In the book, Unreasonable Hospitality, Will Guidara tells his inspiring story about the impact we can make when we offer an ‘unreasonably’ high quality of service. The concepts are based in the hospitality industry but their application extend well beyond that. I captured some project leadership lessons from the book.
Competent project leaders can get the job done right. But what is that little extra you can do to make people feel great about the job you are doing for them? That extra bit is the essence of unreasonable hospitality.
Lead with intention.
The book elaborates on the power of intention. Leading with intention optimizes the impact of your shared vision and goals.
“Intention means every decision, from the most obviously significant to the seemingly mundane, matters.”
“To do something with intentionality means to do it thoughtfully, with clear purpose and an eye on the desired result.”
One good test to ensure intentionality is to be base decisions and processes in more than just tradition. Times evolve and with it, people and processes should improve.
“When you ask, “Why do we do it this way?” and the only answer is “Because that’s how it’s always been done,” that rule deserves another look.”
Be intentional about your team and stakeholders.
These quotes from the book deeply resonated with me and I think they perfectly explain the points about being intentional when picking your project team and stakeholders.
“Hire great people, treat them well and invest deeply into their personal and professional growth and your people will take care of your customers.”
This is a big excerpt but very well-written:
“Bring in someone who’s optimistic and enthusiastic and really cares, and they can inspire those around them to care more and do better. Hire someone lazy, and it means your best team members will be punished for their excellence, picking up the slack so the overall quality doesn’t drop. At the end of the day, the best way to respect and reward the A players on your team is to surround them with other A players. This is how you attract more A players. And it means you must invest as much energy into hiring as you expect the team to invest in their jobs. You cannot expect someone to keep giving all of themselves if you put someone alongside them who isn’t willing to do the same. You need to be as unreasonable in how you build your team as you are in how you build your product or experience.”
Maximize the team’s collective intelligence.
This is key to expanding both learning and impact in your project team.
“Hire those who were curious about what they didn’t know and generous with what they did.”
Build team morale.
Connect with your team, remember their birthdays, keep notes on their accomplishments. Your actions as a project leader will tell your team that you value them and you will protect them.
“As a leader, you have to use every single tool in your kit to build morale and keep it high.”
“A leader’s role isn’t only to motivate and uplift; sometimes it’s to earn the trust of your team by being human with them.”
“Ultimately, this is one of a manager’s biggest responsibilities: to make sure people who are trying and working hard have what they need to succeed.”
Give the right people credit.
“Don’t take credit for other people’s work.”
And don’t let others take credit for work another team mate may have done.
Deliver better.
In project management, we do not want to fall into the trap of gold plating, which happens when we add additional features that were not approved by the client. However, giving people a better service than they expected can set us apart as project leaders.
“As our focus on Unreasonable Hospitality grew, we were always looking for a way to “plus one” the experience—to give people a little more than they expected—by staying alert to recurring situations.”
This excerpt from the book captures this point.
“We were looking for the kind of person who runs after a stranger on the street to return a dropped scarf, who stops by with a plate of cookies to welcome a new family to the neighborhood, or who offers to help carry a stranger’s heavy stroller up the subway stairs. The kind of truly hospitable person, in other words, who wants to do good things, not for financial gain or some sort of karmic bump, but because the idea of bestowing graciousness upon others makes their own day better.”
Be open and accepting of criticism.
“What criticism offers you, then, is an invitation to have your perspective challenged—or at least to grow by truly considering it. You might stick with a choice you’ve been criticized for or end up somewhere completely different. The endgame isn’t the point as much as the process: you grow when you engage with another perspective and decide to decide again.”
Summary
- Lead with intention.
- Be intentional about your team and stakeholders.
- Maximize the team’s collective intelligence.
- Build team morale.
- Give the right people credit.
- Deliver with extra care.
- Be open and accepting of criticism.
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