Is Customer Service an Act of the Will or the Heart?

I believe that anyone can be taught good customer service principles. I also believe that anyone employed in a customer service position can perform the task with excellence, even if their performance is simply a conscious act. There are those for whom service is an act of the will, motivated by a paycheck, a bonus, or reluctant obedience to an employers standards. I find this sad, but true.

There are those, however, for whom service is motivated by an act of the heart more than an act of will. There are some who are inwardly motivated to help others, and watching them in action is a joy for me.

This past week I was flying from Miami to Des Moines. I had an aisle seat. A woman, who was also a veteran business flier, sat in the window seat. As the plane began to fill with passengers, we both commented that we hoped to get lucky and have the middle seat remain unoccupied. No such luck. Just before the cabin door closed, a man from another country climbed into the seat between us. He spoke broken English and had a hard time understanding the flight attendant. I watched as the woman in the window seat took it upon herself to assist our middle-seat companion. As we approached O'Hare she pulled out the Hemisphere's magazine, which contained a map of the airport, and went out of her way to help the man figure out where he needed to go. The woman could have easily kept to herself. Something motivated her to help, even though there was nothing in it for her.

Walking down the F Concourse a few minutes later, I witnessed a tall business executive walking next to a diminutive woman from India. Just the sight caught my attention. He was walking slowly, hunched over and listening to her. As I approached, I overheard him asking her what gate she was trying to reach.

"I'll run ahead and see if I can get them to hold it for you," he said. The executive, in his best business attire, then broke into a dead sprint down the crowded concourse. A minute later I spied him. He was out of breath and frantically negotiating with a airline agent as the elderly woman shuffled slowly towards the gate. What motivated this executive, with plenty of other "important" matters to occupy his mind, to go out of his way to help an elderly woman from another country?

Is your customer service a matter of the will, or a matter of the heart?