Thursday, October 28, 2010

Nordstroms Employee Handbook — short and sweet

I was struggling this morning with some corporate communications issues and I stumbled across this post in the Signal vs Noise blog from 37 Signals. What a radical idea - tell the people you hire that you think they're smart and that you expect them to act that way. Period.

"For years, Nordstrom’s Employee Handbook was a single 5×8’ gray card containing these 75 words:

Welcome to Nordstrom

We’re glad to have you with our Company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them.

Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use best judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.

Please feel free to ask your department manager, store manager, or division general manager any question at any time.

During this time, Nordstrom had the highest sales per square foot performance in the retail industry – by almost double. [thx Ian]

(Via Signal vs. Noise.)

1 comment:

Michelle Black said...

I love it, Dave! Think I might have to blog and tweet this, too :) Thanks for sharing - so refreshing!