#413 channels

As part of our staff retreat on Wednesday, we took a tour of Lock and Dam #11 on the Mississippi River.  Our tour guide, Ranger Brian, was a perfect combination of business, history and humor.  

He set out the ground rules before we began: we were entering a government restricted area; there were cables and danger everywhere, and one misstep could land you in the mighty river just feet from a powerful undertow sucking you under the dam.  There would be no messing around.

But once he saw we would follow the rules, then he became a wealth of history about the lock and dam system.  The 27 locks on the Upper Mississippi were established in the 1930s as part of Roosevelt's Public Works projects in order to allow commerce to occur on the river.  The Lower Mississippi (St. Louis and South) didn't need the locks because that portion of the river remained deep enough due to the flow from substantial tributaries like the Missouri, Illinois and Ohio.  Today, the Corps of Engineers takes on continuous dredging and water flow control to keep the river at the prescribed 9-ft channel depth (to accommodate the level a barge submerges when fully loaded).

Ranger Brian interspersed his history lesson with jokes about what Lock Masters do when there isn't a boat going through the locks and warnings about pelicans flying overhead.  He was a great PR representative for the Corps.

As we were set to leave, he said that we would have to do the whole tour over again if we failed to get his last question right: "What is the purpose of the lock and dam system?"  The answer:  Navigation.  Before the tour, I think we would have given answers like flood control, power sources and recreation, but everyone knew the right answer because Ranger Brian had repeated it over and over during our stay. 

Think about the core message that you are trying to get across about your organization.  Can you distill your core purpose to a one-word answer as to what you are all about?  And if so, can you find an engaging and yet informative way to communicate it to your visitors in a way that is memorable and crystal clear? 

Customer service lessons can come from the most unlikely of places.  I would not have guessed that a Corps of Engineers Park Ranger could teach our student ambassadors and tour guides lessons about how to host a memorable visit, but he certainly could.  Take some time this summer to go on an organized tour -- and see what lessons you can learn for your organization.

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
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