What is leadership?

IoH Member Sara Ballinger, Co-Founder & Principal Consultant at Blooming Talent, talks to us on how important leadership is when managing a successful business.

You are the GM of a hotel or resort, tantamount to CEO of a multi-million-pound/dollar/euro business – you rely on several things in order to be successful. The property needs to be in perfect working order and beautiful to look at. Your boss needs to be happy and to be unencumbered with the business of running the property day to day. Your guests must be deliriously happy with the service they receive, and you must be commercially savvy and financially efficient.

You want this of, and for your team:

• High performance
• Safety consciousness
• Exceptional service
• Ownership & accountability
• Great time-management
• Harmony
• Emotional and physical wellbeing
• Engagement & enjoyment
• Retention

Here’s what we know about the most successful businesses. Management matters, but leadership matters more.

Data shows that the percentages of people whose decision to leave their employment was driven by a promotion or pay was roughly even at 12% and 11% respectively. Leadership was more than double that at 28%. Development opportunities came in at a whopping 52%, dwarfing the other factors as the driver of the decision to leave.

So, consider this. You are a member of a team of hospitality professionals, you observe the behaviour of your boss, be that your GM, your Head of Department or even your team leader. You conclude that you are not valued sufficiently to be developed in your role, that you are not secure in your role, that if you were to object to something or to challenge a decision, you would be out, whether literally out of a job – or out of favour and therefore subject to a tougher time at work.

How would you behave? Research tells us that people who find themselves feeling insecure in the relationship they hold with their boss have a set of intentions and behaviours which, depending on their personality and character, might include:

• Doing only what must be done in order not to stand out or stand up
• Staying under the radar to avoid being noticed
• Apathy & boredom causing low mood and/or trouble making
• Feelings of stress and anxiety causing emotional responses and conflict with others
• Putting in the minimum of effort even when colleagues need help.
• Communicating negativity and causing negativity in others
• Quitting the job and trashing the reputation of the property.
• How can those behaviours not affect the performance of the property or venue? How can this not affect results?

Now let’s look at that from the other perspective.

We appraise the behaviour of our leaders and feel secure and confident in our place on the team and we have a set of intentions which include

• Giving discretionary effort
• Higher quality work
• Helping others without being asked
• Challenging when we feel something could be done better/cheaper/safer
• Raising concerns if we see an error or omission
• Endorsing a career at the property/venue and/or with that brand or company
• Raising the profile and reputation of the property or venue AND of the GM or HOD’s.
• Staying longer!

Those intentions and behaviours can only have a positive impact on the success and results of the property and as a consequence – of the GM and leadership team.

Whether you are a GM, a department head or working in a supporting industry as a supplier, these principles are equally relevant if you have people teams to lead.

I am firmly of the belief that leadership happens one conversation at a time, so as well as the nuts and bolts of running the property, think about the conversations you can be having.

So – what should leaders be doing?

Inspiring others 

How do we inspire people? There is amazing power in self-disclosure, sharing personal insights and connecting at a human level with examples that help others to see themselves in you and therefore the possibilities for their own futures.

Try talking to your team about what your values are and how they play out in the behaviours that they can expect from you and what you expect from them. For example, you might be someone who values respect. You might tell them that they can expect you to respect them, their position and their contribution in return and that you expect them to respect you, your position and your decisions when you make them.

But here’s the thing that is really inspiring, ask them what their values are and how they show up at work and then really listen. There is nothing more likely to generate loyalty in another human being than your authentic interest in them.

Being an inspiring leader and engaging your team human to human to ensure that they feel connected with you and their role is one of the responsibilities that comes with seniority.

Developing individuals

Career and personal development happen every day, it isn’t only something that we do by studying for a qualification. If we feel as if we are learning something new and progressing in our roles it gives us a sense that we are moving forward rather than standing still.

Team members with experience can share those skills with others. People can study by reading, watching videos and taking advantage of the many online learning platforms. Can you give people a little time each week for self-managed development? Could you bring people in to deliver sessions which help with the behavioural and technical skills required for guest service, managing others, working as a team?

Individuals can be peer coaches for each other, senior staff can mentor junior staff. The many and varied ways in which we can help our staff to develop a sense of progress and growth are all at your disposal, but do not all have to be delivered by you, so use your team and remember that the best way to learn is to teach, so it is a win-win as those doing the teaching will be learning too..!

Leading the team

Set the goals and expectations up front and transparently. What does a good job look like? What are the acceptable behaviours, what are the unacceptable behaviours? What happens if someone is not performing? Is there a process or a procedure that you follow? What can they expect from you and their department head?

Take a little time to understand these three things about the tasks and responsibilities that each person has in their role:

• Can they do it? In other words, do they have experience, have they done it before, and can they show evidence of that?
• Do they want to do it? Are they motivated, is this something they can see as important and value adding? If not – explain why it is important and how it adds value to the team and the guest experience in as much detail and specificity as you can.
• How do they feel about it? This is about confidence, often we can mask incompetence with overconfidence and mask competence with a lack of confidence so it is important to understand where this person is on that scale so that you can lead them in the way that they need to be led.
• Create a culture of trust.

By adopting these simple strategies and delivering the right levels of direction and support, we generate a sense of security in their relationship with you and each other. That sense of security gives staff a feeling of freedom to be honest about what they think and feel, freedom to be authentic and to be honest. Trust is formed from this familial and psychologically safe environment and that is the foundation for high performance, sustainable and harmonious team working.

If you or your leadership team haven’t had access to the educational and informational support required to deliver these behaviours, then it makes sense to change that.

Working with some of the world’s biggest businesses we have seen first-hand that investment in leadership is the single most powerful differentiator between those who deliver at the highest levels and are respected as the most successful and those who simply coast.

Connect with Sara Ballinger on LinkedIn.