Abstract
When a business is not performing well, the biggest challenge of the leader is to determine the root cause of the issues and address each issue to turn performance around. This case study focuses on the deterioration of a hotel once considered one of the “grandest hotels in New England,” and the efforts undertaken by its new general manager, Barbara Jones, to return the hotel to its earlier stature of grandeur, superior customer service, and financial performance. The case study requires students to understand the role trust, accountability and inclusive leadership play to heighten employee engagement, manage conflict, and improve overall organizational performance.
Introduction
Hotel leadership can have a significant impact on team member performance, as well as team member loyalty to an organization. Consistent and persistent leadership that embraces accountability and inclusivity is essential to higher level performance. When team members lack accountability and do not have leaders that hold them accountable—ultimately the entire team’s productivity and results suffer. Warren G Bennis posits “leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality” (Bennis, 2008, p.13). When organizations want to enhance profitability, they must start with solid leadership that creates a vision, that is inclusive, that generates buy-in through persistent communication of the vision and holds team members accountable for generating positive results that align with the vision.
Case Background
Barbara Jones had been excited to take on her new role as the General Manager of the historic Grand Park Hotel—one of the largest hotels in New England. The hotel was in the heart of a prominent New England downtown district. The early 1900’s architecture boasted over 200 guest rooms, 20,000 sq feet of meeting space, 54 apartments, a roof top lounge, formal restaurant and many more amenities including one of the last remaining “original” grand ballrooms in the region—featuring a grand staircase, operatic balcony, and a 25-foot ceiling boasting five magnificent antique crystal chandeliers—truly stunning. The hotel employed a team of 100 to 150 employees (dependent on seasonality). Barbara’s boss, Amy, Senior Vice President of Operations for Priority Hospitality (a hotel management and investment company), had indicated that the hotel had developed some significant challenges and that Barbara would need to lead the charge in turning around a poor performing hotel. After just 2 weeks in the position, Barbara realized this was going to be a much bigger job than she anticipated. Basically, this once historic hotel that was previously considered the “grandest hotel in New England,” was now considered old, outdated, and poorly operated. While some of Barbara’s initial changes had resulted in improved revenue and profitability, increased teamwork and in a boost in morale, Barbara felt the team was still struggling with accountability, and the hotel’s performance was inconsistent. What more could Barbara do to return this hotel to its earlier stature of grandeur and superior customer service?
Theoretical Concepts
To build competitive advantage and cultivate a high-performing team, it is necessary to overcome behaviors that can lead to team dysfunction. Lencioni (2002) posits that nonperforming teams often exhibit five dysfunctions. The foundation of these dysfunctions is the lack of trust. If trust can be heightened, there is a greater likelihood that the other four dysfunctions can be overcome: fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. To build trust, Sinek (2017) suggests that leaders need to provide clear vision—why are we doing this, what is the point in doing this, what is our purpose? If people understand these things and buy into them—results will follow. Sinek states that people don’t feel bad that they let the numbers down—they feel bad that they let someone down. At the end of the day, you are not accountable to a metric, but instead to a person. Therefore, if there is no relationship between us and the person we are supposed to be accountable to—we do not feel accountable.
Gleeson (2016, p. 1) states “…accountability is probably the single most important element fueling truly successful organizations.” Lack of accountability is rarely intentional. It is normally the result of other issues such as poor strategy, inadequate resources, unrealistic or unclear goals that are unattainable. Good leaders find a way to clearly communicate this to their team. As Raffoni (2020) suggests, however, building a culture of accountability and enhancing performance can be very frustrating; and that it is important to lead by example—check yourself to ensure you’re not using the blame game and ensure you are modeling how to manage frustration. Leaders who can do this well are often perceived as inclusive—more open, accessible, and available to their followers. These leaders establish norms of active consultation and participation, which drive shared decision-making within a team or organization. Most importantly, inclusive leaders empower employees, and therefore make them feel valued and important (Hollander, 2009). Thus, by creating a compelling direction, providing task structures and norms that enable effective performance, offering enhanced performance systems that facilitate teamwork, and being an inclusive leader, a high performing team can be cultivated, and organizational performance and goals achieved (Coutu, 2009).
Managerial Dilemma
Barbara had just left a meeting with her boss Amy, Senior Vice President of Operations for Priority Hospitality. Amy had indicated there had been high turnover in senior leadership at the hotel, which resulted in a lack of continuity. Barbara was seeing the impact of this turnover in the form of team members lacking a sense of clear direction. As a result, motivation and morale were low. Furthermore, Barbara had come to realize that the hotel was the worst performing hotel in the management company’s portfolio of hotels. More concerning, in less than 2 years the mortgage note was due. If she were unable to turn things around, it was likely the management company, and their investment partner would not renew the note and would simply turn the keys over to the bank and walk away, putting more than 100 jobs at risk.
The hotel was consistently operating with a negative cash flow, necessitating the investors of the hotel to provide funds each week to meet payroll and to cover operational expenses. The investors in the hotel were unwilling to do a renovation or a make-over of the hotel, as a previous renovation had been handled so poorly that they felt their money was mismanaged and they no longer trusted the management company or the GM to oversee such projects. Barbara had to work with what she had. She decided that the team needed to start by enhancing guest services and improving the cleanliness of the hotel. These two areas of focus would not require significant funds and would assist in making the guest experience more favorable.
To achieve these two critical objectives, Barbara knew that she would need to cultivate a culture of teamwork that would foster personal ownership and enhance team member accountability. However, she did not underestimate how daunting this task would be, as she had already witnessed finger pointing among team members, dissension between departments, victimology, and a lack of commitment from many team members. For example, if a guest complaint was received, the front office manager blamed the operations team for the issue, indicating that if the hotel was in better shape her team could provide better service. If a guest complained about cleanliness in a room, the head of housekeeping would say no one understood how hard her team worked and that her team didn’t have what they needed to do their job. The examples were numerous—essentially no department stood accountable for lack of performance in their department and each department head could point to someone else to blame. Moreover, it seemed that the team members and department heads alike, blamed the management company for most things that went wrong in the hotel. The hotel had gone through four general managers and five directors of sales in less than 3 years. With each new general manager, there was a new focus, leadership style and new promises that never came to fruition. The ongoing change in direction left the team unclear and confused—worst yet the team felt abandoned, not supported, and had little trust in the management company. The overall sentiment was that a new GM would just be more of the same and would ultimately leave anyway.
Embarking on a New Direction
Barbara knew that the only way she would turn things around would be to lead by example, enhance communication, and build trust—only then could a culture of greater accountability be created. After much consideration Barbara worked with the team to enhance or implement the following:
Barbara decided that the team needed some form of a win. They had received so much negative feedback from previous leadership (and each other), that the team had become indifferent to any form of constructive criticism. For several weeks, when Barbara attended the meeting, she listened to the complaints and needs, asked for clarity on each specific need that was expressed, and took copious notes. Barbara asked her leadership team to allow her some time to investigate the items and to speak with each department head individually outside the meeting, and to then speak to her boss Amy. The team was skeptical, however, ultimately, they agreed.
First, Barbara took the time to meet with each department head, asking them to be specific about what their needs were. This took some time, and in some cases several meetings with the department heads, as they would sometimes get stuck in their “story” and become so fixated on justifying why their department was performing so poorly they struggled to identify specific items they needed to ensure their team could perform their jobs successfully in a way that supported the success of the hotel and the team. While it took longer than Barbara expected, in the end she gathered the information she needed. Thereafter, she devised a comprehensive list of needs. It became evident that while there were several needs that would require purchases/expenditures, there were many items that could be handled internally via communication, accountability, and teamwork. Barbara set up a virtual meeting with her boss, Amy, to review the items that would require the hotel to spend money. Barbara knew this would be a hard conversation, as the hotel was operating at a net loss and it would be challenging to get the investors to provide additional monies. However, Barbara felt it was imperative to ensure the team had what they needed to accomplish their jobs, or the hotel team simply could not move forward. She created the list by generating four categories which included life/safety, absolute must haves, needs, and wants. Finally, she was ready to present the information to Amy. Because Barbara’s presentation was succinct and reflected only immediate needs, Amy approved the expenditure. This enabled Barbara to garner her first big win for the team. At the next staff meeting, she presented the list of each department’s needs (thanking the team for their assistance in creating it). She reviewed the four categories and explained why items fell into each category. She then shared with her team that all items on their “must haves and life/safety” lists were approved. The team was shocked and delighted. While it was evident that several department heads were skeptical about the good news, overall, Barbara could see a shift in the feel of the meeting, thus providing another small win.
Each day, just after 5 pm, Barbara and her team of two would change out of their business suits and into their painting clothes and commence working on the meeting room doors. They first did a deep cleaning of the doors (which revealed fewer doors needed to be painted than was originally thought). Thereafter, they prepped and painted the doors that needed to be done. This project took several weeks. While many team members made comments on how much better the doors looked and how it enhanced the overall look of the hotel, there were other benefits to this project. It had created another win, as it had allowed Barbara to interact with various hotel team members that worked second shift. By being out of her suit and in “painting clothes” she was looked at differently by various team members. Moreover, they saw Barbara rolling up her sleeves and digging in. This ultimately started to break down some barriers. Various housekeepers, waitstaff, front desk, and maintenance team members would stop and chat with her, allowing her an opportunity to get to know her team a little better and hear their thoughts about the hotel. Many expressed their love for the historic property and wished it was “what it used to be.” Additionally, the two managers that were helping her shared their love for the hotel, their desire for it to succeed, and their fears about the hotel’s future. The insights she garnered from doing this project were immense. When the project was complete, not only had it created another small win for the hotel, but it also afforded Barbara an opportunity to build relationships with some team members, cultivating and nurturing the necessary foundation of real trust that was important if the culture of the hotel was going to change.
○ A team committee was formed that consisted of both department heads and hourly employees. This team was assigned the task of identifying ways to enhance morale and create a culture that exuded teamwork. The committee consisted of five to seven people (as Barbara understood that creating consensus would be difficult if the committee was too large). While she attended each team meeting—she only attended the later portion of the meeting, which allowed the committee to discuss items without her influence. Thereafter, the committee would present their findings, concerns, ideas, etc. to her, providing her open and honest feedback on what they saw as barriers to creating a true team culture, ideas on how to enhance employee morale, ideas on team building activities, etc. ○ Recognition cards—Each manager was given a stack of cards. These were to be given to any employee that was observed going above and beyond. The card had a section on the back to describe what the employee had done, emphasizing that it had to be something above and beyond, not just doing their job well. The employee would then be able to come to the General Manager’s office to trade in their card for a $5 gift card (Barbara had cards from a local grocery store, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, etc.) When team members came to Barbara’s office, it gave her an opportunity to thank them for their commitment and to continue to get to know her team members better. ○ Being my Best Program—Barbara and her front office manager had been exposed to a similar program while working at a franchised/upscale chain property and had found it to be very motivating to team members. Essentially, any employee that was specifically named in an online review or guest survey received a “Being my best” card, which recapped the positive feedback that was stated about the team member. This was then posted at the front desk on a bulletin board, created by the front office manager, so the recognition was visible to all employees. ○ Employee of the month—Barbara worked with the team to develop an understanding of how they would define the qualities and characteristics of an employee of the month. Thereafter, each department head was given the opportunity to present a candidate that they felt was worthy of receiving this honor. It could be a team member within their department or in another department. The department head had to also explain why his/her candidate exuded the “Grand Park Hotel Team Spirit.” The team agreed collectively that they would place emphasis on employees who had received “WOW cards” and “Catch me doing my best”; however, it would not be the only criteria, as it was harder for back of the house team members to receive “Catch me at my best” than it was for a front of the house employee that had positions that required ongoing face to face interaction with guests. Once the candidates were selected, the manager who nominated them would do a presentation on why they nominated the specific team member. Thereafter, the team would anonymously vote, pass the ballots to the controller (who would count the votes) and the employee who received the most votes became the winner. A plaque and monetary award were presented to the winning team member at the monthly team luncheon. ○ Manager of the quarter—Barbara selected a manager of the quarter who exuded team spirit, accountability and was committed to positive results. A plaque was presented to the manager at the preceding monthly team luncheon along with a monetary award. A plaque was placed near the front desk (visible to guests and team members) that listed all employees of the month and managers of the quarter. ○ Monthly Employee luncheon—each month there was an all-employee luncheon held. Employee recognition was a big focus at the luncheon, celebrating employee of the month, manager of the quarter, and Being My Best winners. Additionally, a team activity was done and the GM reviewed guest service scores, online ratings, and celebrated anything that looked like a win.
Over the course of a year Barbara watched the team move from skeptical and resistant to celebrating wins!
Finally, Change Begins
Barbara was starting to see some positive changes. The hotel was experiencing a boost in morale and increased teamwork, and revenue had grown along with increased profitability. However, despite the enhanced teamwork and improved results, Barbara felt the team was still struggling, and the hotel’s performance was inconsistent. It was true, the hotel was experiencing an increase in market share compared to the prior year, however some weeks reflected positive market share growth, while others were flat to down. Guest service scores had increased, however, they still were not where they needed to be. Also, while revenues were up, profitability was still an issue. The results simply were not strong enough to eliminate the need for lay-offs. She underestimated just how much work was necessary to change the course of a hotel as big as the Grand Park Hotel. Barbara knew that something needed to be done to move the team’s performance to a higher level. While some staffing changes were necessary to facilitate the adjustments and shift in focus of the hotel team, Barbara had prided herself on the fact that it wasn’t nearly as many as she initially thought it would be. As she sat back thinking about next steps, she wondered…was it the people or was it processes that was holding the team back—did they need more clarity on expectations, were additional checklists needed to create more consistency, did processes need to be streamlined, etc.? Whether people or processes, Barbara needed to identify what was holding the team back from actualizing better results. Either way, she had to come up with something, and do so quickly.
What Should Barbara Do?
Barbara Identifies Next Steps
Barbara worked with her front office manager to identify specific areas of opportunities on guest surveys. The front office manager then brought them to the weekly leadership meeting, and the team would brainstorm on what could be done to rectify problems and/or enhance overall guest satisfaction. One example was how the hotel was rated on the question “was the desk area sufficient”—which the hotel was consistently rated poorly. Barbara and the front office manager knew the size was comparable to other hotels they had worked at, hence, they surmised that it must have something to do with what was on the desk and/or how it was placed on the desk. Hence, the team spent weeks rearranging items on the desk (phone, lamp, etc.) until finally they came up with a combination that worked, and satisfaction scores increased.
As Barbara dug deeper into guest service scores and online reviews, she realized that there were still some significant areas of opportunities. It appeared that the housekeeping department was receiving inconsistent scores and some online reviews were still not good. Barbara decided that she should increase the number of rooms she was inspecting so that she could help identify areas of opportunity for team members and identify true root causes for the poor cleanliness scores. Initially, the outcome of Barbara’s increased inspections was that both the head of housekeeping and her team became defensive and resistant to feedback. In fact, 1 day while Barbara was inspecting rooms with her head of housekeeping, she became frustrated from seeing many of the same deficiencies in the rooms time and time again. Barbara asked the head of housekeeping what she felt needed to be done—should Barbara inspect more rooms? The head of housekeeping quickly said “NO”—indicating that the team had gotten to the point that they didn’t want Barbara inspecting because she kept finding things wrong with their rooms. Barbara looked at the head of housekeeping and said, “Why doesn’t the housekeeping team address the issues and findings that keep coming up so that I don’t have the same findings then?” They both looked at each other puzzled about what to do next. While Barbara wanted to encourage accountability, she did not want to demotivate the team with her feedback. Unfortunately, it was as if the housekeepers did not see the cleanliness and operational problems in the guest rooms. They had become so used to seeing these things, they no longer even noticed paint peeling on windowsills, torn bed skirts and shower curtains, frayed carpet, etc. These were things that the housekeeper should be addressing or writing up maintenance slips so that they could be addressed, but it was as if they did not see the issues.
If You Are Barbara, How Do You Address This Issue?
Barbara’s Approach
Barbara then had an idea. She asked her head of housekeeping to call all the housekeepers to meet her in room 1007 on their next break. Once everyone was in the room, Barbara spoke with the team and told them she knows how hard they are working. She also stated that she understood that they were not happy with the scores and feedback they were receiving from the inspections she was conducting. Barbara then asked them to indulge her for a few moments in an exercise she’d like to do with them. She asked them to close their eyes. She then proceeded to build a story about each of them planning a vacation. She spoke of them saving money all year for this vacation, the excitement for them and their families to stay in a historical hotel for around $250 per night, and how long it would take for them to work to pay for this vacation. What would their expectations be for a hotel room? How excited would they be to stay in such a place with their family? She then asked them to open their eyes and now look around the room they were standing in. “We are charging $250 per night. If this was the hotel you and your family were staying in during your vacation, would you pay that amount for this room?” All the housekeepers shook their heads no. Barbara then asked them to clean the rooms as it was their vacation room. Thereafter, the room inspections got better and ultimately the cleanliness scores increased significantly.
Additionally, each team leader created accountability metrics for their respective departments that focused on growing team engagement, enhanced communication, fiscal accountability, and were results oriented. The accountability metrics were then reviewed in a meeting with all the department heads to determine if the metrics were aligned with the hotel’s goals along with discussion on how the items would potentially impact other departments. Once the entire team was onboard with the accountability items, these became the foundation of the weekly department head meeting. Thereafter, the team began focusing on where the hotel “really was,” which allowed them to concentrate on solutions that would yield positive outcomes.
Final Results
In less than 2 years the hotel grew revenue by $1.9 million dollars, raised GOP by $1.2 million dollars, and had earned two company-wide performance awards Over the next 3 years the hotel continued to enhance its financial performance and won three more company-wide awards. Over the course of 5 years the team had turned the worst performing hotel for the management company into a profitable business and top performer for the company, with the same building and many of the same players. The difference: a new culture with enhanced communication and trust that embraced accountability.
Discussion Questions
After assessing the different approaches Barbara Jones implemented with her team to enhance the overall performance of the hotel, answer the following questions:
Why was Barbara Jones so convinced that the only way to begin turning the hotel around was to heighten the sense of accountability felt by the staff?
What were some of the actions Barbara took to build trust with her team? What is the importance of building trust and relatability in developing accountability and cultivating a high performing team?
What attributes of an inclusive leader does Barbara possess? How important is communication and inclusion in building a culture of accountability? How did she foster personal ownership?
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Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.