Summary

A boutique hotel front office team was struggling with motivation, direction and productivity. There were many projects to complete, but the leadership struggled to drive results through their team at various levels. As a result, many staff were unsatisfied with their role and were considering opportunities elsewhere. We worked with them to complete necessary projects and set up framework to more effectively motivate, engage and develop their team going forward.

Background

Arriving at this boutique hotel, the Front Office Manager had a team which included Front Office Supervisors and Front Desk Agents. The main concerns were that the Supervisors were not meeting productivity goals and were not driving enough impact through the FD Agent team. The FO Manager had exhausted all tactics to engage the Supervisors and needed some additional support to achieve the desired outcome.

Challenge

There were a couple of key areas for improvement in this team—first, with respect to clear goal setting and deliverables. Team members did not clearly understand what was expected of them, the resources needed to complete projects, and what a successful result might be. They did not have clear communication channels with management in an open, approachable environment to address their needs and questions.

Second, there was no clear understanding of competencies and skills required to be successful in the role and move forward in a career. Without clarity of competency required and results to achieve—not just job tasks to perform—they didn’t have a clear path to promotion. As a result, some employees were dissatisfied with their positions and voiced a desire for promotion, but without delivering outcomes, and were perceived as overly demanding by management without justification, leading to a mutually resentful dynamic.

Solution

We took an approach to address these issues at various levels, starting with empowering the Front Office Manager. We worked with them to create various leadership tools to be first implemented by the Manager. From there the Manager would work with the Supervisors to train on the tools and empower them to support their teams, while evolving in their own professional development. Key actions included:

• Implemented SMART goal framework for key projects and initiatives. One main reason why the team was not delivering on results was due to lack of clarity on what success looked like, deadlines required, and desired outcome to achieve. With this tool, we were able to empower the Supervisor team to drive results from their FD Agents and produce quality projects to improve the efficiency and operations of the department. They were also able to clearly understand the impact their work had on the success of the property, leading to deeper connection and engagement in their role.

• Built a competency tool, to pair with the job description across team levels. This would be used to help team members understand not just the tasks expected of them, but the qualities they needed to bring into the role to be successful.

• Established a Career Development Plan with the department, to be used in quarterly check ins with this team. Leveraging this tool would enable team members to understand the career paths available to them, and the steps necessary to progress. A monthly meeting would ensure alignment with the leadership, individual team members, and allow for clear accountability on both sides—ensuring the employee had the opportunity for progression and was effectively taking advantage of it. We paired this with a Gap Analysis tool to further create tangible steps to achieve individual professional development and support more sophisticated team contributions for the property.

• Shared a Leadership Cheat Sheet, with tactical steps for effective leadership in the day to day operations of the property, ensuring the team was set up for success The Cheat Sheet include key points to keep in mind for leaders themselves, as well as quick tips around areas such as: troubleshooting employee issues, tools to lean on for prioritization and attention to detail, situational leadership resources, and keeping big picture goals in mind to guide small decisions.

Through this transformation, we were able to significantly boost team satisfaction and engagement, accomplish key projects that had been in a backlog, and empower the team to see impact from their actions. They also were able to have a refreshed vision of a long-term career in hospitality and traded their disillusionment for engagement and inspiration.

“Annie did more for me in a month than my leadership team was able to accomplish all year. Having her here was like having two managers in one.” —Boutique hotel leadership