This is NOT how we've always done it... - Creating a culture of innovation, the Four Seasons Way

1. 3 February 2017
Once a week insights, features and interviews for
HR professionals in hospitality
bites
This is NOT how we’ve always done it...
- CREATING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION, THE FOUR SEASONS WAY
Bar 1086 Four Seasons Hampshire. © Peter Vitale/Four Seasons. HAM221

2. This is NOT how we’ve always done it!
The word ‘innovation’ can feel slightly terrifying for many
reasons. It suggests having to get your head around
something that might be quite large and painful, something a
bit "I really don’t get it…why would we do that?", something
that means change in systems and processes, a new measure
that requires lots and lots of communication and extra work,
actually, something which feels like a bit of a headache, when
everything seems to be working ok-ish.
On the surface.
It depends what innovate means to you. It feels like a hard,
technical word when actually it’s more of a blue skies word if
you pull it apart, rejig the letters and piece it back together like
this: ‘Finding new and better ways of doing things’.
There are always new and better ways to do things. There’s
always a different way to approach a problem. You could
spend your life geeking out on new ‘hacks’, but unless you
absolutely need to find a new and better way of doing
something, you’re just re-creating the wheel, but then how do
you know what could be done better?
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
HR& HOSPITALITY
BITES
“Innovation can
feel like a hard,
technical word
when actually,
it's more of a
blue skies word"
INNOVATION
- CREATING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION, THE FOUR SEASONS WAY
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3. How is it possible to know every formal and informal system
and process within an organisation (and know them inside out)
unless you perform each and every one of these functions as
part of your daily routine?
It’s not possible.
Which is why every single person in your hotel and the
organisation needs to be part of the innovation process. That’s
everyone on the ground, up. They know what happens at the
coal face, they’re ‘doing the do’ every day so they have picked
up the chinks in your organisational armour – the things that
stop you being as amazing as you could be, the things that let
you down. But it’s not just about being as amazing as you
could be. It’s about being better than that. It’s about being
better than you could have imagined.
And you need ALL of your people for that.
Innovation can be informal; suggestions at team meetings, a
‘let’s roll with this idea for a while’ approach and of course, the
lone nut in the workplace going off on a tangent and just doing
things differently because they believe that’s the best way it
can be done until they’re hit with the ‘Can I have a word
please?’ conversation. And innovation can be blocked by the
organisation refuseniks – the people in the organisation who
would prefer to just stick with things the way they are because
that’s how it’s always been done. The people who fear change
more than death.
So how do you do it?
How do you create a truly innovative culture where good ideas
‘fly’ and make a difference to guest experience, costs, the ‘time
and motion’ of the operations, staff morale and engagement
and being an organisation that people actually want to go and
work for? Innovation has to be guided for a start. Or you’ll end
up with a giant bowl of ‘ideas spaghetti’ with the odd meatball.
Every single
person in your
hotel and the
organisation
needs to be part of
the innovation
process.
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4. Sure, you might not know every single system and process in the organisation and where little (or big)
changes could be made but you’ll know your organisational objectives and what your business
priorities are, so there’s a framework to start with. Organisations innovate in different ways obviously
as the way we do things is hugely dictated by organisational culture.
One of our clients, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts do innovation really, really well. Exceptionally
well in fact, and they do it by turning to their employees – the inside talent, the people whose sum
part know every nook, cranny and quirk of an organisation, how it operates, from the front desk to the
Board room and all the bits that could be improved to make the customer experience exceptional.
Their company wide innovation programme, BLUEWATER, equips 35,000 employees with tools and
behaviours needed to ‘ideate’, pilot, and refine guest experiences. BLUEWATER sources and pilots
ideas through general managers, while also gleaning fresh solutions from elsewhere within the
company. They have incorporated this programme into all general meetings and staff training. And it
works.
INNOVATION
Each Four Seasons property has a designated cross-functional Blue Water team, which meets regularly
to ‘ideate’ on ways of improving the customer experience. Guided by three principles, the Bluewater
mission is to give every employee a real sense of ownership:
1.Bebravewithyourdecisions
Own your decisions and take risks
2.‘GreenHouse’ ideas
No idea is a bad idea. Every idea will be given the opportunity to be developed; managers want
employees to feel comfortable bringing all ideas to the table.
3.Sharing‘GreenHouse’ ideas
How can we adapt this to other Four Seasons properties?
H O W D O E S I T W O R K ?
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5. INNOVATION
E X A M P L E S O F H O W I T W O R K S
The company focused on service at hotel
pool and beach areas and resorts, giving staff
the opportunity to have free rein on ‘ideation’
and testing their ideas. Customers were
surveyed about their experiences and hotels
submitted their best ideas. The feedback
showed that guests liked being proactively
approached in their lounge chairs and offered
free suntan lotion and cleaning kits for their
sunglasses. This initiative was rolled out
across the board and is now a service
standard in the hotels globally. Increased
customer satisfaction = success.
1
Hotels wanted to get connect better with
guests through mobile so the Costa Rica
property came up with the idea of supplying a
tablet to guests being picked up at the airport,
providing a mobile check­in experience by
connecting them with a hotel guest
experience manager. This gave the manager
the opportunity to glean some key information
about the guest that would make their stay
that little bit more ‘wow’ and amazing and
make the whole arrival and check in process
seamless. This idea was then extended to
gateway cities.
3
In a video presentation to staff, a
Four Seasons housekeeper in Hong
Kong said: "Before BLUEWATER I
would go into rooms to make sure
they're clean. Now I look for
opportunities to wow."
3
2
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6. Employees become more involved in shaping the success and the future of the organsiation and feel
more value, like they have something to add beyond their day-to-day role within the hotel.
And if the idea doesn’t work, they don’t call it a failure. They call it a ‘glitch’.
Phew – zero risk of an ‘epic fail’! No such thing.
The winning formula for innovation is undoubtedly frontline engagement + being customer centric.
The way you roll with it (and roll it out) depends on your organisation culture and how innovative you
are in your approach to innovating!
W H Y I T W O R K S ?
INNOVATION
Published by Davidson Asset Management
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