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An Anonymous Tip to Opportunities at Your Hotel
by Jim Hartigan October 24, 2011 The annual employee survey
for your hotel closed last week and you
restlessly anticipate the results for your hotel teams.
You think you have a good sense for your team
members’ opinions, but you’re still a bit nervous.
All of a sudden you hear that familiar
“You’ve got mail” ding as the anxiously awaited report lands in your
inbox. As you scan the results, which
are overwhelmingly positive, you notice you scored quite low in one
area: encourages
teamwork. What do you do now? Mandate
monthly retreats, during which employees must take turns falling
backwards from
a 5-foot high platform into the outstretched arms of their peers? Or perhaps you go a tirade in the office,
demanding to know why employees would think such a thing.
In either case, you won’t really know for
sure what the
appropriate next steps are until you dig deeper to uncover the root
cause of
the issue. To that end, it’s helpful to
think of the results of the survey as an
anonymous tip, alerting you to a perceived problem.
Although you don’t know exactly who
provided the tip, or at least you shouldn’t, the survey
results will give you enough information to investigate further. We suggest beginning an open
dialog with your team by conducting a
feedback session, during which several, if not all, members of your
team come together
to discuss any issues identified on the survey. It’s
best to conduct these feedback meetings
by department, to allow for individuals to feel comfortable in sharing
their
ideas. The primary goal of the session
is for you to discover the root cause of any concerns or issues. In other words, the one or two specific
things to which you can point and say “This is where the issue
originated and
why it became an issue in the first place.” There are several ways to get
to the true origin of an issue (fishbone
diagrams, Pareto charts, or the Magic 8-ball). Many
of our clients have been successful using the Five
Why’s method,
where you as the session leader ask “why” five or more times until an
issue’s
root cause becomes obvious. Here’s an
example, using our teamwork scenario: Manager –
The results of the
employee opinion survey show I’m not doing enough to encourage teamwork. Would one of you please share with me why you
feel this way or why you think someone on the team would feel this way? Front Desk Employee
–
I sometimes feel lost when I
need to make reservations. Manager –
Why
do you feel lost? Front Desk Employee
–
Well, I don’t know how to
access the system. Manager –
Why
do you think that is? Front Desk Employee
–
Well, there really isn’t any
training. Manager –
Actually, there is training. It’s
under “Reservations and Sales”
in
our Learning Management System on the front desk computer.
Have you looked there? Front Desk Employee
–
I tried to look there and
could not logon to the LMS. Manager –
Why
not? Front Desk Employee
–
Well, to be honest, I have a
hard time remembering my user ID and password. Manager –
No problem, this is
what team work is all about. I will talk
to the intranet administrator and get you access. Is
anyone else experiencing a similar issue? Note
– The root cause may become obvious after two
or three “why’s”, so
don’t feel obligated to continue asking questions.
About the Author: Jim Hartigan, Chief Business Development Officer and Partner joined OrgWide Services, a Training/e-Learning, Communications, Surveys and Consulting firm in April 2010 after nearly 30 years experience in the hospitality industry, including the last 18 as a senior executive with Hilton Worldwide. Jim’s last position was that of Senior Vice President – Global Brand Services where he provided strategic leadership and business development and support to the $22B enterprise of 10 brands and more than 3,400 hotels in 80 countries around the world. His team was responsible for ensuring excellence in system product quality, customer satisfaction, market research, brand management, media planning, and sustainability. |
Contact: Jim Hartigan Chief Business Development Officer & Partner OrgWide Services 165 N. Main Street, Suite 202 Collierville, TN 38017 office: 901.850.8190 Ext. 230 mobile: 901.628.6586 [email protected] www.orgwide.com |