If you’ve ever had the occasion to check into a more upscale hotel, or at least one that portends to be, you know that they work very hard to make that experience distinctly different for you. It’s almost always rooted in welcoming you in a way that is exceptional, trying to make you feel uniquely special. I had one such moment that will stick with me forever.
I was checking into a hotel in New York, now a decade or so ago, a newly emerging brand trying to make a name for itself. As I exited my cab, the doorman beat me to the trunk for my luggage, asked my name, and welcomed me to their property. I took my suitcase, tipped him, said I could manage the bag, and headed toward the check-in desk. While still a few steps from there, the front desk person said cheerfully, “Welcome, Mr. Wittland, it’s great to have you here.” How did he know my name? I had never stayed there before. I was surprised, a bit unsettled, but also flattered. What a fine welcome. Later, passing through the entrance, I paid attention to the doorman. He was wearing a lapel microphone that had picked up my name from our brief conversation curbside and then transmitted it to the front desk. It was a small detail, but clearly distinguished the experience, the memory lingering today. It was a new experience of hospitality.
There are many people in our industry today who are suggesting that perhaps the experience of hospitality could be a key in restoring the attractiveness and relevance of the office workplace. Their suggestion is that the company workplace should adopt some of the most effective strategies used in the hospitality industry to attract and impress the work force, to make the workplace a welcoming, comfortable, and decidedly attractive place to spend time, to work. These strategies begin with the welcome and infuse everything else about the space and the experience. There are some compelling components to this idea, and it may just be the opportune time.
The timeliness of focusing on hospitality is due, at least in part, to the unmistakably decline of genuine and distinctive experiences of true hospitality in many sectors of our lives. Even luxury, upscale brands are finding it challenging to differentiate themselves based on an experience of personal welcome and comfort. And many venues have simply given up. I suspect most of us can create a far longer list of remarkable hospitality failures than we can a list of exceptional hospitality experiences. For example, some settings have replaced the check-in process or ordering process with a kiosk; pretty hard to create a differentiated and distinctly warm human experience while selecting from a menu on a screen. Where there are still people staffing a service counter or a registration desk, there seems to be precious little training provided for them on how to offer a sincere and distinctive welcome. If anything, their attitudes and behaviors may make a kiosk preferable. And that’s not the full scope of creating hospitality, but just the first moment, the first impression, arriving and beginning. By many standards, the hospitality industry itself is struggling mightily to provide a memorable and humanly warm experience of genuine hospitality to its customers.
So, can the workplace do better? Can the office workplace succeed in creating a welcoming, attractive, and desirable place for people to spend time where the hospitality industry itself is, in many respects, failing? Perhaps, and if it does, it will be because there has been a commitment to and a focus on concepts like:
- Intentionality — you must believe in the inherent value of hospitality as your starting point; at all levels of an organization, there must be a commitment to the primacy of creating a welcoming, inviting, desirable place; if the over-arching principle for structuring the workplace is based primarily on efficiency or economies, distinctive hospitality will never happen; hospitality must be unflinchingly intentional; period.
- Investment — providing a welcoming environment will NEVER be the cheapest or lowest budget approach; that’s a given; any organization intent on creating a sense of warmth, welcome, and comfort will fail if there isn’t a firm commitment to spending the necessary money to achieve that end; hospitality is an investment, one that will pay significant dividends, but it’s nevertheless a significant investment, a cost. Pay it.
- Humanity — hospitality in the workplace will never be genuine nor successful as a strategy unless it is rooted in valuing the basic humanity of the people in the organization; that belief and value must be applied to both those on the receiving end of the hospitality as well as those delivering the acts of hospitality; the sense of being welcomed, being comfortable, being trusted and safe must always be rooted in being valued as a person. Bottom line.
- Technology — the application of technology can enhance an atmosphere of hospitality, or it can also distance and dehumanize; even when technology can be used to replace a person-based interaction, it can be designed to deliver some level of hospitality; creating a warm and welcoming environment does not mean ignoring technology applications, it means doing them thoughtfully and humanly; it’s time to redefine what we call “smart.”
- Measurement — while many elements of an atmosphere of hospitality in the workplace can seem “soft,” it is clearly possible and even necessary to identify some of those key elements and track their impact on the people and the effectiveness of the space; measuring the effects of hospitality strategies is one of the surest ways to verify it is an organizational priority; what’s measured is what matters.
While it is certainly possible to catalogue and lament the demise of genuine hospitality in so many venues and settings in our lives, it might be far more constructive to seize the opportunity to make the office workplace a beacon of hope, a refuge for environments and experiences that reflect the most genuine settings for warmth and comfort and meaningful human interaction. Perhaps our industry can take the lead.