I was once approached by an employee to explain my management philosophy. At first I thought that that would take several hours to do, but thought about paraphrasing it a way that might make more sense. The gist is that it is all about one’s vibe or what my generation loved to call one’s aura. As we approach someone, for example, while walking down a sidewalk we innately begin to start judging this stranger who we are approaching. It’s impossible to avoid; we begin to size this person up by assessing their body language. We notice whether their head is down, their stride, are they looking at their phone? Smoking? Coughing? Hair disheveled? Or perfectly quaffed? How do they smell? The list is endless … all of this processing happening within us in an instant. In the end we are checking out their aura … ok, vibe. And likewise, they are checking us out too. We’re humans, it’s what we do and most likely don’t even know we are doing it. All leading to that moment when we get closer to each other and we decide whether we want to engage with that person, that stranger. Do we say hello? Or simply put our head down and keep walking? A lot happens in a couple of seconds.
At Monarch we believe that we collectively reflect this similar aura outward when guests arrive. What is our collective body language? Are we happy working with one another? Do we help each other? Are we smiling and high-fiveing each other? How are we speaking and treating the other guests? Are we smoking by the doorways? Playing music? Staring at our phones? Headphones? Again, the list is endless, but we believe that if that vibe is right, our guests will want to engage with us not only for now, but for now on, which is what we truly believe we do. We love to engage with our guests. It is who we are. It is what we do, naturally. So basically that’s it … my management philosophy. If we don’t get that straight, nothing else much matters.
To this end we have made some improvements in our staffing philosophies. First, we have raised our internal minimum wage to $15 per hour. By doing so it has also raised all those that aren’t entry level positions. We are also introducing a new department (formerly known as Reservations) called The Monarch Experience department. The Monarch Experience department is a fun and exciting way to engage with the ski industry and the Monarch family. This department is an upbeat, energetic environment that provides opportunities to earn while still getting to play in the mountains. Our Experience Specialists are eager to learn, experience and curate all that Monarch and the surrounding areas have to offer. Besides, “reservationist” is a boring name. There is way more to it than that. They are curators of the Monarch Vibe. If you are interested in that kind of thing, you should definitely check it out. The compensation is pretty groovy too. Just sayin.
