An Atmosphere of Welcome
An Atmosphere of Welcome
A while back I was talking to a small-business owner who was asking me about hospitable leadership. She seemed dubious that it would matter to her bottom line. I explained to her what should be obvious to us all.
When people engage your business, they either feel invited or they don’t. They sense welcome or they don’t.
They intuit this when they navigate your website. They perceive it when they see your signage. They know it when they walk through your front door. The physical space speaks to them. The receptionist usually confirms impressions already made.
Here’s the deal: It’s difficult to sell your services to someone who doesn’t feel welcomed. You must get people to the table in order to influence them.
“When people experience hospitality—when they are enticed—they are more inclined to say yes to what you have to offer.”
As Starbucks founder Howard Schultz writes,
Ideally, every Starbucks store should tell a story about coffee and what we as an organization believe in. that story should unfold via the taste and presentation of our products as well as the sights, sounds, and smells that surround our customers. The aroma of freshly ground coffee. Interior hues, textures, the shapes and materials of furniture and fixtures, as well as their origins. The art on the walls. The music. The Rhythm of the coffee bar and how our partners move and speak behind the counter. . . .Each store’s ambiance is the manifestation of a larger purpose, and at Starbucks each shop’s multidimensional sensory experiences has always defined our brand.1
Every leader who wants to accomplish good purposes must be aware of what the climate of the organization we serve is saying.
Though words are part of this environmental reality, sometimes the overall atmospherics of a place speak so loudly that people can’t hear what we actually want to say.
This attention to hospitality is not only for our customers; it is even more important for our employees or teams. Ken Gosnell blogged that “business owners need to view their business as a home and their employees as guests on a regular basis.” I like that he didn’t say to treat employees like family. Sadly, we are often more hospitable to guests than we are to our families. We should treat our employees as guests.
That was a paradigm-shifting challenge for me. Am I hospitable to the people who work with me? Who show up every day and partner with me to accomplish our shared vision? I desperately hope so.
I hope this is reflected in the office space we carefully designed—full of light, inviting, warm. I hope this is reflected in hospitable policies and internal communications and how performance is measured and rewarded, and even how team members transition off of our team if and when that time comes.
I hope this is reflected in the hundreds of simple interactions that occur as the days fly by—through kind words, by trying to catch people doing something right, in finding any possible excuse to praise them. And with simple courtesies such as please and thank you and my pleasure and you’re welcome.
I’ve not always been successful at this. I have learned. I am learning. I do know that when I create an environment of welcome for those who work with me, they will give me permission to lead them to do great things.
Where have you experienced a hospitable environment? Drop a comment and share how that affected your experience.
1Howard Schultz, Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul (New York: Rodale, 2011), 34.
Adapted from The Hospitable Leader (Baker Publishing Group) by Terry A. Smith. All rights reserved.
Have you downloaded your free copy of “The 5 Welcomes of Hospitality,” based on the primary leadership methodology of Jesus? It’s not too late: Download now.