Hiring 'MisFit' - a lesson learnt by Santa
Ever since the phrase “customer is king” was coined, most companies began placing ‘keeping their customers happy’, at the top of their agenda. However, many forgot and others still forget, about another set of people to whom happiness is very vital for the success of the company – staff! Happy staff makes for happy guests. It's a simple concept but more complicated to achieve.
In the hospitality industry, a negative employee can be like a cancer throughout the operation. Ignore it, and the entire department will be infected. Address it, try to correct it, and at times, yes… you will have to cut your ties with that staff member. And yes, you begin to wonder how this was possible, to begin with?
It all starts with hiring employees with “the right service attitude”. Some organisation put a premium on attitude – placing it over even IQ. Attitude is something that can rarely be taught as it usually comes naturally. Employees who do not have the right attitude towards their work and serving customers, can be the weakening link in management’s efforts delivering the service quality. A bad attitude is like a flat tire or a dysfunctional worker. You can't go anywhere until you change it, or, as in Santa Clause’s case – dismiss the misfit.
Reading ‘The Leadership Secrets of Santa Claus’ written by Eric Harvey provided me with some astute lessons on leadership - in particular, secret # 2, sub-titled ‘Choose your reindeer wisely’, which exemplifies the ‘bad attitude’ truism. Here’s an excerpt from that chapter, which I wish to share with you.
“You know Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen; Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall the least famous reindeer of all: Misfit? Probably not. He's not here anymore. Unfortunately, I had to let him go decades ago. But I certainly learned a lot from the whole misfit experience.
It all started when I was faced with hiring a new reindeer to fill a vacant position. Now, I know that pulling the sleigh is a very important job. Ask the reindeer - they'll tell you. But I was busy...very busy. Recruiting and hiring a new puller was just one of the scores of things on Santa's platter. And besides, bringing on new staff can be tedious, bureaucratic, and tiring work. It's not what makes me jolly. Personally, I'd much rather walk around the workshop, chat with the elves, and test the new toys. So, I took the easy route. I did a cursory resume review, conducted a quick, pro forma interview, and grabbed the first warm, antlered-body that appeared half-way decent.
Misfit was appropriately named all right. After a short period of putting his best hoof forward, the problems began. He'd show up late, and then display a less than desirable attitude when I called him on it. More and more, he'd carry less and less of his share of the load. This made the sleigh pull to the right - forcing the left side crew to work harder in order for us to stay straight. The harder they worked, the more irritated they became...and the harder it was for me to keep the reins in check.
I ended up spending way too much time watching Misfit, re-re-retraining him, counseling him, and handling complaints about him from the other reindeer - and the elves as well. Pretty soon, he was bringing everyone down. And productivity was going down with them - all because of one reindeer. And, all because, I cut corners and allowed joining the team to be way too easy.
Take a cue from Santa. Be smart; do not cut corners in not doing the due diligence needed to make a sound hiring decision. Yes, it can be arduous and time consuming, but the alternative shortcuts can be very damaging to your business and expensive in the long run.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, ‘Hospitality Sri Lanka’, Consultant, Trainer, Ex-Hotelier
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