Applying 'Organic' to service delivery in hospitality
In common usage, organic is used to mean “healthful” or “close to nature.” It can also describe foods grown without artificial pesticides or fertilizers. In other uses, organic refers to living things or material that comes from living things. In medical terms, organic means “relating to the organs of the body,” and in a legal sense, organic describes something that is central to an organization or a government.
In today’s world, organic is on nearly everyone’s mind. People are turning towards exploring ways to stay healthy; by choosing a lifestyle that embraces consuming food free from additives such as synthetic chemicals or hormones, i.e. from a wellness angle, they seek organic food to lead uncomplicated lives. From a hospitality industry viewpoint, restaurants are showcasing organic menu creations; even growing their own organic gardens to further nourish the ‘farm-to-table’ concept.
Organic businesses emerge from growth that comes as an outcome of a company’s business as it already exists. Achieving organic business growth means that the organisation has managed to successfully boost its output and sales using the resources and strategies it already has available. Such organisations deeply respect and encourage the teams within to come up with new ideas and support them when they do. Employees are given a vote of confidence to be creative and innovative – especially when they push for autonomy and opportunities to tackle situations.
Be that as it may…what about Organic Service? How would we apply ‘organic’ to daily interactions and service delivery to guests? All organizations need structures to accomplish their work. The hospitality industry is no exception. An organisation structure could be either mechanistic or organic. The former veers towards rigidity whilst the latter, viewed as more humanistic, is flexible; and is ideal for a dynamic environment that requires adjusting to frequent changes – such as in a busy hotel or restaurant. However, many hotel and restaurant businesses are designed to operate with an unrelenting mechanistic structure.
Organic organisations demonstrate the power of personalities including relationships when strict rules for operating procedures and communication may not apply. More importantly, it is the ability to react quickly, easily and be adaptive to changing behaviour or operations. Hospitality and service leaders who recognise the huge potential in tailoring experiences that require instant ‘adjustment, understand that an ‘organic’ approach which enables adaptive adjustments through empowered staff will have the strongest impact on exceeding guest satisfaction.
Scenario one: You go to your regular restaurant with two business colleagues, one of whom is an ex-hotelier, to have a quick meal. It is a hectic Friday at work and you all have just 30 minutes to spend at the restaurant. This you specifically mention to the server who promptly took the orders, made some suggestions, noted your drinks order and rushed off to have the chefs prepare the dishes ASAP. He came back in next to no time with your drinks and hastily goes back to the kitchen to return with the food. Enquiring if all was in order, he then retreats to serve other tables…but not without keeping an eye, where water glasses were refilled before being asked to. Around 25 minutes into your meal, he brings the bill and you leave the restaurant 30 minutes after entering it – totally happy with the anxiety free outcome. Your ex-hotelier business colleague remarks that despite the server circumventing certain service norms, he responded ‘organically’ to the situation, to perfection.
Scenario two: The very next night, you go with your family to the same restaurant to have your favourite meals enjoyed with a full dinner experience. Lo and behold, it is Judy - the same server (who waited on you the previous day at lunch). With loads of time on hand, everyone figures out what to order, asking Judy what went into a dish including calling her back for that sudden change of mind in-between, and so on.
Through it all, Judy was amazing. She was sincere in all her interactions with you all and showed that customer service is equal parts communication and genuine attention. Her "Organic" style was to simply relate to us and add to the moods we were in, by being in that mood as well. Judy did that whilst providing an impeccable level of service befitting a fine dining restaurant.
Being able to quickly adapt to change involving emotions, moods, personalities and circumstances of guests who arrive in that moment is a key ingredient of being organic. In both scenarios, Judy did not follow a script or routine and instead used soft skills of excellence in making each experience meaningful. She did not know what to expect before you arrived nor was she trained specifically for these two individual guest circumstances. What she did know is that she had to instantly react, to 'craft' a unique experience within her normal and routine restaurant server role.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, ex-Hotelier
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