Managers working their way up through the ranks can (and should) become mentors to their own staff members. This will play a key role in not only making your staff more promotable but also in making YOU more profitable.
Without mentors, the hospitality industry, the senior living industry, and frankly every other industry in the world would be dead. Sadly, there are always going to be managers that manage out of fear, meaning they are afraid to delegate and share information with their subordinates for fear of being replaced.
With all of those experiences in mind, here are some key characteristics mentors need to possess:
- Willing to Share Knowledge and Experience – A mentor cannot and will not be afraid to share knowledge. The goal is to make your staff promotable, thereby making the overall operation more successful.
- Personal Interest – A mentoring relationship often goes far deeper than just work. In essence, a good manager must be happy in his or her personal life to be happy in his or her professional life, because both will impact each other. A good mentor is investing in his or her managers as not only a hospitality manager but also as a person.
- Great Attitude – There will obviously be times when everything is not amazing, but a good mentor will generally have a very positive approach to things. Even when things are going bad, it is treated as a learning experience. As a mentor, regardless of the situation, you must keep the manager or staff member you are mentoring excited and positive about the industry.
- Respect – This goes both ways. A mentor is generally respected in his or her field and will also treat his or her staff with respect. No member of the staff was too small or too inconsequential to warrant his time or attention.
- Guidance and Feedback – As would be expected, a major part of the mentoring role requires the mentor to break down events and provide feedback about the positives and recommendations on how things could be better (or help you work your way through a better solution). This is where a thick skin will come in because you may not always like what your mentor has to say, but that this is about making you a better manager and making the operation more successful.
- Promotes Growth – Mentors do not hold employees back. There will come a time in every mentoring relationship when the manager you are mentoring has gone as far as he or she can go in their current role. When that time comes, a mentor will help that manager find another opportunity within the existing organization or not try to talk that manager out of taking another opportunity with another company if he or she is truly ready to take their career to the next level.
As a mentor, there will no doubt come a time when a manager has areas of need where you are not an expert. For most managers, multiple mentors should be the norm. As you go deeper into your career, you will no doubt have managers relying upon you to be their mentors. Keep these character traits in mind as you take them under your wing. That is truly the only way we can ensure the next generation of hospitality managers are as good or, hopefully, better than the managers in the industry today.
Can your hospitality organization benefit from having more managers with a “mentoring” attitude? If you are looking for quality executive-level hospitality managers, look no further than Joseph David International. As one of the top hotel recruiters in the country, we have been successful because we don’t just put together a list of candidates, but we look to find the ideal candidate to suit your property or organization’s specific needs.