Chris Hurn’s son was distraught. He had left his favorite stuffed giraffe “Joshie” in his hotel room during a recent stay at the Ritz-Carlton. Mr. Hurn, in an effort to placate his distressed son, assured him that Joshie had decided to stay a few extra days on vacation. Mr. Hurn then called the Ritz Carlton and related the story to the staff.

The dedicated employees of the hotel sprung into action. They photographed Joshie at the Ritz-Carlton in a series of activities that the stuffed giraffe was involved in – including lounging by the pool, working at a computer and receiving a spa treatment. They emailed the photos to Mr. Hurn’s son – reassuring the boy that Joshie was busy and having the time of his life.

Ritz-Carlton has a reputation of a company that consistently delivers an extraordinary experience to its customers. But such superior customer service doesn’t just happen. Management at the Ritz-Carlton understands that the key to delivering “knock your socks off” customer service is to develop employees who are highly engaged with the company, its mission and its intense focus on delivering a superlative customer experience.

If the key to creating positive customer experiences is to develop highly engaged employees, then how does management proceed? Unfortunately, the majority of North American businesses, with their maniacal focus on profits, numbers, analytics, spreadsheets and planning have missed the boat. They view employees as expendable commodities that are replaceable and a drain on profits.

Fortunately, the emerging field of neuroscience has given executives key insights into the brains of their workforces that suggest that it is essential that they incorporate best leadership practices that create highly-engaged employees who deliver unsurpassed customer experiences. It turns out that our brains are wired to connect with each other. In fact, our need to socialize with each other is even more basic than our need for food and shelter. If executives create company cultures that promote respect for our social nature as well as core human values, they will produce highly engaged workforces..

How exactly can executives go about doing this? David Rock, co-founder of the NeuroLeadership Institute, offers some sound advice. His SCARF model, which stands for Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness, offers neuroscientific proof that, pursuing the following leadership actions actually activate the reward regions in the brain and generate high levels of engagement:

  • Enhancing an employee’s status
  • Creating a sense of certainty, particularly in times of change
  • Creating a sense of autonomy that an employee has some sense of control over his/her environment
  • Creating a sense of belonging to the team and company
  • Treating employees fairly

Mr. Rock presents evidence that decreasing the five SCARF domains activates the pain regions in the brain and provokes the ‘fight or flight’ response – resulting in disengaged workers.

So, marketers, wake up! If you want to create a culture based on delivering superior customer experiences, engage your employees by wearing a SCARF to work. Just ask Joshie the toy giraffe.