How to Get the Best Attitude Out of Your Employees

With more than three decades in the biz, Hospitality Excellence knows how to create a winning attitude among your team. 

Restaurant managers: Who would you rather hire: A server with five years experience, go-getter attitude, and hunger to learn or a recent hospitality management graduate who was top of their class but regularly wakes up on the wrong side of the bed?

Roberta Nedry, president of Hospitality Excellence suggests going with the former. Most importantly the job needs to get done by someone who wants to make guests happy.

Nedry gives her tips for managers to motivate good attitudes in the hospitality industry.

It starts from the top

Nedry suggests, managers need to treat create an environment where employees strive for guest service success.

Guests base their perceptions on many intangible qualities, courtesies, and attitudes from each employee during their experience. Their revenue determines either success or failure.

“Attitude begins with recognizing that the guest is the most important part of the job, not an interruption or by-product of the daily routine,” Nedry said. “And, this recognition begins at home.”

Unhappy employees tend to project that attitude and may not be around for long.

Create the culture

First, managers should go out of their way to recognize employees for providing outstanding service. Let your team know the good work their doing and provide positive reinforcement when applicable.

Then, make it a group effort to address guest feedback. Review surveys, guest complaints, and safety issues.

“Team effort gives all employees a voice that matters,” Nedry said.  “[It] promotes buy-in and understanding of the product and shows each employee management cares about their own safety and morale, as well as the guest.”

Understanding what impacts attitude can be enlightening. Guests want to feel valued by the company they have chosen to spend their money on.

Job satisfaction translates to customer satisfaction

Organizations willing to assess how customers and employees feel define hospitality excellence.

Doing so motivates managers and employees to feel higher job satisfaction, which reflects on how they treat guests. Guest experience management depends on understanding the environments that lead to positive, indifferent, or negative attitudes.

Proactively identifying and addressing these issues leads is how you win the game of employee involvement and leadership.

“Employees want to feel valued by the company that hired them,” Nedry said. “Attitude can be strongly impacted by job satisfaction, communication channels, and teamwork.”

When you work together and your team feels appreciated, the experience is better for everyone. The right attitude truly can be the tide that lifts all boats.