From the desk of Signature Parking Founder & CEO Michael Holmstrom. The Weekly Drive is a collection of company news, ideas & inspiration that can drive us all to be better humans.
Signature Updates
Happy St. Patricks Day!
We’re excited to announce a new partnership with Tip Brightly, a cashless APP for tipping. Signature Parking customers will now be able to leave a tip at select locations by scanning the QR code at the podium and paying using Apple Pay, Google Pay, or a Credit Card from their mobile device. Now customers without cash can leave a tip and our team members can put more money in their pockets. Signature is covering a modest monthly subscription fee to ensure our team members get the money they deserve. We’re currently beta testing at two locations in LA and hope to roll out the feature to all of our valet podiums by next quarter. Read the Press Release Here
Did you know that Signature Parking is one of the highest-rated parking companies in California based on employee reviews (among companies with at least 25+ reviews). We currently rank 4.4 out of 5 and we’re very proud of that. Glass door is a website that gathers reviews from employees about their current and former employers. I believe our rating speaks to the hard work our leadership team puts into creating a fun and enjoyable workplace, a healthy company culture, and a range of opportunities for growth and learning. We would love to push our 4.4 rating up to 4.6 or higher! If you would like to help us, please review us on Glass Door.
Signature Moments & Customer Feedback
Nominate someone for a Signature Moment! One thing we have learned over the years is that the best surefire way to deliver a WOW Customer service experience is by creating an emotional connection with our guests. Making our guests feel welcomed and cared for is one way we do that. There are many other examples of this being delivered each day by our team members – and we define these moments as “Signature Moments”. If you have a Signature Moment or would like to nominate a fellow team member you caught delivering a great Signature Moment, please let us know. Email [email protected]. Each month, we’ll nominate at least one winner as the best Signature Moment and award $50.
Insights
Why Feedback is important in the workplace – Last week I mentioned we are working on a new performance enablement system to help further our core values of continuous growth, learning, and improvement. Central to this system is having a culture of feedback at Signature where everyone feels comfortable asking for and receiving feedback from their colleagues and managers. We have realized that the tradition of conducting only infrequent annual reviews was not super helpful for our team members. They can be anxiety provoking, they don’t always provide timely feedback, they can be too formal, and are not always a 2-way conversation.
Bill Gates said, “We all need people to give us feedback, this is how we improve”
Enter the monthly one on one (1:1) conversation. Our monthly 1:1 between managers and their team members is a regular coaching opportunity to improve performance, discuss personal and professional growth, and strengthen relationships. I know we all want to succeed and do well at our jobs and receiving timely and constructive feedback about how we’re doing is critical to our growth and development. In fact, according to Harvard Business Review, 72% of people feel their performance would improve if their manager gave them corrective feedback. 57% of those surveyed prefer corrective feedback to simply receiving praise and recognition, although recognition for our efforts is also important too! Many of you are already having these regular conversations with your managers and that’s great! Our new software will support our monthly 1:1’s by sending reminders to everyone and providing more structure to these conversations.
Leveling Up
I really enjoy receiving constructive feedback, but I’ll be the first to admit I have not always been very good at giving feedback. On occasion, I would shy away from difficult conversations, or deliver feedback in a way that was not always effective…but I’m learning, and you can too. Delivering feedback isn’t just a manager’s job, it’s something every team member should practice so you can also deliver effective peer-to-peer feedback when necessary.
Watch: The Secret to giving great feedback
Check out this quick 5-minute video then feel free to reply to this email and provide ME with some feedback on how I can improve as a CEO and/or how we can make Signature a better place to work in general. All comments are welcome. Let’s get the conversation started!
Quotes worth pondering
“Spring is nature’s way of saying, Let’s Party!!!” – Robin Williams
Reach Out
I love to hear from our employees. Please feel free to reply to this email.