Going for customer service gold: The Olympic Winter Games' 35,000 volunteers from all walks of life needed training in customer service for visitors from around the world - Going for Gold - Salt Lake City, Utah

T+D, May, 2002 by Mary Patrick Walker

The 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City will be remembered for record-breaking athletic prowess, electrifying competition, and the thrilling emergence of new superstars such as Apolo Anton Ohno and Sarah Hughes. But for people who attended the Games, another aspect of the events proves just as memorable: the customer service provided by Olympic volunteers.

Jamison Prime, a Washington, D.C. attorney who attended the Olympics for the first time, says, "The enthusiasm of the volunteers made the visit even more pleasant. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but everything was so well organized, and the people were so friendly. It far exceeded anything we anticipated."

Marlene Burchill of Bloomfield, Michigan, agrees: "Everywhere we went, we felt like royalty. I couldn't believe how many people were there to assist us in every way.... The United States should be proud of how it put these Olympics together."

Such was the quality of service supplied by the volunteers in Salt Lake City--who served as parking lot attendants, ushers, ticket takers, and cleanup crews--that it became a story for the media. NBC's Today show aired a segment on the impact of customer service training at the Olympics, and the Wall Street Journal ran a story about the kindness and competency of Olympic volunteers. The headline cried, "Hey, You, Freeze! Pretty Please." Reporter Barry Newman wrote, "Post-terror Games are tense but 'niceness training' makes being here...nice.... Every last [volunteer] is as nice as nice can be."

But what happened in Utah during two weeks in February was about a lot more than just niceness. It was about preparing 35,000 Olympic volunteers to deliver efficient, considerate, culturally sensitive service to every spectator. Like most endeavors that appear almost effortless, it took a great deal of planning. And its success placed soft-skills training on the podium in the world arena.

From the outset, Utah's Olympic organizers wanted spectators to remember the Games not only for the competition, but also as a positive total experience. So in October 1999, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee began talks about training Olympic volunteers with AchieveGlobal, a Tampa, Florida-based training and consulting company. AchieveGlobal was one of four training companies to submit a proposal to SLOG and make a presentation to its senior team. In March 2000, AchieveGlobal was named as the official staff and volunteer training supplier for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and became the first company to ever hold such a position.

"This is an honor, of course, for AchieveGlobal," said CEO Dave Bornt at the time. "But more than that, it recognizes the importance of training and the permanent changes in behavior that it can bring about--changes that can be brought to any interpersonal interaction."

AchieveGlobal, experienced in understanding customer service within a global context, provides skills training and consulting services in customer service, leadership, teamwork, and sales performance in more than 70 countries, with programs in 40 different languages and dialects. The company also has experience working with large organizations, helping translate their visions and strategies so that employees understand how their roles are critical components of their companies' success.

"We've worked with organizations, starting with their vision and translating that into a lasting service legacy," says AchieveGlobal marketing director Colleen O'Sullivan, who managed all aspects of AchieveGlobal's relationship with SLOC.

"We already had the infrastructure and experience SLOC needed to put together a volunteer workforce. The proposal we drew up for them was based on work we'd done with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and United States Department of Agriculture, which focused on implementing large-scale training," says O'Sullivan.

Ed Eynon, senior vice president of human resources and international relations for SLOG, says that a professional skills development company proved a perfect fit with the Olympic Games. "The job of raising up a volunteer workforce almost overnight is a huge one, and AchieveGlobal shared our vision of what training could accomplish," says Eynon. "SLOG understood that volunteers' skill and attitude could make or break a visitor's experience [at the Games]."

CEO Bornt notes that AchieveGlobal aimed to provide volunteers with far more than customer service skills: "If they were to truly understand the overarching vision for the Games, each had to know how his or her individual contribution fit into the big picture, care about that vision, and then demonstrate the skill to deliver on it."

The volunteers would be critical in creating the environment in which the athletes could perform at their best, supporting the smooth operations of each venue, and welcoming and taking care of thousands of guests. The volunteer effort began with a massive recruiting drive in March 2000. In Salt Lake City, ads for volunteer opportunities were placed on television and radio, as well as in flyers and newspapers. SLOC also recruited volunteers worldwide from its Internet site. More than 68,000 people responded. All completed applications, then were interviewed by SLOC HR staff. The criteria for selection included the ability to work all 17 days of the Games as well as being personable and open in the job interview, a demonstration of good people skills. Volunteers also had to be at least 18 years old, speak and write English, and be either a United States citizen or have an appropriate U.S. Visa. Eventually, 35,000 volunteers were selected. The challenge then became how to train college students, business profess ionals, retirees, and teachers to provide effective and impressive customer service in jobs that most had never done before.