Celebrating Individuality Helps Drive Success

Oct 28, 2015

Here’s how Kimpton Hotels promotes it’s careers on-line: “Are you creative, passionate and entrepreneurial? Are you MacGyver–like in your ability to solve problems with a little ingenuity (and perhaps some duct tape)? Well then, we like you already! For us, this business is not about building the best boutique hotels, restaurants and bars — it’s about people – the ones who work for us, who stay and dine with us, and who live in our communities. Yeah, you’ve heard that all before. And there’s a Nigerian prince who desperately needs your help, as well. But we really mean it … just ask anyone who already works for us.”

Here’s how Kimpton Hotels, a chain of 60 boutique hotels across the U.S., has become so wildly successful:

• They invest in their culture, including “self-insight” programs where psychologists lead managers through one-on-one sessions to help them understand their behavior patterns.
• They hold frequent off-site meetings so employees can get to know each better, which has built trust in the workplace.
• Their top value is individuality. They don’t force employees into cookie cutter molds, rather they hire for individuality and celebrate people’s individuality, and they encourage employee to treat each customer as a unique individual.
• To keep their values alive, senior leaders stage “road shows” at each of their 60 hotels every year, where they stress the importance of employees caring about each other as much as they do their customers, challenging employees with the question: “What do you do to make your fellow employee’s day better?
• They value humor and fun, which is why hula hoops have been known to show up at meetings. They believe humor helps drive creativity, individuality and great service.

Michael Kerr, October 2015. Michael is a Hall of Fame international business speaker who travels the world researching, writing and speaking about inspiring workplace cultures. www.HumoratWork.com