Culture Hacking
Is a Business
Thing
Not Just an HR Thing
By Shane Green
Creating a meaningful and effective
culture is not just an HR thing—
it is a business thing that every
hospitality manager, regardless of
position, needs to be involved in. As
such, you must be able to elevate
or reprogram your company code
(culture) to ensure your employees
are engaged and inspired, and that
your guests are loyal advocates and
fans.
really about the relationship between
culture and guest engagement and
retention. This line of thinking is
not new and was documented and
demonstrated back in the 1998
Harvard Business Review article,
“Employee-Customer-Profit Chain
at Sears,” wherein the writers
demonstrated that employees’
attitudes led to a better customer
experience and in turn better profits.
Culture is the mindset and attitude
of your employees towards what
they do, which manifests itself in
how they do things; in other words,
their actions and behaviors. These
behaviors manifest themselves
in their interactions with your
company, other associates or staff,
and most importantly with your
guests
Simply put, your culture – your
staff’s attitudes, behaviors, and
words – is defining how your guests
perceive your property, which is
ultimately defining your reputation
as a hospitality business. The bottom
line is, your reputation is your brand.
“Your customer experience tells you
everything you need to know about
what’s under the hood,” wrote Blake
Morgan in Forbes in 2015. What’s
under the hood is your company
culture and how you treat your
While culture is often discussed in
terms of employee engagement and
retention, the reality is culture is
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people, and this manifests itself in
every guest interaction.
Tony Hsieh of Zappos famously
said, “Brand is the lagging indicator
of your culture.” This is a great line
to remember, because it highlights
just how important culture is when
it comes to your brand, and it
reinforces why for executives and
managers today, culture might be
the most important area of need
and focus. This idea is reinforced by
Deloitte by Bersin in their Global
Human Capital Trends report
for 2015 that reads, “Employee
engagement and culture issues
exploded onto the scene, rising
to the number one challenge
around the world in our study. An
overwhelming 87% of respondents
believe the issue is important, with
50% citing the problem as very
important—double the percentage of
the previous year’s survey.” So, let’s