Phase Two

Phase One -- the first three levels of A Place of Hospitality -- are focused on activities that will gradually help operators (and their staff) become comfortable with the idea that the more they give, the more they get. Phase One focuses more on hospitable practices that will help member restaurants stand out from their competition ... but hospitable practices are not necessarily the same as achieving the hospitality mindset.

Once participating restaurants have reached the three-star level, they will be at peace with the system and have the mechanics mastered. They will know WHAT works but they will not necessarily understand the human dynamic that CAUSES it to work. It is that understanding that will truly help them achieve levels of performance they never thought possible.

If they are truly committed to the culture of hospitality, they will want to go deeper. They will be ready to understand the "Why" behind the "What" ... and for them we have the Hospitality Foundation Program.

Over the past thirty years we have learned how to make the hospitality understanding available to those who are open to seeing life in a fresh way -- to recognize the source of true hospitality and be able to bring that feeling into their businesses and their personal lives.

The Hospitality Foundation Program is a three-day awakening. This is very different from anything you ever attended before in that it does not teach content. The primary purpose of the Hospitality Foundation Program is to introduce principles which lead to individual insights -- those "Aha" moments that result in lasting personal change.

People often ask why the Foundation Program is three days long. For some, being away from the job that long seems like an unreasonable amount of time to learn what we describe as a simple set of principles. There is a reason we do it that way, of course, although it can be elusive. To illustrate, consider these questions:

  • If and when you take a day or two off, how long does it take you to quiet down, get your business out of your head, and become reflective?
  • How about on a week's vacation? How many days before the end of the vacation do you notice yourself mentally ramping up for the return to work?
  • When you look at it this way, do you ever really get away from the business and truly take time for yourself?

The sad truth is that time away from the job happens all too infrequently and when it does, it may rest the body but it rarely provides any rest for the brain. Your thinking is not likely to change until you allow yourself time to reflect and open yourself up to fresh insights.

The structure of the Foundation Program takes all this into consideration. We'll spend some time discussing the ins and outs of the system that supports A Place of Hospitality, of course. This will assist participants to become more aware of the astonishing possibilities of the system itself ... but the support system is not what makes it possible to actually be A Place of Hospitality.

The support system itself only seeks to minimize the distractions that may keep an operator from maintaining that calm presence and warm sense of caring that make both staff and guests feel welcomed and appreciated. The “magic” that makes it possible to infuse a business with the spirit of hospitality comes from the work we do in the Hospitality Foundation Program.

Quite simply we are doing our best to present an evolutionary understanding about three principles that create our personal reality. Because this perspective is exactly opposite to what the vast majority of people embrace, it takes time to be willing to consider its implications and gain some personal recognition of this fresh view. That depth of understanding is totally dependent upon your grasp of the underlying principles.

Intellectual concepts simply will not be effective because they usually result in "good ideas," "shoulds" and "beliefs". To achieve any of the amazing results we have seen over the past 30 years, the principles must come alive and feel real to you. This is realization -- the moment when the obvious dawns on us.

So the learning we seek in an inside-out process that comes from personal insight. A true insight is most often life-changing. At the very least an insight opens our thinking to new ways of understanding life and what really makes people tick. All we ask that you show up free of distractions, open to new possibilities, and willing to experience your own common sense. Like hospitality, you'll know it when you feel it.

Leaders are always looking for ways to increase employee productivity and quality. Most have tried approaches like motivational speakers, behavior modification, rewards/consequences, teaming, and values training. For most, the results are short-lived, leaving leaders still in search of the illusive “silver bullet.”

Those leaders who do gain lasting value from some traditional programs do so for reasons that seem puzzling or mysterious. The "mysterious" variable in human performance is the level of mental well-being. It’s mental toughness, mental health, and "getting your mind right."

We call this variable "state of mind" -- the quality of thinking that is available to someone at any given moment. In organizations, we call the collective states of mind the "climate" or the "tone." When you permanently improve your level of performance -- whether from a book, tape, program or personal insight -- it is the result of a shift in your state of mind.

When an insight causes that shift to occur, you immediately have a wiser view of virtually every business situation and personal interaction you encounter. You instinctively know what to do ... and it works.

For example, you may know that trusting your staff will build better working relationships, but you cannot trust people as a technique. You will only trust people naturally when you truly see them as worthy of your trust. It takes a shift of perspective on your part to bring about a true change, not just an intellectual grasp of the concept.

The Hospitality Foundation Program will not load you down with more things to remember. Rather, it is about fundamentally changing the way you see your business, your staff, your relationships ... and your life. In fact, you will realize how to accomplish everything you want ... and more ... without the need for any clever “management techniques.”

The shift that occurs when the simple power of these notions really hits home for the first time is the most critical element in creating a positive work climate ... and it is the climate on the job that determines how long your staff will stay with you, how productive they will be while they are there, what level of hospitality they will deliver, how much (or little) trouble they will be, how much of a magnet you will be for current and future customers ... and on and on ...

The Foundation Program