Blog Overall

I began this class thinking more compassionate leaders needed to be working in the workplace so I was convinced I would unite all the caring leaders under one voice. I learned that not all leaders can be compassionate all the time and that every situation can require leaders reacting and acting in order to push their team. These various results are what makes every leader grow and continue to learn. For example, I have learned I need to push myself out of my comfort zone in order to grow. I am excited to see where my next journey goes and thank you for all those who have learned about leadership this year with me.

My final work for my senior year will be my portfolio. I am honestly not quite sure of what it will consist of however, I am hoping for it to be an entertaining summary of my education and lessons learned during my time at San Diego State University. You will be able to see this compiled at http://cosberg.wix.com/portfolio.

Please stay tuned. Lessons Learned.

Management Perspective

Refresh Examples :The refresh capacity is about broadening the view of the business, often redefining the mission of the organization in terms of its emotional value, and exploring new ideas for innovating the guest experience.

The Spa at Estancia is broadening the views of the spa in many ways. For examples, see below.

– Offering innovation spa techniques at affordable prices

– Introducing couples massage bungalow – receive glass of champagne, relaxing bath/tub for two, private room

– Use of Groupon promotions have done very well for student/local market/new business

– individualized treatments from guest to guest

– Broadened the spa into “Wellness retreat” serving the needs of their guests into the wellness and preventative trends

Connect Examples: The connecting capacity is about co-constructing and interpreting the essence of the experience, providing ongoing opportunities for shared understanding of the intangible offerings.

I have noticed there is a disconnect between senior management and employees so I asked both parties what intangibles they feel are more important to the guests. See below for their response.

What are the Spa intangibles?

• Memories
• Romance
• Nostalgia
• Experiences

They did agree on the intangibles however, had a disconnect of how to create and maintain the intangibles for the guests. Why is there a disconnect?

• Some employees see it as just a job and not a passion for the experience – guests can feel the difference

• Lack of formal trainings and meetings

• Employees feel disconnect from what hotel guests are looking for and what management is looking for

Energize Examples: The energizing capacity is about tapping into the passions of employees in ways that align emotion and operational needs for continuous improvement of the guest experience.

Where they are lacking:

• Their employees have a lot of great ideas operationally on how to better serve the guests, not being heard from senior mangement (examples include, new amenity ideas, service standards, and check-in/out procedures).
• Employees start the job feeling great after the initial orientation but after those feelings of newness wear off they feel lost
• A lot of employees feel as though it is just a job at the Spa not a career. Most of the employees don’t work as a team but treat the Spa as a vendor/supplier relationship. Treat their own individual clients well but won’t go above and beyond for others, etc.

Employee Perspective

From the employee perpective, management is good at getting one time guests from the hotel but not retaining them. The employees believe the owners and upper management should be marketing towards an affordable day spa experience that can be enjoyable every day. Ultimately hoping to create more traffic and retain a regular clientele.

Employees feel lost where as management feels as though they have a clear direction of whats going on.

I am studying the Spa at Estancia La Jolla Hotel because I believe it embodies the content in the experience economy article. The Spa not only sells products and services but sells the Spa experience as well. The experience affects every individual differently intriguing all five senses on both an emotional and physical level. Adult women and men go to relax at the Spa for many health and wellness reasons as well as celebratory occasions or in preparation for momentous events. Lastly, I chose the Spa because it allows me to reflect on all four types of economic distinctions: commodity, goods, service, and experience.

After reading the Experience Economy article, it is interesting to reflect on the Spa. For example, as the article discusses examples of how Disneyland and Niketown started in the experience economy because they had entertainment to stage from their retail stores. So as a result, the companies started charging a fee of admission for the entertainment these companies provided. They were selling products and services however there focus became what they could do to provide their guests with a memorable experience. The Spa at Estancia does the same thing. The guests are purchasing a treatment, i.e. a massage or facial but is experiencing the tranquility of the spa itself as well as the service. This then creates the staged entertainment, which validates the charge of the service fee in addition to, the actual treatment. The guests are paying for the service but reaping the rewards of the entire environment the Spa provides. This environment that the Spa creates fits in the escapist realm because the experience immerses the guest entirely however the guest has little to no effect on it.

I have completed seven of the ten guest experience surveys for my case study. Based on my research thus far, the Spa at Estancia La Jolla Hotel is a first class spot for relaxation and rejuvenating activities. I am currently only focusing on the consumer perspective however; the guests I’ve spoken with have been very pleased with their experiences. My approach to this case study is to learn everything I can about the Spa so I can better evaluate what areas the Spa needs improvement or is excelling.

I regularly patron the Spa and can say from my personal experience that their service has always been outstanding. My goal for this case study is to learn what will make them even better. Currently their market consists of mainly residents in the local area and hotel guests. The commonality between the two markets is that they are looking for a service as well as an experience. My goal is to find what consumers are looking for to make those memories personal and experiences that impact them forever.

SharedLeadership

Hiring the right people is an easy statement for a company to have as a value however, it is rare to see put into practice. It requires a great leader to start a successful company but it takes a village to run and sustain that level of success. In the “Good to Great” book by Jim Collins, he makes a critical observation about level 5 leaders who ask the who questions before the what questions. He explains those leaders that practice the thought process of, “I don’t know where we’re going but if I start out with the right people, ask the right questions, and engage them in debate, we’ll find a way to make a great company” create the best organizations in the nation.

My experience with working with someone unqualified has not been a great situation. I experienced extra burden, exhaustion from doing double the work, the work that person did suffered from lack of detail, and ultimately led to my frustration in the work place. All these feelings could have been addressed if the correct questions were asked in the beginning and a qualified candidate was hired. From my experience with working with people who are not the right fit for the job, I completely agree with Collins’ Practical Discipline #1 which states,” when in doubt, don’t hire – keep looking.” This statement is so true. Now I understand that management wants to fill the position so that the workload can be managed and the output of work can be maintained however, if you just hire a body and not a qualified candidate it will cause more distress on the team than just waiting to find the perfect candidate.

After focusing on people and asking the correct questions of who and not what, Collins explains a rigorous culture is critical to a great company. Collins defines rigorous as consistently applying exacting standards at all time and at all levels, especially in the upper management. Those companies that practice rigor believe that the best people do not need to worry about their positions but can fully concentrate on their work. This seems to me like it is a basic idea you would want your employees to experience every day but because so many companies do not focus on the “people” concept, this idea gets lost in the mix.

A great strategic rigor example in the “Good to Great” book describes the steel manufacturing company Nucor. The company was looking to build an empire and decided to plant it’s company away from the traditional steel mill town of Pittsburgh but instead in the mid-west farming towns like Norfolk, Nebraska, and Plymouth, Utah in hopes to attract farmers for work. Why were they looking to attract farmers for their employees? Nucor was looking for the type of worker who would start work early, and stay until the job is done. The type of hard work farmers complete every day on their farms for generations; people with strong values and a superb work ethic ingrained in them since childhood. Nucor decided from the beginning that they were going to invest in the right people for the long haul instead of the wrong people for a short-term profit.

From my personal experience and the “Good to Great” text, I have learned a key lesson for my life. When looking for the right people for my team, I’m not going to consider their specific knowledge, practical skills, educational background or work experience because that can be taught. I will always look for loyalty to previous companies, dedication to fulfilling duties, character traits, strong work ethic, basic intelligence, and good values. These qualities will always give me a better hiring or team decision than a highly specialized worker with an exceptional education who has no common sense or good values.

Steve Jobs

Transactional and Transformational leadership sound to me like exactly what they are. Transactional leadership is acting in accordance to your clearly defined role. My example from work experience is a supervisor who is good at what they do and leads in a classic management style type of way. For example, when I worked at the front desk one of my managers would passively act in the management by exception. This person would leave me alone at the desk to handle all the guest complaints, inter-department tasks, and to make decisions with housekeeping and would only appear out of his back office after problems would arise or if I made a mistake. Then as soon as the issue was fixed this particular manager would go back to their desk and I would be left alone again at the desk. This management by exception would involve corrective criticism and negative feedback only after my mistake was made. It would always sound, ”you should have done this instead, or why would you do that, you should have known better” etc.

In contrast, transformational leadership is what most us of aspire to be today. It is the process of transforming the environment and the people in it for a positive change. This type of leadership focuses on enhancing and building better relationships within the existing system. Luckily, I have experienced many more great examples of transformational leadership than transactional leadership in my past work experiences. One example I can think of was a manager who everyone admired. They respected this person out of trust for who they were and where they were going to lead the company. This manager always treated everyone fairly and provided a clear mission that inspired the entire company to stand behind. This manager was a clear transformational leader.

I can’t tell you how inspired I feel to do my best in life whenever I read Good to Great. Jim Collins’ insight and research has really made an impact on me with not only a new perspective on business but my entire life. I appreciate his opening remarks in the beginning of chapter one when he is discussing “good is the enemy of great.” This is such a simple statement but it is so true. In my twenty-three years I can think of multiple people whom I believe are so remarkable in their thought processes, ideas, skills, knowledge and talents but settle for good instead of pushing for greatness. I know twenty-three years is not a long time which is exactly my point. After reflecting on his points, it’s sad to say I’ve observed settling at various points of my life. I would like to think I could have an explanation for why people settle for good however I can only guess on why they choose to stay put; being comfortable, lack of ambition, overly content, fear of the unknown, lack of confidence, resources, time, and desire. In contrast, it makes me wonder if what the world or I see as settling for good, those who settle feel is great. Which would explain why they remain good because they feel as though that is good enough or the best they can give. In the book, Collin’s continues to explore this thought and provides evidence for what makes level 5 leaders so great. A large portion of this evidence, at least in the fist few chapters, are examples who level five levels are and explains the many reasons they do not settle for good. One of my favorite examples is when Collins is describing George Cain, CEO of Abbot Laboratories. He was a member of the company for eighteen years, and a family member of a previous president yet broke the chain of nepotism by redirecting the strategy of the company. One of his many changes was letting go of executives who were not exceptional in their positions, “neither family ties nor length” of time with the company stopped Cain from letting go those people. His belief was if “you didn’t have the capacity to become the best executive in the industry in your specific responsibility, then you would lose your paycheck.” This value was embedded in Cain’s level of “inspired standards” through his hatred of mediocrity. He was “intolerant of anyone who would accept the idea that good is good enough.”

Collins’ provides multiple examples of this ferocity and they continue to awaken my passion for greatness in so many ways. When reflecting on what I’ve read so far I think about the metaphor of an iceberg. That currently I am just at the tip, maybe ten feet above the water, and the vast opportunities of growth, learning, humility, failure, success, and unknown possibilities has yet to emerge above the water. This thought is unsettling in a good, nervous kind of way. And I am hopeful and excited to see what the next ten feet of my iceberg holds for me.