But the customer comes after the employees. Because, if the employees themselves are not focussed or do not have the requisite service and technology skill, then how can they deliver good service to customers?"The business organisation's service excellencies, on the other hand, depend on its inner excellencies and outer excellencies," says Michael Lavin, a psychotherapist and a board member of the US-based Chicago Psychological Association. Lavin was in the Capital to conduct a workshop for the employees of Hotel Hyatt Regency. According to Lavin, a business organisation's inner excellencies are its employees' skills, while its outer excellencies are service skills like location, ambience, technology, etc.

"The outer or extrinsic excellencies of a business organisation contribute only 15 per cent for its success in retaining customers loyal to it, the remaining 85 per cent comes its inner excellencies which are the organisation's people skills," Lavin explains.

Lavin says that inner excellence has four As-Awake, Aware, Acceptance and Appreciation. Employees should be awake and aware to the present rather than the future or the past. A 100 per cent attention to the present makes an employee more focussed. Employees' acceptance and appreciation capabilities, on the other hand, determine the quality of service they can render to the customers or the guests and these in turn determine their success. "To judge one's acceptance and appreciation capabilities, one should ask oneself who does he think is the worst guest and who does he think is an ideal guest," says Lavin. "And after listing the characteristics of the worst guest and an ideal guest, one should replace the word `guest' with `employee'-this describes on what lines a bad employee or a good employee thinks and his attitude towards guests or customers." The idea: feeling good about oneself produces good results. "And if you think, say and do what is right and true, you will enjoy more power. There is then anatural flow of one's body and mind energy. Thinking, saying or doing what is wrong or false makes one lose power as this involves a reverse energy flow, says he.

Then comes the motivation of an employee and his capability to work in a team. These include four Cs: Commitment, Contribution, Communication and Cooperation. "An employee is greatly motivated and committed to his work and he really cares for his work if he feels a kind of ownership of the business," Lavin elaborates. Likewise, Lavin segregates communication into three parts: communication through words, communication through body language, and communication through vibration. He says, "When all the three are added up, it yields congruence or credibility." Finally, when it comes to success, it requires mainly three things: aptitude or the talent, motivation or the desire, and optimism or the desire to take up challenge, he concludes.