2019 ISPA CONFERENCE & EXPO
The Spa Wkfce Super Seion
by
JamIson
stoIke
THE THREE KEYS TO
“STAY AND THRIVE”
1. Cultivate relationships.
2. Accept people as they are.
3. Make people feel significant.
With more than 30,000 unFilled
oPen Positions in the U.S. spa
industry, spa leaders are looking for an
edge in recruiting and retaining the
talent they need.
they found that edge during the
Spa Workforce Super Session, an all-
new pre-conference event that focused
on tools, tips and methods for
conquering staffing challenges. nearly
200 iSPa conference & expo attendees
participated in the lively two-part
session. for the first half of the event,
leadership and talent expert Bryan
Williams led a presentation on how to
build a team that thrives. then, four
spa industry leaders took the stage for
an open Q&a moderated by Williams.
Recruiting, Engaging, Retaining
with Bryan Williams
across all industries, levels of
engagement at work are low and
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novEmbEr/dEcEmbEr 2019
many employees are actively disen-
gaged. to Williams, the central
question facing the spa industry is this:
“how do we move our team members
from quit and stay, to stay and thrive?”
fix the issue with engagement, said
Williams, and other workforce issues
will solve themselves—engaged
employees will stay at your spa longer
and more actively recruit new team
members.
Williams identified three primary
ways to build engagement: cultivate
relationships, accept people’s strengths
and weaknesses, and make people feel
significant. he highlighted the impor-
tance of attention, both deliberate and
subliminal, on engagement and excel-
lence by citing a study which found
that students who were labeled as
“gifted” performed better than other
students, regardless of their actual test
scores. the only difference was the
amount of attention given to them by
the teacher.
Williams distilled it to three
important questions: “Do you see me?
Do you hear me? Do i matter to you?”
Demonstrate that you see, hear and
value your employees by giving them
eye contact, seeking their input more
frequently, acknowledging what they
say and pushing on them when they
deliver mediocre work. Worried about
building too close of a relationship
with particular employees? Don’t be.
“People do not lose respect for you
because you become friends with
some people,” said Williams. “they
lose respect when you don’t do your
job as a manager.”
Williams next turned to talent—
how to find it and how to nurture it. to
find it, think of how you label a person.
are they cheerful? thoughtful?
organized? these are natural