Inspiration
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A Conversation with Dr. Bryan K. Williams- Leaders Serve & Servers Lead: Keys To Inspire Exceptional Service
Pulse: You’ve been a mainstay of the ISPA Conference for nearly two decades, and members remind us every year to invite you to join us at the annual spa gathering. This year, you will present a topic new to ISPA attendees, but one that has helped shape your own career. Is there a success story you’d like to share?
Bryan K. Williams: Absolutely! One of my fondest memories of “leaders serve and servers lead” is when I was a pool and beach attendant at The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas. I was a senior in high school at the time. The general manager of the resort noticed my work ethic and called me to his office. He challenged me to come up with seven life goals, and then subsequently met with me weekly—in his office—to review the goals. After one year, he transferred to another hotel, but by the time I was 28 years old, I had done everything on the goals list.
A Conversation with Erica Dhawan
Pulse: You are known for helping leaders inspire their teams to collaborate. When did you first recognize the power of innovation in workplace culture?
ERICA DHAWAN: Research has proven over and over that the romantic myth of the lone genius fails because it obscures the social, connected qualities of innovation. We can multiply our own knowledge, drive and insight “by the power” of others. Embracing this insight is a key aspect of getting big things done in life and work.
A case in point is the recent shift toward greater collabo[1]ration through peer-to-peer virtual communities. A few years ago, the CFO of a law firm noticed a decline in billing among their incoming associates. He discovered they had created a virtual Teams community to share information and advice about their cases. When someone had a problem or question, he or she would pose it on the forum and often immediately receive the answer from a peer. By collaborating with each other in this way, they were able to work better and far more quickly—across offices, practices and levels. For the first time ever, the firm’s leaders had to ask themselves, How can we learn about how to innovate faster and better ways of collaborating from our youngest employees—where horizontal collaboration is natural to them outside of in-person interactions? Today, they have created virtual peer-to-peer communities at all levels of the firm to increase social connections. To me, innovation starts by learning from others, collaborating in new ways and taking these lessons to maximize value and impact in organizations.
A Conversation with Justin Wren
Pulse: The principles of well-being and self-care are often associated with spa environments. How do they align with your own journey as an MMA fighter and humanitarian?
Justin Wren: Well, from the wrestling and MMA world, we always used saunas and ice baths and needed massage, so we always found ourselves in a spa environment. First, when we had no money, it was laying on the wrestling mats and our training partners rubbing out our shoulders, our hamstrings, our calves, our back and neck. Then when I got to the Olympic Training Center, we would have massage therapists once a week. We’d get in the ice baths, we’d always be in the sauna, especially before tournaments. And in the MMA world, whenever you’re fighting, you’re always finding the spa that had a gym, a sauna, a steam room, hopefully cold plunges, and then massage therapy that could really help you. I would say it changed from performance to taking care of myself later in my MMA career to now having four ice baths—or four cold plunges—and two saunas at home, and starting a podcast around the heat and the cold and the benefits those have for the body.
A Conversation with Peter Katz: Learn to celebrate with an internationally renowned singer-songwriter
Juno award and Canadian folk music Award nominated singer-songwriter Peter Katz has spent the last 15 years touring internationally, earning a reputation as “a thunderbolt for the soul.” His singles have garnered nearly 10 million plays on streaming platforms, and his music videos have amassed more than 25 million views. Katz’s work has been featured on numerous TV shows and movies, including coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympics/Paralympics.
A Conversation with Ryan Leak
Pulse: The spa world has a long history of efforts to improve individuals’ holistic health. As a community, we sometimes are more successful providing care to others than to ourselves. How can spa professionals balance self care with their mission to tend to others?
Ryan Leak: Practice what they preach. It’s so easy to sell the things that are working well for us. At that point, we’re not selling, we’re just being. I always say, there’s got to be an area of your life where you are truly “off” with Do Not Dis[1]turb on. We can only give out what has been put in.
Pulse: In your role as CEO of a leadership development firm, you work with Fortune 500 companies and professional sport teams and other high-profile businesses. What does it take to be effective and sustainable as a leader?
RL: Sustainable leadership requires truth tellers. What often comes with the territory of leadership is people not being honest with them to save face or save their jobs. Leaders have to have people around them who can be honest with them when an idea or strategy isn’t good.
A Conversation with Suneel Gupta
Pulse: Spa is meant to be a place where individuals can find balance. How does your advocacy for emotional resilience and engagement complement the work done in spas?
Suneel Gupta: One of the things I find interesting about your work is you bring people’s lives into balance. What you do is really important—desperately needed. The number one driver of mental health for most of us is our work, our job. There’s an intimate connection between our work and our well-being. The reverse is also true: If we aren’t feeling good, our work is also exhausted. Our wellbeing harmonizes our work.
A Conversation with Taylor Fields
Throughout 2023, Pulse will feature interviews with experienced practitioners whose insights about spa specialties will help facility leaders to recruit, engage and retain staff members.
Kristine Huffman for Pulse: You started off in the industry as a spa attendant. How did you get that job?
TAYLOR FIELDS: I made an effort to meet property leaders through social events and interactions in my neighborhood and learned more about the resort. Once I graduated high school, I applied at the property and listed one of them as a personal reference.
Pulse: You are now the corporate director of spas for PCH Hotels & Resorts. Can you tell us a little bit about how you became so successful?
TF: When I wasn’t attending to spa guests, I was out in the retail area or engaging with the front desk and getting involved with more aspects of the spa operation. When I started as a supervisor, I had a lot of angst going into a position where I was suddenly in a position where my peers were reporting to me, but I think a lot of my success can be attributed to caring and treating people with respect. Also, I’m always curious. It helps me be prepared for any type of call or interview or meeting. I don’t like to go in and just wing it. I strive to be a continuous learner.
Amanda Al-Masri: Evolve or Become Irrelevant
Join key leaders within the industry as they share insights on how constant evolution within the spa business is necessary to thrive, and how spas are adapting and changing to stay relevant.
Pulse: What are some of the challenges and opportunities of new technology in the spa?
Amanda Al-Masri: Our recent 2023 Trends Report found more than half of travelers across the globe are aiming to have an easier travel experience in 2023, leading to clear opportunity for us as an industry to offer innovative solutions that are both human and technology-led. In this widely digital world, we see technology as a means to provide an enhanced experience for guests and, ultimately, smooth operations so that our team members can focus on what they do best: provide guests with exceptional hospitality and service.
While technology often powers the day-to-day, it’s people who provide the relatability, personalization and genuine hospitality that we have grown accustomed to. That’s why more than half of global travelers say they’ll care about reliable and friendly service. There are just some things— like a smile or warm greeting—that can’t be digitally replicated or replaced, and our team members are always available to deliver that and more.
Attracting Guests Through Innovative Treatment Offerings
Defining innovation as successfully implementing new ideas that introduce value for your customer, Michael Tompkins asked panel members to identify spa innovations they have focused on recently.
Aaliya Bashir shared her work with detoxification. “Detox was a bad word—usually associated with drug use—but now you see it everywhere, like on toothpaste,” she said. Aaliya also pointed out “consumers are now more educated about detoxification. Now, people are getting more aware that detoxification is an everyday thing. Everything we put inside of ourselves needs to come out.” She sees a direct benefit of innovating around the concept of detoxification within the spa: “People are coming to the sauna a couple of times per week.”
Be a Mountain Climber: Key Tips to Overcome Any Barrier
Face your mountain. Mountains can discourage you, but mountains in the spa industry consist of how we attract great people, how we keep them, and how we help them thrive. In his Knowledge Builder Session at the 2023 ISPA Conference, Dr. Bryan K. Williams joined attendees to discuss tips to over overcome any barrier.
Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, or motivation theory, is how you get people to do what they want to do. It attributes two factors to motivating action: hygiene factors and motivation factors. Most recruitment is based on hygiene factors—ones related to job satisfaction such as compensation, job security, benefits, company policies and workplace conditions. These factors will attract people who just want a job. Motivation factors consist of challenging work, opportunity for personal growth, personal responsibility, recognition, sense of belongingness and sense of purpose. These factors tend to attract people who want to stay and thrive at their job.