Guest Services is….. Posted on July 27, 2021 by Brendon
” Moses’ father in law replied, ‘ What you are doing is not good. YOu and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it along. Listen now to me and I will give you some afvices, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. But select capable men from all the people……Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can handle themselves. That will make your load lighter because they will share the load with you.” Jethro’s advice to Moses, Ex. 18:17-22
Guest Services is a team.
If you have ever attempted to lead anything, all by yourself, whether you are successful or not, in the end you will be spent. This coming from someone who thrives on being with people and being around people and planning things that will bring people joy and excitement.
However, being in the guest services field, both in ministry and in the business world, guest services is much more than just getting something done. There is more that happens in guest services than meets the eye. On the service level there is all smiles and joy and elation, however on the back end, there is a lot more than meets the eye.
Guest services, like what Moses was working through as he led the Israelites through the wilderness, is full of teams and facets that need to be overseen.
No, not comparing what I oversee to what Moses oversaw, however the idea of leading a team, is something that is incredibly necessary in order to curate a remarkable guest experience, whether in ministry or business.
There are levels of the guest service branch that not everyone sees, whether it is a call center employee, a supervisor, a parking attendant, a golf cart driver, a greeter at an entrance door, or a guest services volunteer at Guest Central. All of these things take a person and a leader to oversee that all that requires of them gets done.
There are 3 things that stick out from both Jethro’s advice and the practicality of guest services that help curate that remarkable guest experience:
- Guest Services requires Leaders – with there being so many facets of guest services that need to be overseen, it is too large of a job for one to take on by themselves. It is a team that makes the guest services plan be executed to completion. The one thing that differs from Jethro’s advice, is that in the guest services world, both ministry and business, that women can and should play a vital role in the areas of guest services. Personally, the one that influenced me the most when it comes to staying on task and getting things done, was a female supervisor while in the business world. She taught me how to be organized and how to stay on task even when it seemed like I didn’t have much to do. In ministry, it doesn’t matter if you are male or female, but the ones who can oversee a facet of guest services and execute the expectations of leadership, should be the one leading.
- Guest Services requires a goal – when you are leading a team of people, with leaders and volunteers or supervisors and employees, if you do not have a mission that your team can get behind, the guest services area will fail. It may not fail in executing a job requirement or opening a door, but the meaning behind which the requirement is being done will not meet the goal since the mission is not stated clearly and communicated continuously. For Harvester Christian Church, the goal of our Guest Services teams is to create and curate a remarkable guest experience for all guests that come to the building for worship. The goal of a guest services team does not overtake the mission or vision of the church, nor does the goal of an employee overtake the overall mission of the organization, but to accomplish the goal given is incredibly important to the overall mission of the church or organization.
- Guest Services requires people – If you have ever worked in a place where it is short staffed or not enough people to fill volunteer roles, it becomes exhausting. Not only for the volunteers or employees that you are leading but for you as the one that is oversee all of the facets of Guest Services. Continually and always recruiting and creating a large pool of people that are willing to do the job required will allow the leaders over each facet be able to accomplish the goal at hand. In the previous role I served, I experienced a tired and overworked office with emotions flying all the time. There was turn over every month it felt when it came to finding people that would apply and not like it or not want to work through the beginning stages of the job. It made the environment constantly tense and nerve racking. Without the people to accomplish the goal, the goal will never be met. The same goes for the church, without the volunteers to accomplish whatever goal is set before the room or team or ministry. To continually be connecting people in to the teams that are needed, is critical for the goal of guest services to be accomplished.
In the words of a former supervisor…” Guest services can and should be the at the center of making the engine run.” Without a great guest services experience, in business or church, people will remember their experience before they remember the cheap price or the great speaker or awesome decor or great music.
The guest service team sets the tone for a person’s overall experience wherever they go.