The culture of service as a performance art

In some cultures, you arrive at a top-class hotel and are met by a group of smiling hotel staff. They greet you by name, even before you enter the hotel. You are ushered in then welcomed by the official host who places a garland around your neck. A fourth or fifth person (you easily lose count), hands you a refreshing towel and a cool glass of freshly squeezed juice. There is no check-in counter. Instead, someone else invites you to the lift and takes you to your room. It is only after your comfort is assured that they politely request for your passport in order to check you in. Shortly after, your passport is returned to you, accompanied by a duly filled-in form containing your personal details and awaiting only your signature. There is no check-in counter where you, the paying guest, is expected to wait to be served. The hotel puts its guests’ comfort and convenience front and centre of the hotel’s strategy and waits to serve you. Closer to home, at the 2014 Services Investment Forum (SIF) held here in Kigali last year, a young woman questioned why people expected Tanzanians to be like Kenyans. She explained that like their Rwandan counterparts, Tanzanians are gentle, soft spoken, people with a strong sense of culture and kindness. It was thus important to create a service mindset that builds upon this culture and not to be forced to be like other people. Culture, to a large extent, defines the hospitality industry. If someone says to you “Have a nice day,” as you leave their premises, you immediately know what culture they come from. But is it culture alone that prescribes the level and type of service that you receive? Professionalism is a key ingredient in service. You may enjoy watching the daily news with a favourite anchor; or getting through the morning commute with the entertaining stories of the FM music station radio personality. Imagine if from day to day you never knew how those media celebrities would present themselves! If it all depended on their mood that day; whether they smiled, looked into the camera, or even read the news in its entirety. What if they walked off the set in the middle of the news broadcast, or showed up late, or never looked at the camera or turned to joke with the cameraman in the middle of the broadcast? Anyone providing a service needs to, what some might call, put on a performance. You expect your media personality to be upbeat and professional every time they are “on air”; even if they woke up with a bad hair day. The same should go for your waiter at your local restaurant. Or your barber, university professor and even your Sunday morning preacher. Even if “On air” for them is when they have a client, students or a congregation in front of them. A client, be it a TV viewer, or a tax payer, is not your friend. If you are fortunate, they might be. But the service that you provide is based on a professional relationship, - a relationship with someone who is (indirectly) paying your shelter, your food and your children’s school fees. In a restaurant, a wait staff said, “I can’t eat the food here, it makes me puke”. The remark was to emphasise that particular staff member’s reaction to seafood. A friendly waiter may be able to make such a personalised comment to a client that is a friend. But, the critical question is, does what you do or say reflect positively on the business that you represent? This is where professionalism comes into play. Professionalism goes beyond friendliness. It is being able to give that client a service that they will want to come back for and know that it will be the same or better the next time. It combines a consistency of product and service enveloped in an attitude of respect for the client and a warm gratitude for their business. In the top-class hotel, the staff are on a stage. They create a performance that, like any good play, is based on rehearsal after rehearsal after rehearsal of their individual parts. They make the client the star of the play. And like any exceptional star you must be made to feel and look good. It is the hard work through the repeated rehearsals that makes the hotel staff provide what seems to be an effortless, impeccable and memorable service. The Intore dance, which leaves audiences in a state of awe, is performance art at its most graceful and beautiful. As Rwanda focuses on being the destination of choice, its warm cultural traditions need to be the basis from which the country propels itself to the professional top of the global services game. Currently based in Rwanda, the writer comments about people, organizations and countries whose stories create a chrysalis for ideas.

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The culture of service as a performance art