improve upon the areas where the standard is not being met . But Heath encouraged ISPA Conference attendees to think about improvement differently . Instead of looking at a business ’ s outcomes and immediately focusing on the problems , he challenged the audience to study their successes with the same degree of commitment .“ Are you on the lookout for bright spots in your work ?” he asked .“ Because … anywhere in your work — or in your life , for that matter — where you have variation in performance , a variation in success , by definition you have bright spots .”
Heath ’ s reasoning ? By focusing on what works well under what conditions , leaders can develop a kind of recipe that might be applied to other employees or areas of concern across the business .“ Have you studied your bright spot employees and looked at where these people come from ? What was their background ? What credentials did they have ? What was their mission ? Did I get to know enough about what drew them to the work so that when I go looking for the next employee , I ’ m imprinting on the pattern that I know works ?”
Studying success may require a change of habit because leaders are very often conditioned to obsess over problems to the exclusion of all else . “ When something goes wrong , we swoop into action immediately ,” he said .“ We want to know what went wrong and how we stop this from happening again . When something goes right , it ’ s like ,‘ Yay ! Okay , now back to the problems .’ We ’ ve got to start analyzing success with the same tenacity that we analyze failure , because my contention is that the best way to improve is to be more like ourselves at our best moments .”
By identifying what is working for their spas and understanding why it works , leaders can apply those core ingredients to other aspects of the business in a way that naturally leads to improvement , in many cases bypassing the necessity of obsessing over problems , many of which may be either solved or minimized because the principles of success are more present in the spa .
Most spa professionals understand intuitively the power of creating moments that matter . After all , where else is the focus on the power of a singular experience greater than in the spa industry ? But those experiences are not accidental , they are intentionally crafted . It can be easy to lose sight of the power spa leaders have to deliver those kinds of moments for their teams as well , contributing to a culture that anyone would want to be a part of . Heath urged attendees to remember that power : “ You have the power to elevate people . You have the power to spark insight , to instill pride . You have the power to connect people together , and I hope you ’ ll use that power . Because what we know is that moments matter profoundly , and people ’ s lives and moments are ours to create .” n
“ We ’ ve got to start analyzing success with the same tenacity
tenacity that we analyze failure , because my contention is that the best way to improve is to be more like ourselves at our best moments .”
18 PULSE n AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2022