I love great food, and nothing tops off great food like great service. In fact, great food can easily go bland in the mouth if the people serving you treat you with contempt or disregard.
But it’s not just food, is it? Really it’s relevant to any service industry or team with an organisation. It’s actually relevant to us.
Which is why I was fascinate that someone has dissected hospitality and come up with a Hospitality Quotient (I guess similar to IQ and the more recent Emotional Quotient – EQ).
Here are the emotional skills Danny Meyer says contributes to a high HQ:
- optimism and kindness
- curiosity about learning [BC: don’t we love the curiosity word!]
- an exceptional work ethic
- a high degree of empathy
- self-awareness and integrity
The other little gem from the post is this great spin on the old “the customer is always right”—> “The customer is not always right. While the customer is not always right, he/she must always feel heard.” I know that’s often the perfect frame of mind as we take stakeholders along the design journey, unfolding the value of our user-centred approach.
