The creation of culture
I never cease to be amazed by the number of organisations that believe a sign or two on a wall is sufficient to drive employees towards delivering great service or instilling the value of quality and dedication. Then there are others who proclaim a plethora of company culture pillars and practices, including Mission, Vision, and Values, to the extent to which these are seldom integrated into the daily work experience.
As one who steps into hotels fairly frequently - be it to dine with my wife, meet a friend to chat over a coffee or simply work on my laptop whilst enjoying a snack in a hotel lobby, I’ve yet to nowadays, see a hotel GM getting about on a regular facility walk. Unless perhaps they now do this during the twilight shift! I say this because, ‘leading by example’, articulated by many management gurus, is a well known management practice. It is a foundational principle that when done positively can help a healthy staff culture thrive.
The process of culture creation is in fact more complex and less clean than the name implies. It is a two-way street with several lanes where the role of leaders and reward systems in shaping and maintaining a hotel’s culture either travel forward or move back. Just as leaders may influence what type of values the company has, the culture may also determine what types of behaviours leaders demonstrate.
A strong culture requires active ‘hands on’ leadership involvement to instill and sustain it. GMs need to be there themselves and show their staff what face-to-face hospitality is all about. You just can’t be holed up in your office all day, buried in your paperwork. Do that, and hey presto, sooner than later, your management team will try to emulate you. Remember, Part of the leader’s influence over culture is through role modeling.
At the end of the day it’s your hotel’s culture that gets delivered to your customers and it goes without saying that one needs ‘happy staff to have happy guests’. How guests experience your company will create and drive their beliefs and actions about whether they return or not. So, don’t look far, the results you currently get as an organization are produced by your current culture.
When one falls sick and visits the doctor – would one want him to treat the symptoms or the illness? Getting rid of whatever caused the sickness and for it to not recur is the best course of treatment. But when problems occur in an organization, more often than not, the leaders try to solve the way the problem manifests and leave the root cause of the situation intact. Needless to say, the root cause of most problems in an enterprise always boils down to a poor culture.
Managers are influential in creating and changing an organization’s culture. For example, when leaders strategise to motivate employees through inspiration, corporate culture tends to be more supportive and people oriented. When leaders motivate by making rewards contingent on performance, the corporate culture tends to be more performance oriented and competitive.
The best strategy may achieve the numbers, but it takes culture to sustain the numbers on the long run.
Ilzaf Keefahs is a freelance writer who enjoys focusing on hospitality related matters that he is passionate about, and likes to share his views with hoteliers and customers alike. He delves into the heart of hospitality to figure out both customer service and consumer trends that impact the industry
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