Well, that was an interesting pause to our global way of living and working! With a hard knock to our hospitality and entertainment industries, our people are proving more resilient than ever, ready to jump back into the business and deliver great experiences to courageous travellers who will drive our recovery.
Back last year in February, I was in Paris, France on a combination business trip and to see my sons and my wonderful mates who all live there. It was my home for 25 years. Little did I realise once I returned on the Eurostar back to the UK, that I would not step foot again on a train or a plane for over a year when the pandemic hit. Global Talent Discovery and Development happens around the world online for the most part and so not much would change for those of us working in the global talent game. We all sat ready, willing and able to help but, alas the Zoom was fairly silent except our monthly Cruella Quarantini hours. However, it was during one of those get togethers during which the ideas began to brew about how all of us could give something back in a simple way, easy to ingest, you don’t even have to read or watch anything. A podcast.
When businesses closed, many of us in the Talent Discovery and Development put our thinking caps on to decide what we could do to support our industries, who had been loyal clients to us.
I had heard a rather difficult story about a young aspiring leader who had finally gone to great expense and time dedicated to a hospitality career, masters’ degrees in hotel management and had been building the usual operational skills he’d need for his goals, with a view to a normal world with hotels opening like envelopes all over the world. A full and robust career path surely would await him. Then a global pandemic hit and changed everyone’s worlds. No longer sure of a career path at all when everything just closed and then didn’t reopen. The young person in question went into a depression for all the hard work and investment only to not know if he would even be able to get a job and for how long. I’ve heard countless stories similar and it simply won’t do. So I thought we’ll need to triple up on our support of the future of our Aspiring Leaders, so that we’ll have one. So many in my industry have decided to do just that and we salute all their efforts.
It has occurred to a number of us that we are not out of the woods in so many parts of the world. The whole of India has my prayers today. When you’re living in an area with virtually no infection rates, it helps absolutely no one having a very different experience to act and pretend like it’s business as usual. It disrespects what others are going through. It doesn’t inspire people.
Pretending like nothing happened in order to try to “move on” is a coping mechanism of managers with fears of their own. Not a particularly sensitive one but, a coping mechanism nonetheless. Sometimes this is how we get through the day. It doesn’t mean we will all fold and crumble when faced with one of the biggest challenges of our lives, Hospitality people are mainly a resilient bunch! Entertainment people are titanium and some of the most innovative at reinventing the wheel. But that’s another episode …..
When a manager acts with their “head in the sand” at its worst and shows a lack of sensitivity to everyone else’s experience. Think about the optics of that for your brand.
A possible remedy to this wee little problem? We commit to being real with everyone. Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away.
We recognise that we’re all uncertain about the direction of this pandemic but, here’s our path forward together.
Many of our hotels are reopening next month around the world and we can’t wait!
We may be open for business and can deliver a great experience for the Guest but, please don’t lose sight of the fact that until we no longer need to wear and see masks everywhere and international travel for all is safe, these underlying thoughts will be there. The Guests have to go to greater lengths to just travel to our destinations, and then when they enter the hotel, it looks like a Surgeon’s Convention. It is a constant reminder that something is definitely “off” for the Guest and will make it that little bit harder to sleep in a strange room for them that night. All the more reasons why attention to atmosphere, ambiance, vibe in our hotels is vital. Music plays a huge part of a Guest’s and Staff’s comfort, who knew?
Patience for all is still a virtue. People may make more mistakes over new procedures or experience adaptability issues to working in a mask for a full day’s shift. You may be more used to it than another, be patient. We need to allow people time to assimilate new ways of working in hygiene. Complacency in housekeeping will kill it for the Guest wanting to use a hotel. Let’s face it, we pray for the day no mask is needed, anywhere. Hospitality and Entertainment is all about the SMILE. It’s 90% of our secret sauce!
And sadly we realise that any one or more of our staff members will have lost family members or friends during the pandemic. They will come back to work out of financial necessity and still grieving. Are we prepared for that within our “welcome back” strategies and ongoing staff wellness programs? Family run businesses seem to know how to do this best with their staff.
We commit to a heightened level of care to our people, for as long as necessary, with an emphasis on keeping us resilient, paying attention to our wellness and mindset balance through simply asking how you are doing and meaning it.
Our Hospitality people don’t want our leaders to pretend it isn’t there, we prefer you’re real but show the path forward and lead us there with you. We must move on and move on we will, but together confidently and securely.
The Great Leader knows how to give “hope” and inspiration to others. All the time. Even when she or he are not feeling it themselves.
So while job opportunities were scarce for my candidates, I decided to enlist the help of my most successful business leaders and executives to give a little back. In our podcast Pass it On with CWR Talent, we dedicated it to our Aspiring Leaders, we share our coaching and mentoring best advice, tips, tricks, behavioural and technical skills you must master in order to lead others and be successful, even during challenging times in our industry.
This is the ideal time to strengthen your resilience, learn to love criticism, build your tolerance to stress by having a crisis management plan and many other career development tools. This is business-practical advice at its finest for the Aspiring Leader who wants to gain leadership muscles, resilience and balance in their careers and lives.
Learn what GREAT looks like! We’ve got a Series on right now about The Great General Manager and what it takes to lead at this level. You’ll like it.
Join me and my very Special Guests who are some of the most successful executives in our industries. We’ve all decided to Pass it On with CWR Talent and we’re asking you to FOLLOW us, Pass it On and have a listen.
Reach out if we can help. This is my pro bono contribution to our wonderful industry and i hope you will all join in and Pass it On with CWR Talent. On Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Breaker, PocketCast, RadioPublic, and a bunch of others.
Corinne Winter-Rousset, Founder and CEO CWR Talent