Before you recruit a new GM, there’s almost always already a team in place. This can present somewhat of a challenge, especially when previous management has maintained the status quo. You may have managers that are incapable of doing the job without daily guidance and others may thrive with full autonomy. You will undoubtedly have managers that welcome change.
As the weeks and months progress, you will be building a team that focuses on both the overall vision of the property as well as the departmental vision. This means that in order to build the most effective team, you may need to weed through your team and new candidates.
Identifying the Key Characteristics of Strong Team Members
To build a strong hotel management team, you need to identify the characteristics most important to the industry and you as a leader. For everyone, this is going to be different. Find someone that fits the mold of the culture. If you don’t have a strong culture at your establishment, you should choose someone that will set the aspirational baseline for what is desired.
Adaptability
Virtually every position in the hospitality industry requires an entire team to function as one in order to be a success. In many cases, your team’s success will be integrated into that of another department. The sales team relies on the front desk and banquet staff to be successful. The front desk needs housekeeping. Each department is a piece in a much larger puzzle. Even just one departmental shortcoming can impact the overall picture for your guests and team. If you have “me” oriented staff, you will never maximize your team’s capabilities.
No Place for Ego
This even goes for the department head. No one person is bigger than the overall picture. If you have a plan in place that is falling apart around you and a banquet houseman presents something that offers both a way out and a guarantee of customer satisfaction, your ego needs to go in your back pocket and you carry out the plan that has the chance of most success.
Look at the entire hotel as a massive machine with different compartments and each compartment has even more parts. The parts in your compartment must not only work well together, but they also must work well together with the other compartments. Ultimately, the only thing that matters is guest satisfaction, everything else is secondary, including everyone’s ego.
Honesty & Humility
Pride can tear a department and an entire hotel operation apart. Everyone in a management position should be humble enough to admit a mistake, learn from them, and move on. This is important because as a leader and as a team, you must identify mistakes that were made, why they happened, and learn from them so they do not happen again.
There are times where hotel general managers and directors are going to need to roll up their sleeves and help out in the customer service level work. This was not something exclusive to the COVID-19 lockdown and ensures the success of the operation and the function. Leaders see a problem, diagnose it, then fix it. In simpler words, leaders get things done.
Does your hotel or hospitality organization need better leaders? If the local talent pool has dried up or simply not meeting your needs, reach out to our team. Joseph David International is consistently considered one of the top hospitality management recruiters because we work hard to find the best fit for your team. For more information about our hotel recruiting services, please click here.