Creating the X-Factor Quotient

Vikram Cotah, COO, GRT Hotels

Restaurateur and CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, Danny Meyer — the man behind legendary brands like Shake Shack, Gramercy Tavern, The Modern and more — shared his secrets on how other restaurant, retail and hospitality brands can hire great-fit employees who will help drive scalable, long-term business growth.

“When you hire someone with a high HQ, and you combine that with the skill to do their job really well … it just doesn’t get any better.”

According to Meyer, it comes down to these six personality traits what he calls the Hospitality Quotient 

1. Kindness & Optimism

“I want to work with people I like, and I want to work with people who bring a sense of hope to their work,” Meyer explains. The positivity coming from kind and optimistic employees is an important part of a great work environment. Skeptical employees don’t help a company thrive.

 2. Intellectual Curiosity

The intellectually curious are “constantly looking at every day as an opportunity to learn something they didn’t know before.” If your employees think they know it all, that leaves little room for improvement and growth.

 3. Work Ethic

“We can all teach anybody how to do the technical parts of their job, but we cannot teach anybody how to care about doing that job as well as it can possibly be done.” Having employees that are not only skilled but also eager to put time and effort into what they do can make all the difference.

4. Empathy

An empathetic employee cares how he or she makes others feel. Whether with a customer or with fellow employee, being able to resonate and connect with others is a powerful skill.

 5. Self-Awareness

Meyer sees self-awareness as a sort of personal weather report. Every individual has a different report each day; one day it’s 70 degrees with clear blue skies and the next could be 30 degrees and stormy.

Employees who are self-aware may be having a stormy day but they’re able to put it behind them when they’re at work and don’t take it out on their coworkers or your customers.

6. Integrity

For Meyer, integrity is “the emotional skill of having the judgment to do the right thing, even when no one is looking, and even when it’s not in your self-interest.” An employee with high integrity is someone an employer can trust and rely upon.

My list of five personality traits  - abbreviated G-CARE  (good-care) of a  ‘right fit’ hospitality professional what I call as X-Factor Quotient are;

1. Grit

Grit is the ability to persist in something you feel passionate about and persevere in what you are doing in life.  It’s about having direction and commitment. When you have this kind of passion, you can stay committed to a task that may be difficult or boring.  Grit is important because it is a driver of achievement and success, independent of and beyond what talent  (EQ) and intelligence (IQ) contribute. Grit is the X-Factor Quotient  in hospitality.

2. Compassion

Compassion or empathy is sometimes explained as walking a mile in another person’s shoes. You can only truly understand a guest’s needs if you’ve experienced or imagine it yourself.  Ability to connect with people’s emotions is a special skill of a hotel professional.

3. Authenticity

Hotel guests are instinctively looking for meaningful and authentic experiences every time. They want more than efficiency from their hotel; they want it to be a part of their overall grand experience. The hotel professional should truly love what he is doing to offer such authentic experiences. More than anything a hotel professional should be a “people’s person” and genuinely love interacting with people. 

4. Responsibility

Characteristics of responsibility are going beyond the call of duty, doing the right thing even when no-one is watching, seeing things through, owning up to mistakes and owning the space.”  

A GRT hotel had a door man who used to greet guests with folded hands and say “ Happy day to you, welcome to the GRT Grand. The hotel is owned by GRT but I own this space around me in this porch and I can do anything for you” He used to earn the biggest tips!

5. Encouraging attitude and optimism

All types of employees may come through your door. And though they may be smart and hardworking, no one sticks around like those with positive service attitudes. They are the ones smiling broadly even under stress. They have great pride in their work and take every detail into consideration. In an industry where it is not only hard work but also a profession where you have to put your ‘best face’ forward, staff with a good attitude will shine as brightly as your chandeliers.

Do you recognise these traits in your winners ?