Effective leadership requires a great many skills and abilities, some that must be used individually and many that have to be brought together collectively depending on the situation and the circumstances.  
 

For those in the hospitality industry, the demands of operating a hotel or restaurant dictate that managers exhibit a wide range of leadership qualities that changes as they interact with guests, front line employees and other managers.  When there is a downturn in the economic climate, a reduction of demand in the marketplace, and when there are erratic events that negatively impact the normal flow of business, there is an even greater need for managers to take leadership action. A front office manager at a four star hotel recently handled an after-hours reservations inquiry call that actually turned out to be a mystery shopper.  The score on the mystery call report showed that the manager performed at a less-than-stellar level.  In fact, it was in the miserable range of approximately 40%.  When the manager was confronted with the results of

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In this particular instance, the results indicated that the manager didn�t qualify the prospective guest before quoting rates, failed to differentiate the hotel from competing properties by highlighting the major benefits the guest would experience, never used the caller�s name to personalize the interaction, and most significantly, they apparently didn�t feel it necessary to ask for or to assume the booking of the reservation.

Leaders have to be the ones to set the standards.  Standards that don�t shift up or down depending on how busy or distracted someone may be at any particular moment.  Then, once the standards have been put into place, leaders set the example for the front line team by demonstrating the appropriate application and compliance with the standard.  At the hotel highlighted above, the criteria as defined by the chain or management company, established the measure�the standard--for determining the methods and procedures to be followed when reservations inquiries are handled.  It was the manager�s duty and responsibility to adhere to the standard.

Some managers and supervisors, especially in the front office and reservations departments, only have their front line staff shopped.  However, at one particular hotel in Washington, DC, there is no differentiation between managers and employees when mystery calls are fielded.  The front desk team and the reservations team all compete to see if they can meet or beat the manager�s scores on those mystery calls.  The leader isn�t afraid to set the example and to be scrutinized to the same standard as everyone else.

During the height of the lunch period in a five star hotel�s restaurant in Coconut Grove, Florida, the food and beverage director was standing at the side of the room observing the wait staff greeting, taking orders, serving and carrying on with their myriad tasks.  Paying careful attention to the flow and orchestration of the dining experiences guests were having, the manager noticed that a relatively new team member was somewhat out of sync with one of the tables.  It was evident that this was causing the service level that was being delivered to fall somewhat below standard.   

Without a moment of hesitation, the food and beverage director unobtrusively glided over to the station, asked the server if they were holding up alright, and told them that he�d help get them through the rough spot.  The manager immediately took the initiative to correct the problem, pitched in to help cover the tables properly, and demonstrated for the novice server how to better organize themselves and how to more effectively use a system that could better ensure consistently meeting the standard.

Leaders don�t wait until a disaster has occurred before taking action.  In the restaurant example, as soon as it was evident that there was an erosion of the standard, a remedial solution was launched to prevent a situation that could have caused the guests to become unhappy or to fail to receive the value to which they were accustomed in that type of establishment.  Too often managers bark out orders to their employees, chastise and criticize, then after the fact reel off a long list of things that should have or could have been done differently.  It�s the leader, though, that recognizes the shortfall, jumps in to assist, coaches and demonstrates, then after recovery identifies the preventive measures that would help to avoid a reoccurrence.

It�s important to note that leaders work with their team to enhance their abilities, to refine their skills, to expand their knowledge; but they never do the job for them.  They show them how to perform, they give them the opportunity to observe proper procedures, they practice with them to internalize methods, they provide them with feedback on progress and they encourage them to stretch their capabilities.  It�s usually the manager�not the leader�that thinks it�s better to just do the job themselves if it needs to be done right.

In the face of adversity, in the throes of a challenging economy, during periods of soft demand, whatever the environment provides, leaders resist complacency and reject defeat.  They continue to set and maintain standards and they insist that their team adheres to them.  Managers on the front lines have to develop the acumen to know when to transition into the leadership role, when to shift their view from the task perspective to one of vision, and when to take responsibility for being the standard bearer.  Managers that embrace leadership qualities, never denigrate their team members when standards aren�t met--they develop them. 

Michael Hampton, Ed.D. Is a professional speaker and serves as Chief Executive Officer of HSA International, a global provider of training, educational and consulting services for the hospitality industry.  Additional information on this topic is available by contacting him via e-mail at [email protected] or via telephone at (954) 432-7301.