Why leaders and Hotel Owners should take a Gemba Walk
Thanh Luu
Director of Sales – EMEA
Revinate
Τhe impact of Coronavirus has been indiscriminate to species, climate, countries and industries. The economic pain on the hospitality industry is incalculable simply because we do not know when the end will be. Some countries have started to slowly relax quarantine measures and invigorate their economy, with the Greek government allowing year-round hotels to open their doors from the 1st of June.
For hospitality executives, there are no modern-day examples to reference from on how to cut across the noise of thousands of hotel ‘openings’ across Greece. Competitors sets have changed, not only do you need to differentiate your 5* brand from similar brands/products but your competition may now also include that 4* and 3* down the road that was never on your radar pre-Covid.
Leadership in the face of this new adversity will require a business Darwinism mentality.
In your new reality, you have laid off or furloughed talent from all functional departments to reduce operating costs. How will you lead your skeleton team to re-engage with your most pro table segments quickly and with a compelling offering? All those 2020 well- planned strategies, budgets and workforce have been ‘Covid ed’ so you cannot revert to the old ‘normal’ ways of working.
The term “Gemba” comes from Japanese, and it means “the real place”. Quite simply, for hotels, the “Gemba” is your guest touchpoints. Based on Lean Management principles developed by Taiichi Ohno, it is an opportunity for leaders to go back to the front lines to observe actual work processes, engage with employees to gain knowledge and explore opportunities for improvement. Why is this important now more than ever?
Remember the times when your Revenue manager complained about the sales teams were offering ridiculous discounts that were eroding rates? Or when GM’s requested more budget because they did not have the human resources to deliver your Guest Experience vision? Well, guess what, all these problems have now become yours and the few team members left in the business— multiplied those challenges of running a normal operation with the fact that you have fewer resources to deploy what will essentially be ‘hotel opening’ scenario. In my opinion, this should be seen as a clean slate to re-think and re-imagine your future. From experience, the best learnings are from spending time with each area of your business to find the root causes of friction. Now is the time to gain more control and visibility of your organizational set-up to prepare for recovery.
Leadership in the face of this new adversity will require a business Darwinism mentality
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KEY FOCUS AREAS:
•Re-evaluate your tech stack. Try out various workflows yourself as an employee or as a guest on your different front end and backend platforms. If you find it complicated to deliver and complete required tasks, then it’s time to ‘Marie Kondo’ that system/ process that does not bring joy to anyone.
•Re-examine the data flow through your organization. How is information shared and understood by each department to make collaborative decisions? For example, what is your RM wish rates strategy, what are the pro table segments to market to first, and your sales team should know what they can offer and to whom? The cross-functional alignment will be critical to success in the execution of new strategies.
•Re-educate yourself with who your guests/segments are. Sitting in your database are local guests who were never a priority before. What do you know about them? It should not come as a surprise to anyone that hygiene is going to be high on the future guest’s agenda. Ask your past guests what changes would they like to see to boost confidence in returning to your property? Will this be mobile check in to reduce time spent in communal areas such as hotel lobbies? What are their expectations from in term of staff interaction and social distancing? Knowing what the key drivers for post-COVID demand are, that will help you prioritize where investment is needed the most.
I know what you are thinking ‘I’ve been in this industry for a long time. I know my business and who my customers are’. Well, this is a Covid industry we are venturing into. The only certainty is the uncertainty of this period, and the survival of your business long-term will be dependent on how well you adapt to your current reality. I believe proactive leadership is what is needed now rather than management behind closed doors. Rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands ‘dirty’ will bring several benefits:
•A more engaged workforce as they will feel that you understand their day to day challenges •Foster better communication between team members
•Your organization will become more innovative, more collaborative and better prepared for the next period of chaos.
I have the utmost respect for leaders who can walk the talk. As business leaders, your workforce will look at you for direction and guidance, so it is time to shine and show them that you are there for them at the Gemba.
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