Insight #35 - A Craftsman Mindset To Service
craftsman - /ˈkrɑːf(t)smən/ - a worker skilled in a particular craft.
Welcoming guests may seem like a no-brainer; you just have to stand at the entrance to a building or an outlet and well, welcome people. When you try to do it though, you realise there is a lot more to it.
First and foremost, you will need to smile, not too much, and not too little. The smile will need to travel to your eyes. You will need to make eye contact, again, not too much and not too little. You will need to bend slightly forward; too ramrod straight and you will not seem hospitable and too much you will lose sight of the guests. You will need to welcome groups that walk up together and you will need to very quickly decide the order or hierarchy of the group. Families bring even more decisions; do we welcome the kids first, then the grown-ups?
You need to take into account hand gestures. Open palm, facing towards the interior? Do we move it in a wave-like fashion, do we repeat the motion for every guest?
Detail-oriented companies go to the extent of specifying what needs to be done at what distance. The SOPs advise that when a guest approaches you, you need to make eye contact and smile when the guest is 15 feet away. No need to say anything at this stage as she is not in the clear audio range. As she approaches, you should say your welcome words, when she is 5 feet away.
Welcome words. What can you say that will capture your essence, your brand, your locale and the time or tone of the day? Should you say something in the local language or should you use your guest's preferred language? Do you want the words to create excitement or calm?
Should there be a specific smell at the door or entrance? A number of hotels made sure that the fresh baking scent wafted into the lobby to tickle the guests' appetites and pique their interest. Some outlets may choose to use a smell that defines the food or concept on offer. A spa lets the tone with aroma.
Music. Loud, blasting speakers at the entrance tell you exactly what to expect inside. A zen waterfall acoustic mix sends a very different message.
Uniform. What should the welcome party wear? The first human representative of everything that you have created, what should she be wearing that lets your guest know that they made the right choice today.
There's still more to consider, lighting, entrance door design, choice of building material, use of glass, signage and more.
A Craftsman Mindset focuses on crafting every detail and then improving it over time. Recognising that every aspect of a particular task is a skill that can be identified and then improved.
A Craftsman Mindset acknowledges that one needs to unlearn, learn again and then spend time practising the skill.
A Craftsman Mindset knows that excellence can be crafted.
A Craftsman Mindset knows that how you do one thing, is how you do everything.
Actionable Idea
Take any task that up until now you felt was just another task. A task, so simple that you never really thought it could add any joy.
Either shoot a video of someone doing this task or even better attempt the task yourself.
Study the video, in slo-mo. Study every frame if you have to.
In each frame, ask the question - what emotion is this creating for the guest?
Now, change something in that frame to create the emotion you want.
Want to make this WOW?
Craft amazing experiences for your team.
For example: if you offer uniforms to your team, consider putting notes in the pockets that they can find, read and enjoy. If you do not want to put the messages in pockets, add them to the hangar. Every time your team collects a uniform, you will find them looking forward to that little note. It will make this routine, boring task into an interaction.
Once this is crafted, you can always craft something better. This mindset asks that of you. Imagine running a 'collect all XXX' game. Whoever collects notes of a certain type wins something. You just created excitement and adventure at the very start of your team's day. Can you imagine how great a day it is going to be if your team is actually looking forward to getting their uniform?
Share the most boring, common, non-excitement task you think you have in the comments and let's see if we can all use the craftsman mindset to make it better!