Innovation meets performance in hospitality and retail industries
Decision-makers in the hospitality and retail industries are understandably concerned with creating a positive physical environment for customers. However, your frontline employees are ultimately responsible for making your customers feel welcomed, supported and satisfied. As they have daily contact with customers, they are the ones driving sales.
While these employees are instrumental to a business’s success, they don’t turn up to work every day thinking about sales. The truth is that culture — and performance — start with leadership.
At Yapster, we’re all about creating new ways to inspire and engage your team. Our new Gamification feature uses performance communication to help you do just that. But, instead of telling you why Gamification is great for your business, we’re going to talk about Arsène Wenger. Yes, ex-Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, a man whose innovative training tactics galvanised his team, drove better performance and led the Premier League club to huge success.
What we can learn from Arsène Wenger’s innovative approach to leadership
Arsène Wenger is a pioneer in the world of football. He not only took Arsenal from being ‘boring’ to the top of the league but introduced a revolutionary style of training to the sport.
Wenger called this ‘Invisible’ training. On the surface, it was relatively simple; a holistic approach to training, the ‘Invisible’ method went beyond simply focusing on improving the fundamentals of a footballer’s job, such as their speed and strength. Wenger improved his players' performance by optimising every aspect of their well-being, from their diets to their mental health.
What’s especially noteworthy is how he did this using data. Wegner’s approach to optimising performance by reviewing nutrition and gameplay data was game-changing. He helped his team grow as athletes by reviewing their play through the objective lens of data analytics, providing actionable ways to enhance performance. This level of improvement is only achievable through frequent, honest and open communication, one of many of the habits of great leaders Wenger exhibits.
So, what learnings from Wenger can we apply to innovation in leadership within the hospitality and retail industries?
Inspire your team by leading by example
No matter what you expect from your team, your behaviour should adhere to the same standards. If you expect enthusiasm at work, approach conversations with an enthusiastic attitude. If you ask your team to engage in team-building activities, make sure you’re jumping in alongside them. Ultimately, it’s not just about what you teach but how you treat them. It’s often said that "People leave managers, not companies", so take a moment to consider whether or not your behaviour is inspirational.
Remember, Wenger expected his team to live and breathe Arsenal, so he did too.
Engage your team with fun games that encourage communication
In the busy world of retail and hospitality, your team are often rushed off their feet. With lengthy to-do lists covering everything from cleaning to taking deliveries, running safety checks to helping customers, they need to work together to keep business moving. While your team may be more focused on how they can improve their hand-offs from kitchen staff to servers than learning to pass faster on the pitch, building strong internal relationships is fundamental to efficient teamwork.
One way to do this is by introducing a fun game to get them working as a team. Yapster’s new Gamification offering lets you build a custom game that’s relevant to your business and that’ll inspire your team to reach (and exceed) their sales goals.
This also creates a secure environment where employees can communicate, celebrate successes and commiserate losses with in-feed messages, reaction GIFs and more.
Drive sales with friendly competition
Last but not least, introduce an element of healthy competition to really drive performance. All in all, it was a desire to win that pushed Wenger to formulate ‘Invisible’ training. Everyone likes to win!
Whether you want to call on regional teams to compete to see which store can drive the most sales in a week or record the most positive reviews from customers in a month, Yapster can create a bespoke game that your team will love. Wenger understood the value of sharing real-time performance data with his players; being transparent with sales data will surely energise and motivate your teams.
Embrace innovation
What truly set Wenger and Arsenal apart from other teams and their management is their willingness to embrace innovation. Wenger knew the old ways were no longer working and that he needed to change the game to win. That included focusing on his team's strengths, introducing plyometrics to their training and partnering with dietitians and osteopaths to optimise all aspects of his players’ performance.
Gamification is where innovation meets performance in the hospitality and retail industries. Yapster’s new innovative tool provides leaders with a way to challenge and motivate their teams, with fun games and forums for communication leading to better performance and higher sales figures. Find out more about our KPI Gamification - Leagues version in our on-demand Feature Showcase Q2, 2022.
This is a great way to take your frontline workers' engagement beyond what they do day-to-day. Introducing new channels for collaboration goes a long way to creating a more fulfilling and challenging working environment. Plus, this innovative approach to performance communication gets your team caring about your goals — so everybody wins.