staying on track during the transition. The reaction from individuals fell into three categories; those that embraced it from the start, those that were sceptical, but on seeing commitment from the business and the early results were converted, and those that had been in the business a long time and fully resistant to change. It is this third sector that presented the most difficult period for the cultural team. Butlins had embarked upon a programme that had to be carried through, the decision was made clear: come with us or part ways. The individuals that chose to leave rather than adopt the new strategy represented the toughest part of the project. Once the cultural change had been kick-started, the next step was to develop the ‘Strategy Wheel’. Now popular in many large corporate organisations, it is an effective tool in ensuring the future development of the business remains close to what it believes will bring it success. At Butlins, everything revolves around the statement that ‘Butlins helps hard-working families rediscover their sparkle’, with operations, the team, the environment and the product contributing to this goal. It is the beating heart of the business, a filter for all decisions made. But how does this translate to the team, who can feel distanced from a strategy when facing the daily tasks of their roles?
This is the question that led the development of the Navigator and Roadmap programme. The Butlins Navigators are team members from any department across all of the three resorts in Minehead, Skegness and Bognor Regis and its Central Support in Hemel Hempstead. They share a great attitude and passion about the brand, people and customer service, but no one is paid extra for their time and work as a Navigator. Navigators are the safeguards of the culture and brand, and are responsible for leading the ‘Roadmap’ programme of induction and training for all team members. This is not a one-off training session; recruits meet the Navigators before they are even trained in the skills required for their specific role. They then take four separate courses spread over the first two months to ensure the Navigator messaging is consistently reinforced. The programme asks a lot, but the success is undeniable; there is a waiting list of people keen to join the programme. In return, Navigators receive support in two key areas: firstly coaching and personal development, including twice yearly coaching days, mentoring and performance feedback and secondly, from company-wide recognition during the Annual Navigator Conference and reward scheme.
Many will read this and agree with the concept, but feel unsure on how to sell such a whole-sale change in strategy to the wider business. Butlins has relied on a series of benchmarks, internal as well as from industry, as proof-points to the strategy’s success. The 2012 Butlins team survey, undertaken confidentially and anonymously by an independent auditor, outlined that 83 percent of the company ‘Love their job’, 91 percent believes their ‘work at Butlins is important’ and 92 percent ‘care how the Butlins brand is perceived by guests’. This is reflected again by the Butlins ranking of 4th in the Sunday Times Best Big Companies to Work For in 2012. Industry experts have been equally impressed; an IIP Review reported “your people display a passion and commitment that many other organisations can only envy”. Hotel expert Alex Polizzi advised “as a hotelier, I cannot help but be impressed at how the company manages to transmit the Butlins ethos to so many employees, who, without exception, were charming, friendly, helpful, smiling, knowledgeable about everything and calm, even when faced with an overprotective mother, me, who had lost sight of her child. Billy Butlin would be proud”.
But these accolades mean nothing if it is not felt by the most important group; the guests. Across all guests hosted in 2012, 71 percent considered their overall experience to be very good or excellent. Butlins has launched its Events arm, which has already welcomed blue-chip organisations like Activision, Sky News International for their conferences and team-building. It is a sign that confidence in the company and its approach to its customer service is catching on within professional sectors. “I’ve never been to a Butlin’s before but it surpassed my expectations and was a pleasure to visit. The staff were great and it was a fun setting for the team to work together in,” was the feedback from Sky News. This appreciation from companies taking their teams to the venues and entrusting Butlins with their team bonding time is hard fought-for and invaluable to the business. Moreover, the Bourne Leisure board recognises the value of this new way of working, prompting it to continue to invest in the brand.
Without this cultural strategy, the three brand new modern hotels in Bognor Regis, the extensive bar and restaurant development at Minehead and the newest development of Splash Waterworld at Skegness would not have come into fruition. So what next for the strategy? Butlins has been approached to host training sessions with large companies such as Waitrose and The John Lewis Partnership specifically on its cultural strategy. It may be a sign of things to come. It is a great success story from a company that has tackled negative perceptions from the bottom up. The Big-hearted team that Butlins is so proud of has returned to the intent of Billy Butlin over 75 years ago, with a bit of extra sparkle.
