What Hospitality Can Learn From The Royal Ballet Company.

Comparing Hospitality to Theatre is nothing new. It's one of those clichés that gets banded around quite a lot. Yes, it might be done with the best of intentions, but often it's by people who haven't stepped on a stage since their primary school nativity play. But is it actually a useful comparison? Here we take a look at what we can learn from one of the best performers in the World

Marcelino Sambe. Marcelino Sambe is just the second black male ballerina to become a principal dancer for the Royal Ballet. From humble beginnings near Lisbon, he's risen to become one of the most skilled and sought after ballerinas on the planet. If we're going to make comparisons with performance, let's use one of the best performers in the world.

When you listen to Marcelino talk about performance, he talks about the importance of authenticity, freedom, and the excitement of possibility. "I don't go on stage being afraid I'm going to fail". To Marcelino, the best performers "have complete freedom in their eyes."

I firmly believe they're great traits for a team too. The best Hospitality teams are genuine, aren't afraid of failure and definitely have a little glint in their eyes.

So how do we get that in our teams? Well, just like Marcelino, we have to work on the foundations constantly. These are what Danny Myer would refer to as the "service-based" skills. All the practical stuff. Wine knowledge, food Knowledge, supplier knowledge, mise en place etc. We should always be adding to our "service-based" foundation.

“When you listen to Marcelino talk about performance, he talks about the importance of authenticity, freedom, and the excitement of possibility.”

Another thing we need to do is give teams freedom. I often see once-great teams that have had all the soul sucked out of them by being overly directed. Don't have 36 steps of service, have 12, 8 or even less. Also, don't tell your team exactly what they should say to your guests. Saying the same script a hundred times a day is soul-destroying! Instead, focus on how you want the guests to feel and let the team decide what the best thing to say in the moment is.

Then finally, we need to take away the fear of failure. When teams get it wrong, support and train them as oppose to shaming and shouting. Create a culture that focuses on celebrating success, not punishing failure. It's all too easy to point out the one or two things that are wrong and miss the fifty things that have been done perfectly.

If you want true Marcelino-esque performance, true authenticity and real connection from your team, it's about letting go of control. It's about giving your team great tools but ultimately letting them decide how best to use them.

To find out how we can drive performance in your team drop us a line.

Or if you want to see Marcelino Sambe in action visit The Royal Opera House.