An Outstanding Team Reaches Beyond Premium Service

February 2020

Sociomapping helps to improve relationships both within and among teams, in a variety of the world’s countries, culture, and climates. And we found a combination of all of them in what might just be one of the worldś most luxurious resorts.

On a private island in the Maldives where we created a social map of the top management and the other teams responsible for ensuring that each guest’s stay on this island is an exceptional one. And this experience was a very special one for us as well! It’s not every day that we can meet a team that’s entirely isolated on a tiny slice of land amidst a pure paradise and help them to take their already excellent service up to the next level.

Luxury and Gumption

Velaa Private Island, in the exotic Maldives, is a mere 500 m long and offers 43 private villas. This island is home to a golf course, a number of exclusive restaurants, the Maldives’ largest wine cellar, a luxury spa, and more. In this stylish environment guests can enjoy luxury, comfort, and above all privacy and care that may even be provided by a butler—every guest has one available throughout their stay.

Exceptional place/service/teams

Over 500 employees ensure each guest is comfortable and receives exclusive service. Employees come for 2–3 years, and many extend their stays; they especially appreciate the family-like atmosphere compared to other resorts and the special approach towards clients. They enjoy good infrastructure, sporting opportunities, a cultural program, and room to rest, despite being nearly constantly at work or literally just minutes away from it. Working here, you find yourself in an exquisite environment with very good conditions, surrounded by inspiring colleagues. The teams are very multicultural; a team of 10 can easily have members from 6 or more ethnicities. This diversity is maintained deliberately, in part so the guests can feel at home.

The Challenges When You’ve Been Hired for Heaven

Work in a beautiful environment is itself beautiful—but don’t overlook the challenges these employees face each day. Clients come to Velaa Private Island to enjoy calm, quiet, and privacy. Unlike these guests, who are spending their vacations here, employees are surrounded by this tranquil environment every day and thus must be able to handle multiple months of separation from their families and the outside world. This disconnection often also creates difficult life situations, and for example leaves employees with no link to their families except Skype. Yet precisely this isolation makes work on the island a great, unique test of each employee’s drive—their gumption. They constantly deal with extreme demands from clients, often the world’s richest people, and also very high demands in terms of on-call hours. So you can easily see situations such as a guest bringing in their own team of cooks even though the team on the island is made up of the most talented cooks from Michelin restaurants, or the staff having to move billiard table in the middle of the night.

The teams’ high cultural diversity and strong gender imbalance naturally also create considerable challenges, for example in differing communication methods or leadership approaches. The work environment here is truly magnificent, but this comes at the cost of enormous demands on work efficiency and high engagement, availability, and enthusiasm during work with clients.