Recovery From The Equalizer Covid19

Here we are one of many small companies trying to survive the COVID 19 pandemic and its aftermath. This virus has, in a sense, equalized humankind as well as the companies of the world. Nobody was ready for this turn of events; nobody has the tools to stop it and nobody has the security to feel safe. We must accept responsibility for overlooking the signs that we can currently see in retrospect.

 The whole world was divided, and we did not pull together to support other countries as we should have done. Whatever the reason… because of policies, culture, politics, or greed, we missed crucial opportunities to come to the aid and support our fellow man to minimize the destruction and loss of lives. Let us gain wisdom for the future. We must put out our differences aside and stand together for the sake of our survival. The same is true for an individual hotel’s rebirth after forced closure.

 Small Business and a New Loyalty

We have all been through additional life stressors as well as adjusting to living with less excess over these quarantine days. Why not continue to focus on the basics for a few more months? Let us all celebrate the recovery efforts and the opportunity to rebuild our companies on this fresh and solid ground. Enjoy the benefit of being in service for others and the strong groundwork will be the roots of loyalty.

 We must start immediately and take a radical approach in developing loyalty within our companies. The remaining personnel and their support systems are integral to an organization’s survival. In order to effectively bounce back, the company culture must simplify. Do not prioritize profit during this time. The priority is to focus on all the individuals that make up the organization and the sustained vitality will follow.

 What New Loyalty Looks Like

What is it going to take to ensure every staff member feels like they belong to the success and are a vital part of the recovery? I am not referring to the physical presence to service the guest. There will be no recovery until we all have a change of mindset and a renewed heart.

Change of Mindset  Staff must have 100% commitment to support and look out for every effort we take to recover. The main purpose in the past you develop loyalty to the team that just right there to support you and support the company, we all wish that feeling have been passed on, we like to think we did everything we needed to do to be sure it was, however that is a dream. Kid yourself if you must.  

We all must be vigilant of the duplicated efforts, the waste of every penny’s, challenge the team, purveyors, the production, the same old way of doing the thing never ever can go back. We all must believe we have to do it right the first time. No exception to this will help maintain the strong edge.

 The radical structure in hotel will not have specific department managers. The managers will all be nonspecific Hotel Managers; no front desk manager, no food & beverage manager, no housekeeping manager. These hotel managers should be assigned a temporary area of responsibility and secondary and a third area of responsibility. General Managers need assign tasks every day for each manager. Each need to develop a keen understanding of that responsibility. For example, who used to have the title of Director of Housekeeping, will now be running the front office for a week, the front office will be running the housekeeping for a week, then food a beverage then security and on and on. We must be more visited in knowledge in every department.

 Renewed Heart  Stakeholders must personally come to gather as a unit and share their fears, weaknesses, strengths, and opportunities. Training has always been important to quality in the service industry, but we must nurture total organizational improvement as well. Empower employees to hold each other responsible for every action and reaction. The right-minded Team has no ego or selfish motives and is motivated by taking the next best action for the collective. The most successful leader is the one who trains all the staff in every department to understand his job and be able to do his job and help everyone be successful.

 In these post-pandemic times, we cannot afford to have any divisions in companies, especially in hospitality. Wearing “hats” of teammates does not suffice anymore. The pants must be worn, brooms swung, trash picked up and the beds cleaned. No less commitment than this will result in successes of the future! No more finger-pointing or “someone has not done it right”. The ownership response must be, “I will take care of it and train the others to do it right”. There are no more hotel heroes. We are all survivors and willing to do everything to bring back our company’s renaissance.

 If you did not call all your employees to check on them you have not done what you need to do to recover! Make everyone feel cared about and respected. If you are CEO calling or the president of the company, you have a purpose… That is the way to go. This is the time we all must put our hearts on the table to build our employee community in place in the forefront of everyday action. We need to love the team and show them by reaching out in order that nobody feels abandoned and alone.

 When we start calling our team, I felt the tears on the other line, there shock that I was calling just check on them, the passion and the love that we care and they are a part of something great! Mother Teresa said it best "We cannot long for something that is not intimately close to us she believed the worst poverty was not material but total abandonment by other people" We call because we care!  Thank you!