The 21st century will be remembered as the year of radical changes; habits, certainties and freedom have given way to disorientation, insecurity, and fears.
The world of tourism has experienced very challenging times, in which, after an initial phase of apparent inability to react, people have organised themselves to be strategic and keep their eyes fixed on the light at the end of the tunnel.
Being a leader in the post-Covid era is a mission that must be managed with firmness and perseverance to reshape the future, where recovery and return to normality take over from the challenging periods to be left behind. So, how do you reorganise your leadership and reshape Hospitality for the future?
Leadership is a natural tendency, certainly an important aspect in the role, where there is no single standard model, but different figures with different thoughts. Among the main characteristics, credibility takes pride of place, followed by linearity and consistency in behaviour and relations with others. Openness and the ability to listen, skills that were not considered indispensable in the past, have now gained in importance.
While in the past the necessary competences were mainly considered from a technical point of view – hard skills -, today the so-called soft skills are essential, i.e., those intangible competences relating to behaviour and attitude, which distinguish a leader as a point of reference.
To this basic groundwork should be added the organisation of a strong team with whom they share the same principles, ethical and professional values. When every single person working in a hotel has a name, before they have a role, they are given a feeling of importance for the tasks they perform, and when they receive public acknowledgements, they begin to feel part of a family and commit to the hotel as if it were their own. A staff is a team when there is equal treatment for all, when the focus is common, when they are valued at each occasion.
3 tips for conscious leadership
Here are some practical tips for conscious leadership:
- Effective and emotional communication: the leader must ensure that the message that reaches his or her team arrives clear and understandable. It is essential to convey to one’s team the knowledge and skills to increase awareness of oneself and one’s emotions, to enhance communication effectiveness and increase the capacity for an emotional response in the interlocutor.
- Gratification: creating a harmonious and productive team is not easy. It is a complicated and continuous process. It is not enough to select and hire the right people, but it is necessary to create and maintain an optimal organisation and working environment so that everyone can feel appreciated, motivated, and driven to give their best.
- Planning advanced training: people love to learn. In fact, the opportunity to acquire new skills is one of the main attractions of any job. Employees who receive effective training gradually improve their ability to deal with complexities. This makes them feel more confident and, consequently, more 0satisfied.
A beautiful facility certainly has its appeal, but building a family that works together, with people who feel they belong to a group that shares the same values is priceless, particularly for a leader who has an ambitious vision for the future.
Alberto Tita
Hotel Trainer and Consultant
Hospite – The Italian Hospitality Academy