The Glass That Remembered Me.

Teaching the Intangible: How to Train for Intuition in Service

Some years ago, while heading Learning & Development at a luxury resort in India, our GM used to host weekly lunches for the leadership team. We rotated between outlets, but there was one constant ,a glass of Fresh Lime Soda Sweet waiting at my seat before I’d even asked for it. No one ever announced it. It just appeared , perfectly timed, quietly thoughtful.

It became a silent ritual between me and one particular server. He had noticed my preference once, noted it mentally, and never missed it again.

Years later, when we reconnected over LinkedIn, his first message read:

“Sir, is it still Fresh Lime Soda Sweet?”

That single question said more about service than any manual I’ve ever written. Because what he remembered wasn’t a beverage. It was a person.

That’s intuition. Not the psychic kind — but the kind born from attention, empathy, and pride in one’s craft.

And it reminds me every day that training cannot just teach people what to do, it must teach them what to notice. In our profession, we talk endlessly about standards, checklists, and brand behaviors. But the best service moments are not standardized, they’re remembered.

They’re built on observation, connection, and a quiet human instinct to make someone feel seen. As leaders in Learning & Development, our real task is to nurture that instinct.

 To help people not just learn, but listen.

 Not just observe, but sense.

 Not just deliver, but care.

Intuition in service doesn’t come from modules. It comes from meaning. And the day we start teaching our people to find meaning in the smallest moments, a drink placed just right, a gesture remembered years later, 

that’s the day training stops being a program and becomes a philosophy.

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