by Patti Moore

In my last newsletter I introduced Danny Meyer the famous NYC restauranteur with radical ideas about "enlightened hospitality".  His commitment to extraordinary customer service begins first with an excellent staff.  How do you hire - for skills, or for people smarts? My philosophy has always led me to look first for personality, a sense of mission, and cultural fit, because the rest can be learned.

Danny dealt with a similar situation in staffing his first restaurant. As he describes the process, “My brain was looking for people with restaurant skills, but my heart was beseeching me to cultivate a restaurant family. The job application form I wrote was idiosyncratic: I typed questions like, “How has your sense of humor been useful to you in your service career?” “What was so wrong about your last job?” “Do you prefer Hellmann’s or Miracle Whip?” If you’re trying to provide engaging hospitality and outstanding technical service, there must also be a certain amount of fun involved, and those bizarre questions gave me an idea of whether or not applicants had a sense of humor.”  How often do your employees need a good sense of humor just to get through a taxing day with grace? And how often do you consider that attribute when you hire?

As with hospice, Meyer sees a difference between simply carrying out assigned duties, and seeing them as an expression of a greater mission: “Understanding the distinction between service and hospitality has been at the foundation of our success. Service is the technical delivery of a product. Hospitality is how the delivery of that product makes its recipient feel. To be on a guest’s side requires listening to that person with every sense, and following up with a thoughtful, gracious, appropriate response. It takes both great service and great hospitality to rise to the top. But hospitality, which most distinguishes our restaurants—and ultimately any business—is the sum of all the thoughtful, caring, gracious things our staff does to make you feel we are on your side when you are dining with us.”

How often do you let your staff know when you see them going above and beyond the simple delivery of service, and that you appreciate and support them in their efforts? It matters.

What can hospice possibly learn from a top-flight New York restaurateur like Danny Meyer? As it turns out, plenty - especially if we’re looking for insight on how to find and keep great staff.

Danny Meyer on Hospitality...the root word of Hospice!

Here's a great story about how Hope Hospice & Palliative Care inspired one patient family to “give back” in the most imaginative way!

“When Jonathon Reed Wish decided to take a gap year from college and travel around New Zealand, Australia, Austria and England, his mom was so proud of him she sent his photo to The Sun.

“Jon plans to backpack and work here and there along the way ... kind of where the wind will blow him,” said the late Francesca Gencarelli Wish back in 2011. “We are so proud and happy for him ... and living quite vicariously through him!”  That was six years ago, before his mom received a diagnosis of cancer, the disease that would eventually take her life.

Today, Jonathon, 25, is planning another big trip. He’s taking his sister, Ann, along with him, and he’s also raising money for the organization that provided comfort and compassion to the family during his mother’s final days.  In June, Ann and Jonathon plan to bicycle across the United States and raise money along the way for Hope Hospice & Palliative Care of Rhode Island.”

The Elizabeth Hospice of San Diego announces the appointment of Dr. George Delgado as Chief Medical Officer:  In honor of National Doctors’ Day, The Elizabeth Hospice is pleased to announce the appointment of George Delgado, MD, FAAFP, HMDC as Chief Medical Officer for The Elizabeth Hospice. Dr. Delgado succeeds Dr. Glenn Panzer who will now become Chief Medical Officer Emeritus and will focus more on direct patient care.