Culture is not an HR problem

Great to be here. Very good. I know we've got a big time difference, so let's go. It's late late night for you. I'm I'm I'm in the middle of my day, so excited to be here. Let's let's get it rolling.

Yeah, so it's actually close to like nine, ten years, I think, with the Ritz Carlton. So that was my first real big job out of college. And actually when I moved to the US, so I'm originally from New Zealand, like all good New Zealanders, we get kicked out at twenty one once we've got our degree, we travel. You know, the idea is I had a visa to come to the US and then like all New Zealanders were probably meant to end up in the UK, party and go back to New Zealand. I just never did that. I ended up staying in the US. and the Ritz Carlton was the first hotel company, I c I needed a job and I just stuck. I'd worked in hotels in New Zealand a little bit to pay through college. so really kind of got laid into that. I was you know, opening hotels for its cultain in Asia, which was very cool. and then around 2000, I just had this idea I had to start my own business, and I started the first of many companies, all based around you know, different hospitality. I had a tech company, I have a training company still. have a consulting company. We open, close, transform hotels around the world, which is fun. And it was for me, it was just this opportunity to travel the world, see the world through hotels. And it's a it's a pretty you know, I speak a lot to university students and even high schools, and I say, Hey, if you if you want to travel the world, get into the hotel business. It's a great way to see the world. Yeah, it it no, it's it's it's great. And you know, the great thing about going through work through hotels and resorts, you you learn

You know, you learn about service, which which is important, but you more importantly, you learn about hospitality. You learn about culture, which is very important. and then for me I was very fortunate because I got into some leadership positions. So I got to learn about leadership and how to take care of people. So it was an incredible foundation that sort of gave me sort of the confidence to even though I wasn't sure what my first company would be, but to go and work, continue into the hospitality and it was still there. 20 plus years later, where we're still in the hospitality space, but working with different organizations that aren't hotels or restaurants or spas, but companies that anyone who deals with customers these days really should have a focus on hospitality, which is the art of how do you make someone feel good during a service or product interaction. So I think that's probably been the biggest reason that we've been sort of sought over, sought after, and we do a lot of work. that's non-hotel related, is really helping organizations transform their culture into that space. And I wrote a book about it, Culture Hacker. so you've probably seen that out there. and it really talks about how do you hack these cultures to be able to provide world-class hospitality, which is sort of where I came from with in the Ritz days.

Well well I think it comes down to some definitions. So let's start with this idea of, you know, the first thing that people get caught up is they think that service is it. we provide great customer service. I'm like, quite honestly, that's not ex that exciting these days. Service is the transaction of delivering something. So it's, you know, me giving you a cup of coffee, a drink, your food, it's answering your phone, what whatever it is. It's it's selling you in a in a store. That's service. All right, great. Hospitality is in that interaction. What do I do to make you feel good? How do I put a smile on your face? How do I make you feel important, welcome, cared for, all of those good things. And so that's what consumers want. That's what customers want these days. And what happens is if they feel good over multiple interactions, they have a great experience. Experience is just what you remember out of that interaction. And you know, if if you think Daniel Kahneman, the famous behavioral psychologist, kind of gave us that insight that. People remember in snapshots, not videos, meaning there are certain moments in every interaction where the emotion gets elevated. And if you can make someone feel good, they're going to remember that. And if they remember that, they're gonna likely come back to you. So that's a really important that that you understand that the great brands out there emotionally make you feel something. So they make you feel great, they make you feel a million dollars, they make you feel important, valued, all the good words. That's what great brands do. So then you take a step back. Well, how do what do they do? It's not about the thing that they sell. It's not about the computer or the product, the clothes, the cup of coffee, the glass of wine. It's about how they make you feel in that moment. Do you feel good doing business with them? That's hospitality. And so I I think that's the first mistake, is that so many companies are caught up in, we you know, great customer service. I'm like, well, that's just the flaw. That's the minimum you've got to do. How do you focus on hospitality? And so organizations struggle and you go, you know, we do assessments and transformation projects and we go into these companies and we look at their documents, like their training documents, their orientation, their recruitment documents, even their rewards recognition and communication. And it's all based on operational efficiency. And operational efficiency is important, don't get me wrong, but you go through all these documents and there is nothing about, well, here's the here's the feeling. that you should make your customers feel. And again, when they walk in the door or when they pick up the phone, do they feel welcome? Do they feel valued? Do they feel inspired? Do they feel cared for? Do they feel safe? That's really what business is on and that's what great brands do is that they are focused and they let their team members or their staff know this is the feeling that the person or the customer should have in this moment. And i if you see that, we know that they are hospitality driven and that they're going to probably be a great experience, customer experience brand. And it is crazy because you think most most companies in the world today that they compete on experience, yet so few of them understand that experience is based on emotions, and they don't teach their you know their their employees how to create that. And then you take a further step back, and the hands down, the biggest biggest problem is that. We have managers, not leaders. And so you ask me what is the biggest problem in most organizations we step into is it's a lack of leadership. The managers, everyone gets promoted because they're good operationally efficient. They're good at getting tasks done. They're not necessarily good at taking care of people. And in hospitality, you got to take care of people because that's what you try to do with your customers. I can't tell you to take care of the customer if I don't take care of you, the employee. So everyone asks me what is the number one thing that great. Customer experience brands or hospitality brands do. They focus on teaching their managers how to lead. Leadership is a focus on people, how to take care of people. If I take care of your people, they will take care of your customers or guests. If they take care of your guests and make them feel good, they're gonna keep coming back and then for your financials and your business will be taken care of. It's relatively simple, but still so many companies forget about it. I know it's a lot to process.

Well, I think it's actually easier today. So again, because of AI, because with all that technology, it's just about being human. If you can put a smile on someone's face, guess what? They're gonna remember you today. Because so many of the interactions that we have is social media, which is miserable, the news is miserable, you know, you go under AI, you're dealing with so I I look at how the world is going and I actually see that that is what makes hospitality the art of making you feel good. And wh what makes you feel good? It means that when I meet you for the first time, I make you feel like you're really important and that I'm really excited to meet you. And because that I that makes you feel good. It makes you feel welcome. It's about me actually taking a moment to go, okay, let's learn a little bit about each other. I take an interest in you and I learn something that I remember about you that I'll utilize in our conversation. Like, you know, you're you go to university. I just took my son to university, he's going to SMU. in Dallas here in the US, you're you're on Europe and you're going to university. There's such a cool connection point there. But if I can make you feel that you are important, valued to me, and it creates this feeling of I know you. And if I do that, that is why I think it's so valuable today, because I think people are struggling to feel known and they're getting lost in this AI technology world. And I just say, you know what, get back to being human. And I think the challenge is, and again, you're younger, so I can I can talk to you because again, you're the same age as probably my son. but the reality is is that your generation has less social skills than previous generations because you're so driven in social media technology and AI. You can interact on a on a level with technology that we never could. We didn't have that. We had to deal with people. We had we had to get in front of them, we had to talk. We so our social skills, you know, I like to brag. are really quite developed. And I I I enjoy watching younger people in social situations in restaurants and bars. And it's just not your natural space. And so there's a piece there that I think organizations have to realize. And this is what we will do. We we have a training company. We teach go into organizations to teach younger people behavioral psychology and social skills so they feel comfortable in multiple interactions with different customers that they've never met before. And I think that's a really valuable skill. I go back to a point I made before. I tell any high school kid today who's not sure what to do. I said, go work in a hotel, learn to interact with customers, learn how to take care of their problems, learn how to make them smile, learn how to create a conversation. Those are skills that are invaluable. And I actually just read an article this morning that was really interesting. And it was talking about a lot of you know, because again, my son is going to business school. And our big focuses on internships and the finance markets and all of that. That's big focus. And there's some companies, some of the big consulting groups are saying no, they're actually more interested in younger people that have actually gone to work in hospitality and to restaurants and have had to actually deal with some real basic social skills, had to deal with problems, had to kind of interact. Don't underestimate how valuable that's becoming and how valuable it becomes in the future. So What we're doing is basic. and a lot of what we do, I think, is relatively simple. But as I look at these younger generations, I think it's becoming more and more important. And so it goes all the way back to what are these organizations missing? Is that organizations now have to take responsibility for teaching social and behavioral psychology to their next generation. And it's why we're seeing a lot of young people come into hospitality and they're not comfortable there because it is. It requires you to talk to people. real people. and that's not a dismiss. It's just, hey, that's not a skill that is front of mind when you have access to so much tech and so much at your fingertips. so I just find it interesting that and that goes back to the whole leadership issue as well, is that teaching younger generations how to lead other people is a big value skill. So we're doing we do video series, we do modules, training. W we're doing so much right now, teaching younger people how to lead others and how to t create hospitality, how to make other people feel good. And they both connect and interrelate really well.

It can get you excited. Of course of course it can, but that's the same piece. So I I I talk a lot with young managers about the importance of seeing your people do something well. And so this is a really important piece here. it comes from the word respect. Everybody, there's always if you look at a lot of the research, workers want respect and recognition. They're actually kind of combined because the word respect comes from the Latin word respectus, to look to look on, upon, or back on someone. The piece that I often t teach people is people want to be seen and they want to be seen at their best, just like you described in the restaurant. So I teach young managers you've got to see your people do something well and then tell them about it. It gives them this emotional boost. When they get that boost, they feel good. Guess what they do? They start taking care of even more customers better. It all falls upon each other. And that's why what what I said before is so important. The key to great hospitality and great customer experience is management. And management management and leadership are two words that get used into interchangeably. Management is a focus on work, leadership is a focus on people. So I say it's got to you gotta have both, but you have to know how to take care of people. I to be successful as a manager today, I have to know how to inspire you, make you feel welcome, make you feel included, make you feel important. All those words that are used with what customers are looking for as well. So, you know, as I as I kind of said before, it's not that difficult. But it is becoming more important because we used to take it that well people know that anyway and they don't. It's not natural, particularly with younger generations. and that's where we see there's a lot of opportunity to help companies out.

Everyone's read it, I think. No. Well, again, I'm gonna say this because it's in the book. I wrote it right out of my introduction is that culture, which culture is the collective hearts and minds of a group of people. It's how they feel about what they do and who they do it for. Okay. So that's in the workplace. So culture is the collective hearts and minds about how people feel about what they do and who they do it for. Therefore, managers have the biggest impact on how employees feel at work. And so but the number one thing that I go is that culture is not an HR thing. Often in organizationals, you go in and go, it's culture, therefore the HR team takes care of it. No, it's the managers take care of it. HR is that is just the facilitator. So that's one of the biggest mistakes that a lot of companies make is they think because they've got an HR person or a group or a department, they'll take care of culture. No, managers do. And by the way, Gallup has proven it for 30 plus years. 70% of how someone feels at work is directly related to how their manager treats them. So that's probably the most important thing is that for young managers, any manager out there, 70% of how someone feels at work, which will impact how they perform, whether or not they're going to be at their best, how they take care of customers, is directly related to how a manager treats them in the workplace. It's it's it's straightforward and simple. So teaching managers how to lead, how to take care of their people, hands down the most important thing. Now, that other 30% is a lot of what I put in the book, which is You know, your recognition program, your communication, your vision, your values, your performance review program, all of those things matter, but it's only s it's only thirty percent. And so, the biggest thing is teach managers how to lead.

the 20-year-old version wasn't sure about this big thing called life because at 20 years old I was just wrapping up college, ready to go out on my big OE adventure, and I knew nothing. knew very few people, and it was pretty scary. And the message I would give that 20-year-old version is like, you need to go through this. You need to go get scared, you need to go experience the world, you need to go do stuff. Don't hide from the world. Go out and see the world, be the world. That's the only what that that's the real life experience that you have to have. the only difference between this version of me and the 20 year old version is the 20 year old version knew nothing. I know quite a few things. and so, and that comes from the experience. And then the other thing that I would teach that 20 year old version, which I think is learned, is like to to to have value in this world, you need to be an expert at something. You need to be able to give back to the world. You need to have value. And to be an expert in something means you have to specialize in it. And to be an expert, I it's the advice that probably the 30 year old I gave myself when I realized I had to stop reading everybody else's book. And I said, you know what? If I'm gonna be an expert, I need to know something so well that I can get up on a stage in front of thousands of people and talk about it. I can get on TV, I can write get on a podcast, I can write articles, I can write a book and tell peop have people tell me it's crap. And not be worried about it because I know and I believe in what I know. And so, you know, the 20-year-old version and all the other 20-year-olds out there, yeah, this world is pretty damn scary, but you've got to get out there and experience it. You've got to become an expert at something to give back to the world. And when you become an expert, people will pay you money. And when people pay you money, that is power and that gives you choice. And it means that you have plenty of options to be have a very, very successful life.

It's a great one, actually. So this I can give this quick lesson because it's great. So the key to communication. So there is two words, communication, information. They often used interchangeably. Information is giving out, communication is getting through. Communication means you understand what I need, what my expectations are, what I want from you. If you don't, then I just made a bunch of noise. And a lot of times in this world, we make a lot of noise. We managers think they say something once everyone understands because they got some fancy title. It's complete BS, complete bullshit. And so what I talk to executives is like, okay, so how do you check whether or not you are understood? And so what managers will do is they'll go, Hey, does everybody understand? And guess what everybody does? huh. Yep. Even if they don't. Then the manager will go, Does anybody have any questions? And of course they go, Nope, even though they do. So the two questions that most managers use to check for understanding are the worst questions you could possibly use. To ensure understanding, you need to ask somebody and you go, tell me what you're gonna do with this information. And when you see them go, you know they didn't understand. And that understanding is on you. Not them. It's on you. So the thing that I teach executives is there's no one way to communicate. We all process information differently. We all process communication differently. The manager's responsibility is to work out how to get across to their team in such a way that they understand. For some people it's speaking, some might be in an email. For people might be in a text. For some people it's doing. We got a lot of kinesthetics out in the world. But it's the manager's responsibility to be understood, not for your employees to understand you, which a lot of managers think that's that you know, that they should understand that. They should understand that. I'm saying it's bullshit. I said managers who are leaders do whatever it takes and they don't ask those stupid questions. They take the time to go, all right, show me what you're doing with this information. Well, tell me how you're going to use this to make a difference. And when they can tell you, you go, great, you get it, and you move on. So really important, that was a you know, two minute version of an executive programme I do around communication.

you can find the book everywhere. it's out there, but go to S-G-E International. It's S-G-E-I-N-T-E-I-N-A-A-T-I-O-N-A-L dot com. S-G E international.com. That's our company. You can find me on it. You can find information out of the book. and again at shane green.com. You can send me an email, Shane at shane green.com. find me on LinkedIn. It's very easy to find me these days. It's like, you know, that there's no trick. and again, very interested in talking to people, helping them out, guiding them. So reach out if you've got a question or you're just interested in what we do.

No problem, man. Hey, go get some sleep. I know it's late over there tonight, so take care, okay?