imagine Waking uP each morning excited to go to your sPa because
it makes your heart sing—and that everyone else on your team feels the
same way.
Imagine working with people who are lit up from the inside out because
you have aligned what they do at work with their experiences and strengths.
Imagine leading a business where your “life’s work”—the very act of doing
something for others—is fully cherished and valued by those you provide
the service to and those who work with you. Imagine the yet untapped
possibilities for you, those you work with and your spa business if this were
your day-to-day experience.
in the march issue of Pulse, i introduced a three-part series
focused on four uncommon habits that joy-driven leaders
employ to refuel positivity and engagement while deliv-
ering predictable excellence. We discussed how you can be
a rarE leader by “rediscovering your relationships.” in
this article i want to concentrate on the second habit,
which is to “appreciate your assets.”
appreciate means to value and
recognize the best in people and
the world around us. it
means to affirm past and
present strengths,
successes and
potential. There are
two ways to utilize
appreciation in
order to create a
culture of joy as a
spa owner or
manager. The
first is by using
appreciation to
validate and
reinforce the positive
behaviors and efforts
you want to see from
your spa associates. in the
2018 o.c. Tanner whitepaper
“Business case for recognition,” they
shared a statistic that is quite shocking: “79%
of people who quit their jobs cite ‘lack of appreciation’ as
their reason for leaving.” The white paper also goes on to
state that o.c. Tanner partnered with healthStream
research to test for a connection between appreciation
and business results, and what they found was that
“companies that effectively recognize excellence in their
employees enjoyed a return on Equity (roE), which
encompasses profitability, asset management and
financial leverage, of more than three times higher than
the return experienced by businesses that don’t.”
appreciation isn’t just about going around the
workplace giving your spa associates a high
five and saying “good job.” rather,
effective appreciation is about being
timely, specific and meaningful.
“Appreciation
isn’t just about going
timing is everything
Let’s look at the first
around the workplace
element: being timely. We
want to use appreciation
giving your spa associates a to reinforce the positive
behavior or effort that we
high five and saying ‘good witness or are made
aware of, but most of the
job.’ Rather, effective
time as leaders we don’t
deliver this recognition
appreciation is about being until our monthly one-on-
one or quarterly
timely, specific and
conversations. This makes the
reinforcement less effective
because, honestly, how many of us
meaningful.”
can remember exactly what we did a
month ago? The general guideline i coach
leaders to use is that within 48 hours you should
acknowledge the positive behavior or effort you want to
reinforce. Be on the lookout for spa associates doing
things right, then share that insight with them within
48 hours.
MAY
■
PULSE 2019
49