look at any championship team , you ’ ll notice that the players are the ones who are high-fiving each other and coaching each other and encouraging each other and even chastising each other . So leaders have to invest in making sure that there ’ s a culture of peer-to-peer recognition and peer-to-peer accountability . That ’ s the only way it works because , otherwise , the manager becomes a police officer , which is another job ! Leaders today , particularly in short-staffed situations , have to fight the urge of becoming the super employee , doing everything . They have to become more proficient at delegating to people and also developing people so they feel equipped to be delegated to . There ’ s nothing worse than just dumping things on people because you don ’ t want to do it . That just creates low morale and low productivity . Create processes to develop people , whether that ’ s reading a chapter of a book weekly , and we talk about it in our meeting , or we meet and you let me know one thing that you learned over the last week — that ’ s developing people . When someone is developed , they ’ re more equipped to be delegated to . All those things take the pressure off of the leader from having to become the super employee , which leads to burnout .
P : Along with challenges presented by the pandemic and ongoing staffing issues , the spa industry has also been reckoning with the need for greater levels of diversity , equity and inclusion . How critical is it that the industry keeps those issues on the front burner ? W : It ’ s incredibly important . It always has been , and it always will be . It goes back to the whole idea of valuing people . If you truly value someone , it doesn ’ t matter what shade they come in , right ? It doesn ’ t matter what their gender is because you value that person . But at the same time , we have to be careful about not dismissing the uniqueness of people . For example , saying ,“ I see you , but I don ’ t see color ” or that kind of thing , dismisses who I am . I ’ m Black — of course you see my color ! It ’ s the first thing you see , so by dismissing that , you ’ re dismissing my uniqueness . And to me , the beauty of the world is that it ’ s a tapestry of different people with different experiences and different cultures and backgrounds and languages .
Leaders must look at their own organizations . Does [ their makeup ] reflect the community that they ’ re in ? If not , then why not ? And force yourself to give an answer because there is an answer . It may not be a malicious answer ; it may not be deliberate exclusion . One particular organization [ I ’ ve worked with ] hired largely from a particular university . They accepted graduates from a particular university to work in their clubs , and people tend to miss the sociological perspective . People naturally want to be around people who they feel like they have things in common with , and the most physically , aesthetically obvious thing you have in common is what color you are . Now , when the a-ha moment happens , you look at their website , and it ’ s a noticeable change . They ’ ve deliberately gone out and they ’ ve recruited people from diverse backgrounds .
The flip side of the equation is — let ’ s say that you have an organization and the workforce is essentially all white , and the website has only white pictures , all your marketing is all white . Even though I may want to join your organization , I may second guess joining it because I may assume that people like me are not welcome if there is no example showing that you ’ re even valuing anyone who doesn ’ t look like you . This whole idea of valuing people and creating a great place to work — the DEI discussion is a central component that should never go away , that should never be put on the backburner . •
“ Leaders today , particularly in short-staffed situations , have to fight the urge of becoming the super employee , doing everything .”
APRIL 2022 • PULSE 25