The Spa Collective
The WSO manifesto: building a global culture
Socio-political context
Every country in the world has a unique and complex socio-political and economic environment. What happens outside the business has a profound impact on people and business cultures. We are human, we have baggage, and we bring it with us to work. The Spa Collective visualizes a world without borders that seeks to navigate the issues of race relations and other areas of diversity to create an inclusive environment of trust, respect, acceptance and belonging.
Our vision extends beyond geographical borders, envisioning a world where differences are celebrated and leveraged to create a rich tapestry of perspectives.
Purpose & Values
We should never go into business with the sole purpose of making money. Money is always the reward for good service. It can never be the purpose. Our purpose must always and only be about the clients and how we are going to meet and exceed their expectations. Everything we ever do must be aimed at making our clients feel good about themselves.
Our core values of Knowledge, Passion and Love and our code of ethics must become universal and support our purpose. We live these values every day and not let short-term financial objectives entice us into betraying our values. Service should always come before reward. It should never be the other way around.
Self-development
One of the biggest turning points for successful leaders is the realization that business leadership is strongly tied to personal growth and development. The purpose of this self-development is to become a positive influence on the lives of all the people we interact with. To become an effective leader of people and to earn the moral authority to lead, we must first embark on a process of personal growth and transformation. We cannot expect to change other people or to transform a culture if we have not identified our own need for change and demonstrated an ability to transform ourselves. In a world of stark inequality and unbridled prejudice, our ability to understand ourselves and to shift our own mindset is the vaccine for those around us.
Culture-driven Leadership
The world is in urgent need of a new breed of business leader: we call them “Culture-Driven Leaders”. These leaders require specific talents and expertise over and above the traditional leadership competencies that have been practiced for so long. Simply being a business owner or a manager does not automatically give us the respect and trust of our employees.
Instead, we require leaders who have earned the moral authority to lead. Leadership is about serving the people who are serving the people. If service is beneath us, then leadership is beyond us.
Community building
The environment in the organisation needs to reflect a place of safety and belonging for every single employee, regardless of what they look like, how they dress, how they speak and what they believe. They should all feel valued for their contributions, respected and trusted, and treated with dignity, equality, and fairness. Business communities will never deliver exceptional client service if they are continuously undermined by conflicting paradigms, opposing views, culture clashes, prejudice, bias, discrimination, racism, and ill-discipline. Remember, until we have created a sense of belonging, our employees will never fully focus on our clients.
A common purpose
Common purpose is about the total alignment of all stakeholders. It’s about everyone coming to work for the same reason. It’s about a uniform belief in purpose and core values. It’s about a universal agreement on the importance of self-development, leadership style and community building. It’s a deep collective conviction that overcoming racial, gender and other biases is critical. It’s about a widespread commitment to obsessive client service. Common purpose is a key ingredient for success!
Service, not profit, is the common denominator for successful businesses.
Obsessive client service
Obsessive client service is the ultimate objective. We are reminded of the powerful link between culture and service and that great client service requires a positive attitude that comes with a deep sense of belonging.
Obsessive client service requires a thorough examination of the total client experience and the development of a plan that ensures that every touchpoint between the company and the client is plotted in detail and holds individuals accountable for the successful delivery of each touchpoint experience.
The Spa Collective
“The Spa Collective is the art of building a worldwide Spa business culture, in multi-cultural societies, which lays the platform for obsessive client service. The Spa Collective is the tool to promote wellness and equality throughout the world.
The following graphic visually demonstrates the building blocks required to create the kind of worldwide Spa business culture that we are aiming for.”
Soothing souls, uniting nations: World Spa Organization fosters
harmony through diverse wellness integration.
