From Handshake to Hug

What does it take to go from a handshake to a hug?

...Time? ...Personality? ...Trauma? ...Jubilation?

It's certainly not a linear path. Even using the word linear when referring to a hug doesn't seem right. Hugs are not strategic, they aren't measured, they are pure feeling. No one is immune to a well-timed hug.

Of course, we all know those people that are naturally compassionate and come by them honestly, hugging all the people, in all the places, all the time, without it feeling awkward or uncomfortable (for the record, I think this is a magical quality). But we must keep in mind, for as many of these people that are out there, there are equally as many that have only given out a handful of hugs, outside of their immediate family, in their entire lives. Not wrong by any means, it's just not part of their DNA.

Do hugs belong in business? Interesting question. More often than not only for extraordinary circumstances or extraordinary individuals. Do they belong in hospitality? Probably more so than business in general but are still generally uncommon.

We (59club) measure performance in hospitality. At least, this is the answer I usually give when asked "What do you do?". An answer that I've fine-tuned after a few years leading 59club in Canada, but quite honestly I don't like it. Not that it's inaccurate, after all it's "business-ee", but it's cold and frankly uninspiring.

So I'm taking a new approach... We help companies go from handshake to hug. 

I think it's going to take some courage on my behalf as I naturally lean to the - have only given out a handful of hugs - side but I've been working on that :) I'm kind of looking forward to the looks that I'll receive with this statement, not to mention the follow up questions.

"How do you do that?"

I guess this is the real question anyways. And, trying my best to keep it simple, I would have to say that we help people care. This is a tricky solution to sell. There is an art to get decision makers to think about tactically putting caring and feelings into operations but quite honestly, and with bias, I feel like we're getting closer to doing this every day. It's not as much of a radical change as one might think, ultimately it's a million little things that will curate the journey from handshake to hug.

A smile, eye contact, an engaging/genuine question...

How are you today? nope, how about ---> How are you feeling today? Can I help you? nu uh, try this ---> What brought you in today? 

No problem? trash that and use ---> My pleasure

Recruitment has to be a big part of the journey in trying to achieve going from handshake to hug but I'm not sure it's entirely possible to have 100% of your staff made up of natural-born-huggers.

I find myself thinking of some of the Social KPI's the legendary Gregg Patterson has laid out for us time and again in his sessions. In fact, we've thrown these in to Club Study questions in the past...

"How many members funerals have you attended this year?"

"How often do you write a hand-written thank you note for members or staff?"

"# of Manager's Office visits by children."

"# of hand-written birthday cards to members."

These actions have to be fleeting, right? Maybe they didn't happen too often in the good 'ol days either. I can't say I have any data to say one way or the other. It just feels like even though collaboration in business is on the rise, connection and community have never been lower.

I realize we offer a utopian style of thinking at 59club. Sometimes when I look at the service data from our mystery shopping visits and test, I think we have a long uphill climb ahead of us. But we're up for the challenge. One smile at a time, one engaging question after another, we'll get there together.

At the end of the day... "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.” - Norman Vincent Peale.