Avoiding The Peter Pan Syndrome
or
Flying By The Seat Of Your Pants
Created by Scottish novelist J.M. Barrie in the early 1900’s, Peter Pan is a story of a mischievous boy who refuses to grow up. Even more amazing, he can fly! His never-ending childhood is spent mostly on a small island, Never Never Land, which is the second star to the right and straight on till morning. Here he leads his gang of Lost Boys, deals with a beautiful Indian Princess and battles a band of Pirates lead by Captain Hook. And don’t forget that in the background is an always ticking crocodile, (it swallowed an alarm clock sometime back!!!) lurking, waiting for its next meal—tic, toc, tic, toc.
When not cavorting around on his island, Peter flies off to listen to stories, together with his side-kick Tinkerbell, a small fairy with magical fairy dust. Together, they listen to a young girl, Wendy, tell tales of Peter and Captain Hook to her two younger brothers. In the end, they all believe in fairies, and must, since it is the only way to save Tink from being poisoned by Captain Hook. And all of the Lost Boys are adopted and have good homes, Wendy and her brothers return home as well, while Peter continues listening to her stories, still refusing to grow up.
Now, let’s take a look at what this all has to do with your property, how it’s running, and your positioning of the business. How many similarities do you find—or how many do you refuse to believe?
No matter your location, you’re doing business on your own small island. It’s an island that you and your management team control, as best you can. Lost Boys, lost girls, lost people—it’s all the same but…
Let’s be sure that your team is not lost
within the Big Picture as well as
in day-to-day operations of your facility.
Do you encourage your team to listen to “stories” of Team Building, Customer Service, and the like? Have you ever been involved in an Executive Coaching workshop or dealt with encouraging your team to realize just how effective they can be when fully embracing Brand Engagement? Just what are you doing to make sure your guests are having their every want and need met and exceeded? Are you able to be sure that they are safe and secure, just as Peter made sure Tiger Lily, the beautiful Indian Princess was kept safe? Tic, toc, tic, toc.
Even though you may be operating on your own “island,” there are many similar islands in competition with you, all looking to pirate away your clientele, service staff and in many cases management personnel. What if “Captain Hook” came looking for your island? Do you and your team have the skills to defend against such a worthy opponent?
You may in fact have to employ a Best Practices initiative and be able to use your Applied Creativity in order to gain the Peak Performance Mindset needed to “defend your territory.”
You most likely have no “fairy dust” to sprinkle on problems to make them disappear, or to make you fly from danger. Yet, you well know, there is always something waiting in the shadows to happen, lurking just around the corner. Something that is waiting to “eat you alive!” Tic, toc, tic, toc. Instead, to counteract lurking problems and inevitable mishaps, your team must be able to communicate, coordinate and cooperate with each other. This needs to occur both as processes within your property as in the seamless handoffs needed between one department and another, as well as for the outside processes as in strategic programs in sales and marketing, and community relations.
To best prepare for and prevent problems from arising, a pro-active approach is far superior to allowing difficulties to spread. Tic, toc, tic, toc. Peak Performance Mindset, a division of Ference Leadership and Strategy, Inc., offers programs in Organizational Dynamics and Service Practices. Through customized programs in Executive Coaching, Customer Service, Team Building and more, Dr. Gene Ference along with a team of industry-experienced facilitators at Peak Performance Mindset have helped global companies as well as independent boutique brands excel at what they do as well as what they envision themselves to be doing for future years to come. Our track record of working with clients so that they may prosper on their islands speaks for itself.
Every organization needs to grow with the times and put successful experiences to maximum use. Whether or not Captain Hook comes boldly knocking at your door, or whether a more subtle approach is taken, tic, toc, tic, toc, your team needs to be prepared to defend your property. It takes planning, perseverance and positive experience to be able to prosper in today’s highly competitive business world. No one can afford to never grow up.
Whether or not you have fairy dust,
if you are going to fly,
make sure you aim to fly above everyone else!
If you think you can fly “under the radar,” you will have to fly low, and flying low only gets you to fly by the seat of your pants. Doing so only gets you closer to the crocs! Tic, toc… And as always, you have to watch the landing! Tic, toc…