Practice Hospitality!

Photo by Derek Clark

PRACTICE HOSPITALITY!

My son will be starting a new job in June. As part of his orientation, he was asked to watch a video. (I’ll share the link below.) In it, the speaker sort of contrasts CUSTOMER SERVICE with HOSPITALITY.

In the age where we spend massive amounts of time and resources on DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), may I suggest a little different take on that topic? BELONGING.

Don’t we all LONG for BE-LONG-ING?

To belong is to be a part of something; to some sort of community…as one author put it comm-unity. Boy, we could all use a dose of UNITY, couldn’t we? To belong is to not feel excluded; to not feel labeled as the OUTSIDER or “the other.” How many times have you heard someone say, I just don’t feel like I belong…? OUCH. What is it to feel that way? Why do some (we) often feel that way? What is the ROOT CAUSE of feeling like we don’t belong?

If I come home and yell at my wife or kick the dog (we don’t have a dog, so hypothetically speaking ), while those behaviors are INEXCUSABLE, why do I behave that way? There’s something behind that behavior. That behavior has a ROOT CAUSE. Where is a safe place for me to TRUTH-TELL? To say, I’m broken…I need help. (And if we’re honest, aren’t we all broken in some way…Dare I say “bent”? Bent from our best selves…

Enter HOSPITALITY…HOSPITAL-ITY…

Where is “the hospital” where my “bent-ness” can get diagnosed, “procedures” can take place, and a path to “un-bent-ness” (healing what’s broken) can be undertaken? What is that sort of hospitality like? Have you experienced it? At home? At work? In your community?

Can your business become

a “hospital” of sorts?

If so, it will be a place of HOSPITALITY. Take a look at the video: https://youtu.be/-88BFyqoZpw  It’s five-and-a half minutes long. Well worth your time. Watch it! You’ll be glad you did!