Feels Like Home
When your team feels like they are at home with you, they then begin to treat their workspace as a home as well. Simply stated, it's important to make sure that the ideas of “Guest” and “Home” starts from you as a Leader.
How are you interacting with your team? Do they only come to your office with major complaints or do they feel comfortable popping their head in to say “Hi”? Is your door always open to them for their questions and concerns?
Here's three ways to make your team feel at home while they're at work:
Encourage and model the hospitality behaviors you'd like to see. If you don't lead by example, how can you expect a team do go above & beyond?
Create a safe space for questions, ideas, and comments. Sometimes listening to other voices is the best way to make positive change.
- Celebrate their winnings, not only helping them learn from their mistakes. Positive reenforcement is one of the best tools for making your team feel good about what they're doing.
For some of us, our teams are at their workplace more than they're at their own home. If we, can make our team feel at home while they're working, they will naturally take better care of Guests and the Guests' experience.
They will have pride in the area around them – picking up a piece of trash, making sure flowers look alive, and stepping up to assist in an area that they may not normally. Beyond this housekeeping, they will create amazing moments for Guests.
They remember the server who helped make a birthday celebration even more special by dropping off limoncello shots for the table (Thanks again Miguel!). They remember the special accommodations made to their hotel room while on an anniversary trip (Thanks Anna!). And they remember that they felt like the only Guests you were interacting with.
Home is about making memories. So shouldn't you and your team work hard to make sure that Guests are having the best memories created while they're visiting you?