5 posts tagged “rosa say”
Remember that Aloha is about your individual uniqueness and your authenticity because it is about the spirit of your ha, the breath of your life which captures your essence. Alo is your demeanor, and thus sharing Aloha is living from the inside out. Beautiful thought isn’t it? That Aloha can be about your authentic self in values lived, and in the instinctual deep-seated thought which drives you to actions of "rightness and intellectual honesty with self." When you manage with aloha, this is the gift you give to everyone else. Can you imagine the partnership you will achieve, when those you manage recognize this gift you so freely and sincerely give to them?
To the value of Aloha (unconditional love) add the value of Ho'ohana. The following is an excerpt from an article by Rosa Say: Everything you need, you have within you. I happen to call it your aloha. Everything you need to do, you either choose to, or not. I happen to call it your ho‘ohana. So, Aloha is how you are equipped; Ho'ohana is what you do with the equipment you have. The process of lifelong learning is connected with both values. You should be learning who you really are AND learning how to use your talents and gifts. This is an exciting adventure! May I offer a caution, though? Be who you are right now. You are not who you were and you are not yet who you will become. There are dangers when you are not present. For example, trying to live beyond your present ability leads to a loss of peace and contentment. This loss will affect your ability to be personal, personally real and really authentic. On the positive side, celebrate who you are and who you are becoming! Let Aloha flow through your Ho'ohana! Again, from Rosa: Aloha, the celebration of who we are. Everything we will learn this year, everything we will accomplish, every sweet victory and satisfying job well done, will start and end with us, the people of feisty, bountiful spirit that we are. All the kindness and love we share, all the unconditional acceptance, understanding, and forgiveness we give, will come from our Aloha. Our ALO - our demeanor and presence shared with those we are with Our HA - the very breath of our life, and our spirit Our ALOHA - the authentic, transparent, vulnerable, real us "Aloha is pretty simple; to have aloha is keeping it real." —The definition of Aloha shared with Rosa by a very wise 17-year old gentleman at Kamehameha School’s Kea‘au campus on the Big Island of Hawai‘i
Aloha means welcome; what i have you may have, share with me. Aloha means unconditional love; near or far, you are always in my heart. It is being present - all there! It is the outpouring and receiving of a person’s true self that is inclusive, seeking to serve. Aloha is life itself, not just a greeting. It is the core value to all of life. Keiki Wisdom (from Chicken Soup for the Hawaiian Soul) One day if you swallow a rainbow then you let some drip out of your mouth when you smile, that’s what aloha is. ~ Hana, 6 Aloha is like when a puppy licks your face, only it’s not so sticky. ~ Olan, 5 Aloha is when you have to say good-bye, but you want to leave a piece of you behind because now you have to go home. ~ Sera, 7 Aloha makes us all the same. ~ Rafelyn, 6 Aloha means we’re friends forever – especially if you’re invisible. ~ Shai, 6 Aloha is what dolphins whisper to each other and to you when they pass you under the ocean. ~ Nikko, 6 It should be a flavor of ice cream because it’s that good. ~ Ivoreen, 5 Aloha is all the good feelings like love and missing someone, but it isn’t so mushy. ~ Nick, 6 Aloha is when there is a room with a million strangers and then they say "aloha" and then they are not strangers anymore. ~ Makana, 7 Aloha means I remember you even though I haven’t met you before. ~ Tautalaasa, 7 Aloha is one of the words that means everything good, which is good because everything would need a lot of words, otherwise. ~ Devin, 7 Aloha means you treat everybody nice even if you don’t like the way they smell. ~ Tufaga, 5 Aloha is the way we live. ~ Miss Na’a
Rosa Say has written a wonderful article about how to kill the spirit of hospitality. If you want to read the original, please click on this link. Otherwise, here are some exerpts to consider. The cancer that can kill hospitality is routine. Routine can lead to complacency and apathy making service levels mediocre. What energizes hospitality is creative problem solving and interaction. Everyone wants to contribute to the effectiveness of operations and when given the opportunity, exciting things can be created. Never, ever say, to yourself or others, "Yeah, but...". Never tell each other, "Well, we've tried that before, BUT..."; this kills the spirit of hospitality. Regardless what the idea is, say something like, "That sounds like a terrific idea, tell me more!" Prod, encourage, seed the idea with a some kind of twist; no wet blankets allowed. Ideas are catalysts --- ALL of them When we encourage people to "tell us more" they begin to cook up and create, challenging themselves to tell us something pretty fabulous as they keep talking. Their peers start to chime in because they want to help them please us, and long-suppressed ideas which WERE in their heads before we ever showed up, start to get remembered. Keep the positive ideas flowing. Bring your empathy to work If you feel your staff has become complacent, put yourself in their shoes. If you'd be bored doing their job, chances are they are too! Routine work days are a cancer. They snuff out the warm spirit so necessary in giving hospitality to others, for your staff cannot light that candle if they have no fire of their own.
I love this descripton of Ho‘okipa from Rosa Say: Ho‘okipa defines the art of true service We all yearn for more hospitality, for we know it to be a strong, very genuine signal of the aloha spirit waiting for us within a new relationship, whether that relationship is with a person, a team, a neighborhood, a business, or an entire society. When hospitality is present we feel welcomed, we feel wanted, and we are more willing to be fully involved in the human interactions of life. So what can we do to awaken this sleeping art, doing our part to help hospitality be more vibrant again? How can we savor it more, and crave it less? For there to be ho‘okipa, hospitality must be unconditional Unconditional means there are absolutely no strings attached. Imagine that you are standing in front of this beautiful woman, her smile exquisitely captured in the photo above. She is ready to give you her flower lei of yellow plumeria, but it is gently and patiently held, resting well below her relaxed shoulders so she can be fully present for you. Her first gift, her first genuine desire, is that you receive the just-for-you intention of her smile. She waits, so you will connect with the look in her eyes seeking to share warmth, sincerity, and the complete aloha she has bubbling effervescently within her countenance. You are in a wonderful place, natural, green, verdant, but it has become a background now fuzzy and unimportant; all the focus is on the breadth of her grace in your presence, and the giving of her smile to you. She is there for you, and for no other reason. You soon understand that the lei is not really the gift; it is actually the lasting reminder you will take with you. It remains so you can keep holding that moment of aloha she had given you before the lei was placed around your shoulders, so that its beautiful scent could entice your own aloha spirit to come out and play. However by then, it might very well be that the woman is gone, an artist of ho‘okipa who has already left her mark. She did not have to wait for you to receive completely, because she had already given completely. Her giving has been unconditional, and her art gloriously celebrated. You have just been in the presence of Mea Ho‘okipa, that rare person whose ho‘ohana it is to share hospitality with complete giving.
As you might know, I am in the process of co-writing a book for educators entitled Teaching with Aloha with Rosa Say, who has spent the past 30 years in the hospitality industry in Hawaii. She is the author of Managing with Aloha, which I have found to be invaluable for effective management. Her management program is based on 19 Hawaiian values. One of them is Ho‘okipa, which is the name of this site.
The value of Hawaiian-style hospitality, in which guests and strangers alike are welcomed with your spirit of Aloha. There is complete generosity in Ho‘okipa, and those who aspire to the best practice of this value are highly empathetic, and very perceptive in anticipating the needs of others.
Pronunciation Guide: Ho‘okipa (Hoh-oh-key-pa)
Ho‘okipa was created to encourage you as you serve wherever you, regardless of your role. I will introduce you to practical articles and share some of my personal thoughts and ideas. There will be related articles from our study of the Starbucks Experience, too.
From my perspective, customer service truly is a ministry to others! And you, gracious people as you are, are divinely appointed to make a difference in everyone you meet.
Mahalo!
Dean
