Avoiding Parkinson's Law of triviality
…and adapting a mu-shin style of management.
In the world of hospitality management, where a fast-paced environment is the norm, staying focused can be a challenge when your work environment is bustling with distractions and interruptions. For some, like frontline staff, dealing with a guest in front, the unanswered phone ringing and the whisper from a colleague to verify something comes with the territory. That’s a given. For others …not necessarily so!
You may have heard of Parkinson’s Law of Triviality, where he states that people and organisations have a tendency to spend a disproportionate amount of time on trivial issues.
Many executives get distracted by trivial issues and keep avoiding the big problems for a long time. Eventually they get identified as a weak manager and lose respect – and that leads to staff doing what is told to them, only because ‘it’s the boss’.
These disruptions can impede the smooth operation of a business, affecting both customer satisfaction and employee productivity. To maintain a high level of service and efficiency, it's essential to address these issues head-on with practical strategies that can help mitigate the impact of a chaotic work setting.
Hotel executives are expected, like in most businesses, to look into everything, everyday and act decisively to improve erratic performance. For example; low average room rate despite higher room occupancy, less restaurant covers during an eventful weekend, the unforeseen comings and goings of key employees, the sneaky moves by competitors to grab greater market share and so on. In such situations, executives need to act intelligently – often with less time. Having to also ‘report up’ and ‘manage below’ brings pressure expectations from everyone else as well.
Distractions are one of the biggest productivity killers in the modern Hotel, in part because we are prone to underestimating how powerful they are. Effective Hotel Managers find ways to get rid of their distractions or gain control over them. Those who think they can cope with distractions whilst tackling the bigger issues simultaneously burn out quickly and get sucked into a quagmire of dysfunction.
Remaining focused on any big issue without being distracted by the countless little questions and interruptions, occasionally requires one to adapt a ‘mu-shin’ mindset. Masters of karate consider the sharp mental clearness created by mu-shin a must for flawless execution – meaning, for success.
For example, it irritates me as a diner when the restaurant manager to whom I’m talking, over something important, places the interaction on ‘pause’ to answer his mobile. To me, the right to disconnect me, however politely done, to the right to answer a phone call, unless there is an emergency, is being rude. Another peeve is to observe fully jacketed managers hold their mobile phone in one hand when walking about – egotism on show, some may call it. Have you come across a manager who rants at a subordinate in front of the guest? I have.
Mu-shin is about looking at everything but seeing nothing. In other words, absorb the world in all its messy details but keep your mind free and uncluttered - leaving one to fully engage in the present. This state of mind takes years of practice. Mu-shin is achieved when a person’s mind is free from anger, anxiety or ego during everyday activities.
Shafeek Wahab- Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Customer Service Trainer and Ex-Hotelier
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