My Pispective on Good Promotion

(A pispective is where you write about something in 314 words)

One advantage of working in the hospitality industry is understanding how to be a good customer. If you want good service, learn to be a good customer. Fairly straightforward really.

This is the Golden Rule, or the Law of Reciprocity. Nothing new here I hope. The idea is ancient and found everywhere. It's the basis of good conduct. Easily ignored though and we see this all the time in the profession of management.

An early mention of the Golden Rule comes from Ancient Egypt: 'Do to the doer to make him do'. This is where the idea of being a good customer comes from. If I want good service, it pays to think about the part I play in helping good service come about.

Good service is reciprocal. It emerges as part of a relationship between two people. The idea of service I tend to emphasise is that of duty. Service is choosing to be dutiful to someone or something. This is perhaps another reason why the profession of management gets such a bad rap.

We work our way up the hierarchy, suffer insufferable bosses, get our MBA's, survive restructures and harbour secret grievances. It's hard to choose to be dutiful after all that. Perhaps that's why so many senior management professionals seem so miserable.

Another cause for the loss of reciprocity might be the Peter Principle: "managers rise to the level of their incompetence". Where promotion occurs on the basis of current role rather than ability to fill the intended role, we see a gradual decrease in behaviours of generosity.

The hierarchy in place defends itself as increasingly unfulfilled people work their way to their 'terminal roles'. We read (correctly IMHO) that the best leaders focus on promoting to the greater good.

Such leaders have rediscovered the basis of service. They recognize they must serve the future interests of those with less experience.

Image by Kyle Stehling via Pexels