Mindful Managers Actually Do Spa

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Mindful Managers Should Spa

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The Spa For Mindful Management

Forget The Spa for Embarrassing Illnesses (The famous TV show) The Spa for Mindful Management is here!

What is it?

It is the New L&D/ OD technique I created that is attracting much interest. The new OD / L&D activity is for intact teams and open groups and designed for the non-spa/ corporate firms that I work with but it integrates spa services.

Why is it new?

It is unusual as never before have we found ways to fully integrate all that is spa into meaningful and powerful management learning and development interventions.

What is it good for?

We are finding it to be supporting of various organisational aims.These include when creative problem solving, building team cohesion,  intra group working, training in mindfulness and starting off collaboration. It is underpinned by needs to help leaders learn and plan for workplace wellbeing as well as building their own resilience.

Where is it done?

Only a couple of central London spas have learning and development spaces integrated as part of their services. While they are beautiful spaces for guests to learn and reflect the design can sometimes be gender specific and uncomfortable for men. So when I’m commissioned to deliver learning around workplace well-being and management competencies that prevent stress I use the gender neutral  conference facilities of  5 star venues. Such as The Corinthia, Syon Park and others..

Who does it?

The process unities my teaching/training talents and abilities to expertly deliver action learning, process consulting, psychological coaching.

What do delegates have to do?

Delegates undertake a range of experiential learning and reflective exercises (of my design and facilitation) using the spa treatment services and facilities. They also get to share experiences and work through managing issues they face while learning of the latest research on how best to manage workplace well-being, coping, and resilience.

To learn more please contact.

Regular readers know that I’m a strong advocate of spa located organisation development interventions when delivering stress management competencies training for workplace well-being with my clients. The passage below is taken from a full article written by Alison Coleman for Director Magazine on the power of LEADERSHIP RETREATS. It sheds light on what one CEO felt about the development he attained from a leadership retreat.

“… The retreat, which was part of the coaching process, and something I’d never done before, enabled me to create space to think about my team, the managers, and customers, and construct action paths, or my key ‘to dos’….“Although I was there with a small group of other business leaders, it was a solitary experience, quite intentionally, which gave me the time and space to define my vision for the company and for myself as a confident and authentic leader. Last year was a tough one for the company. This year promises to be the same, but I’m in a good place to meet the challenges and bring everyone in the company with me. As development opportunities go, the retreat is one that I would recommend to any business leader.  …”

Source: “Business Education What Next“ Director Magazine March 2013

Alison Coleman’s article helps define in detail the CEO’s  first hand experience of Leadership Retreats. The insight is useful for increasing understanding of more powerful forms of development for organisational leaders. Moreover it echoes the sentiment  I often hear when I use spa located organisation development interventions with executives and management teams. The above finding is not new to me but see if it is news to  some of the directors that you know.

Since giving my talk I’ve noticed much support for the sentiments. I see industry authorities advising their followers and readers into ensuring that their spas operate as more than pamper palaces. They are advising spa business owners to create better links with their client’s needs for remedial and meaningful treatment. The strongest message coming through is on helping spas to see that they play an important role in stress prevention.

For example Mia Kyricos is a consultant and a Global Spa & Wellness Summit board member. She recently wrote this in the GSWS  newsletter 18 sent on 05/04/13

…”I think we run the risk of stagnation because we have not done a good enough job promoting the benefits of spa and its adjacent (and growingly inclusive) offerings of fitness, nutrition, meditation, weight loss, stress management, corporate wellness, and all other segments of what I like to call the “wellness umbrella”…

Mia went on to define wellness as …”Prevention from stress, higher health care costs, disease, malnutrition, mindlessness. And she argues that spas should be the center forward strategy in preventing these elements.

And I’m inclined to agree with Mia because the conversations that I had with delegates at the Professional Spa & Wellness Convention confirmed that there is a need to tackle the sense of superficiality of spa treatments.

One other doctor and I discussed whether regular spa goers were those who instinctively felt drawn to spa as a means of coping and preventing  their own workplace stress. I also had an interesting talk with a consultant surgeon who has other visions for the role of spa elements in his private and NHS practice.

Indeed with such a range of new perspectives being offered it is time for more spas to consider redesigning their menus to cater to wellness and well-being needs at a much deeper level.

As I said in my talk, one way to do this could be around collaborating more purposefully with other organisation development providers as well as wellness professions to design innovative offerings and spa located events. I also mentioned the importance of harnessing the skills and talents of the more highly qualified (degree level) spa practitioners that we have seen emerging from UK universities over the last 10 years.

The business case for being involved in stress prevention for spas is the it increases the rate of non regular spa goers and presents spa offerings in a more accessible and engaging light. But most importantly spa events, treatments and activities for stress prevention further fulfills your spa practitioner’s motivation for making a positive difference to the client’s well-being.

Read more about how I do Spa Located Organisation Development ..Here

Although I missed the live airing of the first episode of Sky Living’s The Spa, watching it the morning after certainly set me on a positive note for the rest of the day.

I found it hilarious and it was great to see many familiar faces from the world of comedy and the soaps.

But the other sense of familiarity I had was in relation to seeing some spa life characteristics being played out on screen. It captured some of the funny, the lamentable as well as the good and bad aspects of salon and spas. Often these are facets often hidden and rarely revealed to typical spa clients.

But I would be more inclined to call the program The Gym because the atmosphere seemed less luxurious, too busy and more boisterous than the spa spaces that I know of.

Another thing I’ve noticed was the first series seemed to operate on many audience contact levels and I wonder how many people will notice that.

In particular I look forward to seeing if Alison the brash and bossy Spa Manager’s character turns out to be the Basil Fawlty of our time.

Looking forward to the next episode and I will write up another review when the whole series if over.

Happy watching!

The Spa a new TV comedy series is about to be aired on Sky Living (UK TV Channel) … and I cant wait!

I’ve had a couple of years of writing reviews of The Apprentice and other TV shows that depict businesses on Clever Blogs.

However followers of this blog post will be pleased to learn that my review of Sky Living’s The Spa can be read right here, you don’t have to go over to Clever Blogs to find it.

I do love comedy so I’m hoping that writing this blog will be as enjoyable as watching The Spa TV show. Tune into Sky Living on Thursday 9pm from 7th Feb 2013 or watch a sneak peek from here it’s so funny….

If you’re going to Professional Spa & Wellness Convention 2013 look out for my talk after lunch on 24th.

Do come up and say hello. Like others are doing you too can contact me before hand to arrange a  specific time for us meet, sit and have a proper chat.

Are you ready to celebrate with us at the World Spa Awards ceremony in the evening at the Hilton Hotel (Park Lane)?

Salon and spa directors who rely on the product houses to do all the training may not realise they are not helping their staff to develop and contributing to some of the degeneration in consumer’s perception of the sector.

Some of my early hunches about this were confirmed by the findings from the mystery shopping reports I’ve done. The mystery shoppers and secret client reports reveal the same client concerns coming up time and time again. Often there are complaints such as

“she was nice but not forthcoming with information…I think she was shy”

or

“ what she said about the treatment and product sounded scripted”

or

“I don’t think my therapist believes in the product she was advising me on”

Or

“it felt strange as she picked me up at reception and didn’t utter a word but did a good treatment”

Sadly for the business owner it results in clients making judgments like “I won’t go back because I can’t relate to them” … And so on.

It might be that the limited professional development tactics are to be blame for the perceived lack of service advancements in the sector. Spa managers fail when they relinquish all of their staff development tasks to product houses. They risk adding to a mountain of automatons (machine like spa operators) who lack personality, knowledge and ability to act independently.

Market research now shows how clients are more discerning and sophisticated in their seeking out treatment centres and spas. They want spa practitioners with well rounded sets of skills such as empathy, wider knowledge, relational skills as well as being able to perform great treatments.

I guess some individuals enter into spa directorship because of the perceived relaxed vibe (calm and serene atmosphere). But it is important they remember that the necessary facilitative management style does not mean they use lazy training tactics. Good managers are able to train their staff and seek out training opportunities that are relevant for all employee skill needs.

Therefore: Lazy Spa Management Tactic No. 1 is not recommended. Ideally Spa directors should learn how to motivate, inspire and lead their teams themselves. The best form of leadership is leading by example.

Women’s business networks are a great source of clients for mobile therapists or corporate facing spas.

These are a few I know of in London

• European W omens Business Network
• Athena Network- I’m Chair of the Shepherds Bush Branch and we meet upstairs at The Bull in Westfield White City
• More business Clubs 
• We Are The City 
• Sister Snog (I’m a member you need to be in business for at least a couple of years and there is an interview before joining).

Find out about clubs and networks near you. Then contact the leader to ask if you can visit and talk about your work, do a demonstration or tell them about your special promotion.

Drop me a line to let me know if you need help marketing to corporate or professional business women.

This is just one of the many ways of uniting spa services with the wider business world. Sign up to the newsletter to learn of other ways your services might help.

Early January 2013 Sees me working on a product claim verification study with cosmetic science colleagues at London College of Fashion.

We need female volunteers aged in their 30′s 40′s 50′s and 60′s

If you would like to take part in the study please drop me a line with Beauty Experiment in the subject line.

Or if you’d like to know the results please sign up to the newsletter.

Glenis

It’s about how managers can help their spa therapists move into management and spa directing.

Read all about it! I’m on pages 27 to 28