Hospitality

My daughter and I decided over the past few months to join a club related to a hobby of ours. There were three or four such clubs in the area, and we went to all of them to check them out. It was an interesting exercise. I have to say that for the most part, I have never experienced such a lack of hospitality. You'd think that when new members were up for grabs, that people would have some sense of purpose in welcoming folks. We were not treated rudely, but we were ignored. Simple things - like when we walked over to someone and introduced ourselves, the person didn't say their name back. We'd have to add, "and you are?" It was interesting that this question seemed to light people's faces up! (um....ya)

Friday was a big event at one of the clubs where we'd gotten to know a number of people. When we arrived, folks seemed genuinely pleased. They talked to us. The event was due to start at 10 am. We arrived at 9:57 to find we had missed it. Since "everyone was there" they decided to just start at 9:30. (We weren't entered in the event, we were going as spectators). Lunch was included, and we'd paid for that in advance. About 11:40 a group started wandering over to the clubhouse (where we'd never been). We weren't sure where they were going, why, and if it was appropriate for us to follow. Nobody said, "It's time for lunch. We're all going over to the clubhouse - just follow us." It was awkward and embarassing. We stood alone in the field, no one noticing that we were the only ones not going to lunch.

Now you're probably thinking that these are horribly inconsiderate people. But actually they're not. They're quite nice people, and what we noticed when we visited a number of clubs was that folks were pretty much the same all over.

Hospitality isn't something we can take for granted in our organziations. It's not a given when you have nice people. Leaders of organizations, large or small, need to pay particular attention to how hospitality is handled, and if possible, provide for training. Most businesses understand this - they call hospitality "customer service". If you're not nice to customers, they don't buy your product or service. Businesses have learned the hard way that hospitality counts. Folks will sacrifice hospitality/service for a cheap price, and sometimes for a high quality product. But as the world changes and the buying power is more in the hands of people who have the bulk of the money, this is becoming less true.

Being nice to people is not just avoiding being rude. You can't sit in silence, or ignore folks, and count that as being nice. Not everyone has the gift of hospitality (the natural ability to seek out the stranger, the shy, the confused, or the wary and respond to them with grace). Many leaders are not blessed with the gift of hospitality. I don't really have it naturally, because I'm naturally pretty shy around strangers, but I have learned it and come to value its importance.

Service clubs, sports organizations (for children and adults), churches and community groups could learn a thing or two from business about how to treat their "customers", and how to live out the Golden Rule.

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