If I am talking...am I walking?
A lot of times when a speaker addresses people… be it at a gathering, a meeting or an event, and when it is done do without any podium or from behind a table, there is the tendency to walk a few steps to and fro. Many speakers say it’s essential to walk around the stage as they believe it conveys energy and improves the speaker’s connection to the audience. Yes, walking can add energy to your presentation. But random pacing for the sake of moving around can mis-fire. Such an approach converts walking to stalking…where the audience stops listening to you and watches your steps.
I remember working as the assistant front office manager, under a manager who during the pre-shift briefings, would constantly exhort everyone by saying, “I need you all to answer the phone within the first 3 rings” or “I need you to place that ‘follow-up’ call not later than 10 minutes after the guest enters his/her room after check- in” or “I need all email’s received to be replied within 24 hours”. He usually had half-a-dozen or more such “I need you to….” directives during each briefing.
Unfortunately, he was one who never practiced what he preached. I’m referring here to the other “walk’s the talk” behavior. His office was a boxed glass-fronted cubicle and he worked within closed doors. Both physically and metaphorically speaking, his style of management did not include any open door policy. Many are the times where I have heard his phone ring well beyond the 3 rings before he would reluctantly answer it. Should he be watching something on his desktop – only prolonged ringing would force a response. Then there were times he would ask me to reply some emails on his behalf – emails sent to him some 2-3 days earlier.
To cut a long story short, he would do the opposite of what he expected us to do! This is when things went sideways. If the boss isn’t consistently demonstrating the desired behaviour, why should the team do so? The takeaway for me was that to expect one’s staff to deliver on expected standards, one must first lead by example. Who was it who said “I never gave an order I could not carry out?
The task of influencing people to really want to do something is the essence of leadership. And one of the things a manager needs occasionally is to provide inspiration to the people he leads. The old army tactical textbook recommends that the commander always visits his troops at the frontlines to inspire them to fight to win. When I became a Front Office Manager, I never forgot that for me, the frontline was the front desk. Occasionally, I would be there helping out my staff during busy times.
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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