The QA Quagmire—Is there a Difference Between Service and EQ?

Can service be stellar while failing in the EQ arena?  Or vice versa? 

Defining terms can help pry apart these two skillsets, because most training on excellent service delivery assumes that excellent EQ automatically accompanies excellent service. But does it really?

EQ is defined by those in the know as "The demonstration of genuine, individual care & recognition; the delivery of “wow” moments and stepping above and beyond the expected to create unique moments that make a lasting impression; smiling; proper verbiage; anticipatory service." 

But these all reflect the style of service, while only obliquely hinting at emotions.

So what then are emotions, particularly in the hospitality environment, beyond how a person expresses his or her feelings or attitudes toward someone or something? 

A person naturally feels pain and often anger when hitting their thumb with a hammer. That is an emotion. 

Where do emotions come from? The person himself—he is the one who is generating anger at the pain, missing the nail, etc.

What is the person generating? Energy. This is what emotions are: Energy wavelengths put out by individuals in response to things they experience. Look it over next time someone—or you—express an emotion.

There are many emotions. They stack up in a scale—high to low. If a person does not know and use this relationship between the emotions, they cannot possibly use EQ effectively. EQ is a huge subject that needs to be shared widely if we are to succeed at engaging with guests. EQ underlies all the service that is offered; it is the secret sauce in any relationship, once a person understands.

So, in my view, the answer to the question is "Yes!" 

Someone can provide wonderful service in terms of technique, timing, etc. at an emotion that does not align with the guest's emotion, and so fail to engage successfully with the guest.

Likewise, a person can provide brilliant emotional engagement and such poor service, that they do not impress the guest, either. No matter how engaging an employee, if they are serving the food an hour after it was ordered....

That’s the way it looks to me. What’s your take? 

Care to share your own examples of a disconnect between EQ and superior service, with the result of poor guest engagement? 

Maybe I am sentimental but who are today's visionaries to follow these legends

HOTELSMag.com

DNA-QA is proud to be part of the Butler Experience’s Butler Academy

Some of the experienced butlers who have joined The Butler Experience’s Butler Academy in Grand Baie, Mauritius. The Butler Experience is a “rent-a-butler" agency for private individuals as well as hotels and resorts,  who are looking for butlers trained well above the norm for both hospitality as well as private service. They are called Lifestyle Architects and combine the best of the modern butler, as trained by the International Institute of Modern Butlers, with multiple other skills to satisfy the demands of today’s guests. The Butler Experience and the Butler Academy are two of the three companies within a larger company that also includes DNA QA, because the goal of the owner of the company is to raise service standards in the country and the greater region (Indian Ocean, Middle East, and Africa). You know it is an idea whose time has come, because a major player is rushing to follow in our footsteps. Good luck, plenty of room in this field for serious players.

Lots more exciting news to come. And one reason these butlers look rather happy is they just completed a day working on their mixology skills in the rooftop bar overlooking Grand Baie! Now here’s a 

cooling drink with some local flair.

The QA Quagmire

EQ What?

QA audits these days include a few token EQ standards amongst the hundreds of standards for facilities. Apart from the obvious issue of the lost focus on service, it also begs the question: What do we mean by “EQ”?

“EQ” stands for “Emotional Quotient,” a misnomer based on “IQ,” where “quotient” refers to a mathematical formula for working out a person’s IQ: No such mathematical formula exists for gauging emotions. 

If we are to stick with the term “EQ,” then “Emotional Quality” would be more meaningful, and we could further define it as “emotional engagement.” But in view of the fact that no real understanding or consensus exists on what emotions are in the first place (beyond “feelings and attitudes”), then we cannot expect much improvement in that most important of subjects to GMs and guests alike: Emotional engagement.

Current, more-advanced concepts of EQ include: The demonstration of genuine, individual care & recognition; the delivery of “wow” moments and stepping above and beyond the expected to create unique moments that make a lasting impression; smiling; proper verbiage; anticipatory service—all of which reflect the style of service, while only obliquely hinting at emotions. 

As a result, the power of emotional engagement is not being harnessed in hospitality, even though its use is greatly desired. 

It seems to me that one should be able to engage with guests at the right emotional level for them, and by doing so, connect with the guests and make them happier—a basic goal of hospitality. 

That’s the way it looks to me. What’s your take? 

Care to share your own examples of difficulties (or disasters or successes!) in engaging emotionally with guests?

       

Welcome to the QA Quagmire!

In our new blog we will attempt to bring you fact based but provocative thoughts on the status of the hotel industry and help to come up with some innovative and helpful solutions.

What History Tells Us

Do you know the history of QA in the hospitality world, or even stop to think that it might have one?

Well, it is not a very long one, but it is significant, because it shows that a major change has occurred, and not necessarily for the better.