Top Tips On How To Keep Your Job! - Part Two

While Part One of the article focussed on the strategic aspects, Part Two is more tactical in its suggestions.

Let’s look at these career-building and job saving tricks of the trade.

Know your Product / Company

How many times, I cannot recall, have I seen a Concierge, Housekeeper, Server embarrassingly fumble and fail to blurt out the correct response! There have been so many occasions when a Sales Manager has given out wrong facts and figures at an important site inspection. There have been a large number of PR people callously putting down incorrect information in their press releases. I have seen Sales Directors and General Managers look towards the nearest saving assistant as they fudge data or spin a yarn to quickly fill in the gaps in the gaping holes of their sell story.

It’s not just us hoteliers. A similar pattern follows with people from different industries – from toothbrush to travel and food to forensics.

But there is no excuse; no escaping the embarrassment we bring upon ourselves when we turn up in our green-horned, half baked avatars.

It is our duty, well almost a moral binding, to know our product and our company like the back of our hands – every factoid, every star performer who is such a stellar brand up-sell, every interesting gem of a story that went into making what we are and yes, most importantly all the warts that we must be on a war path to remove permanently.

Know the other Product / Company better

This is a two-edged sword in our armoury. By knowing our competition better, we know clearly what we are doing right. More significantly, competition knowledge helps us realize and rectify what we may be doing wrong. And that is a big step forward.

FAMs of new properties and restaurants in town or other cities are such a great learning exercise. First hand exposure is, indeed, an indelible imprint on one’s mind that promises to stay with you for  a long time.

When I was going off on my overseas Scholarship, my boss at the time suggested I get in touch with sister hotels, part of the Leading Hotels of the World association that we were a member of, for possible stays so that I could have an up, close and personal look at some of the world’s best run establishments. An invaluable tip that has left behind some priceless lessons on the best practices adopted by significant others in business!

No amount of marketing literature, PR collateral, website interface and 360 degree views can take place of what you experience in flesh and blood. 

Know your guests

Knowing your guests is akin to knowing your job. Whatever you do in your different departments – creating recipes or collateral, devising sales strategies, reinforcing security plans, developing innovative standards of service, introducing new concepts and products, changing draperies or dresses – you do it for your guests. In fact they are the only reason for your existence and for ensuring that your business sails or tanks.

Hotels that make sure that all their staff cross map the guests and get to know them well, not only come out on top at most reader surveys and awards but also have healthy bottom-line, regardless of the seasonal factors.

Most of the illustrious General Managers I have worked with urged me to work the lobby in order to greet and meet guests and put aside decent amount of time to spend with the guests. That is one of the sanest times invested in one’s job as you learn so much about what the guests really want and take their feedback and suggestions to the relevant forums. You get to share right information about your hotel with the right audience in the most focused and targeted manner at the right time. This also allows for a two-way feel-good exchange that promises to have a long-standing reach and penetration far more than any advertising or marketing thrust would aspire to have.

Know your Colleagues

Hotels are one of the most people-centric industries. Most organisations have the luxury of a weekend but hotels work round the clock, with end of the week days getting busier. What’s more, a hotel never goes to sleep. This nature of business ensures that you are in contact with your colleagues all the time and that there are too many of those colleagues around. It then becomes essential to know your colleagues well, more in this work milieu.

Knowing you team mates across departments and cadres is an extremely profitable proposition. Of course you need to know different people to different levels of familiarity – from pleasant exchanges in the corridor (please get away from the cursory nods) with some and getting together with a sense of bonhomie in the staff cafeteria with few others to building lasting bonds (some of which can grow to include the families) with those that you frequently work closely with. Decide on the level you want to get to, judiciously, professionally and with reason.

Harbouring a sincere and friendly disposition, being approachable, being a congenial personality and a caring person and having a helpful, down to earth nature considerably increases your likeability quotient. This helps widen your circle from top to bottom and creates a good vibe around you.

Knowing your colleagues eases the atmosphere, makes the work environment conducive, dissolves crisis situations, makes things less strenuous and actually injects the element of cheerfulness and fun into toughest of work conditions. Some prominent hotel chains around the world have set a stellar example in “know your employee” policy so much that your performance on this attribute can wing its way into your appraisal! 

Learn new tricks

Yes, it is a fact of life. Change is, truly, the only constant. As time goes, we stay in a continuous state of churning. Everyone and everything – our vision, our projection, the way we do our business, demands on us, guest expectation, technology, creative influences, benchmarks, our aspirations from the brand value and the bottom line – yes, we all are in a state of upward progression.

That is why we must be perpetual learners, adding new skills to our repertoire. As a PR Specialist, I know that I must become adept at the social media, website management, SEO, photo editors, publishing tools, webinars, video conferencing, virtual meets et. al.

A Sales resource must be as proficient in the traditional sales strategies as in Digital marketing, TripAdvisor, Reputation and Social media management, prompt addressing of comments left behind on the Company website or elsewhere.

It pays for a Concierge or Guest Relations executive to be multi-lingual. This holds true for a lot of other team members too. At hotels, not only do we work in a multinational / multicultural environment, our guests too fly in from all corners of the globe. It is a given that speaking in someone’s native tongue is an instant connector breaking down most other barriers.

The General Manager has to be a jack of all trades, mastering new facets from all departments so as to be efficient enough to captain his ship.

One of the finest practices an erstwhile boss had adopted was to share a lot of information covering all departments with his team. We were a part of his change agent team working at re-launching a brand and he made sure that each of us kept up our eagerness to learn what was happening around us in the other areas. I remember being reprimanded by the French boss when I came for the morning meeting through the lobby failing to notice the spectacular flower show-stopper that had been put together by the newly hired Floral Artists. The GM kept up with his incessant reminders for us to branch out and develop a keen interest in all the other functions of the hotel, prohibiting us from becoming the proverbial ostriches. Today, when I write informative articles about General Hotel Management and find my pieces used as case studies by hotel schools, I have a lot to thank the GM and his ways for. 

Do reflect on these tips to bridge the gap between your efforts and expected rewards.

Here’s wishing a wonderful and productive 2015 to you!

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Pictures courtesy - Google Images

Top Tips On How To Keep Your Job! - Part One

We were just talking business and the goings on in the Hospitality (mine) and Manufacturing / Marketing (his) industries when my husband shared news about one of his ex-bosses whose head had just rolled. The gent had seemed steadily fastened to his Swivel and firmly ensconced in his Corner Office. The plausible reasons flew thick and fast as we tried to put a finger on what may have triggered the sharp exit. The man has held a strong reputation in the industry, has a proven track record and is well-respected. Both the partner and I shook our respective heads in disbelief almost uttering in unison, ‘Is no one sacrosanct enough, not to be handed out the pink slip, regardless of their experience, expertise, meritocracy and magic figures they may have added to the bottom line?’ Must all of us be prone to getting the door shown, at some stage in our careers? Must the ‘sword of sack’ always hang perilously over our heads?

There must be something surely, that we can keep up at, so as to be able to leave just when we want to, on a positive note, with a warm handshake and a promise to meet again at another crossroad. Could the following be some of the important things we can do to keep our jobs?

Stay relevant

The dynamics of businesses are in a constant state of change. Innovations and the latest R&D ensure that we must continually upgrade our product. Further, wide exposure, varied experiences, cross-cultural influences and personal demands bring about frequent changes in the needs and desires of the guests. They are demands that products and facilities the guests endorse must meet and satisfy. Furthermore, the profile of our customers keeps changing – we not only keep adding new segments to our guest pie but even the existing customers bring in their bagful of new wishes and expectations.

Suffice it to say that our business is in a consistent cycle of evolution. Therefore we, as significant cogs in the wheel, must stay relevant and ready to address these changes that spell growth.

Ask yourself! When the great wheels of motion, brought about by the intense winds of positioning and the cyclonic pressures of competition, churn with momentum, are you prepared to realign yourself both tactically and strategically? Only those of us who are will continue to remain useful to the organisations we work for?

If yes, then you are there for good!

Keep that Rolodex updated

Regardless of the changes in the way we communicate and stay in touch in these digitally-heightened times, a rolodex as a time-tested contraption to help us stay connected will never go out of fashion; as long as we continue to display our professional identities through our ‘calling cards.’

In hotels, a lot of people do each other’s jobs which were heretofore considered traditional territories. Think Sales, Public Relations, Guest Services. Now reflect on how many times a Front Office clerk or a Housekeeping executive has initiated a deal! With this sort of multi-functionality at play, a professional is most dynamic when he keeps his rolodex ship-shape, weeded out and up to speed with any fluctuation in his contact database. And who is the smartest sales person? It is the one who cross intersects the contact base from various departments, collects gems of information and reaps benefit by mining it wisely.

I have outsmarted myself on two distinct scores at different places of work. As a Media Relations Officer at the Australian Diplomatic Mission in India, I set about creating a magnum opus of a media list. Apart from the regular suspects, the list also had residence address and number, spouse name, birth date and anniversary date. Of course, it was a time consuming exercise and done without the help of an assistant (the High Comm. had a no secretary policy). I, often, insisted on speaking with the targeted journalist / editor to get the information. At the end of it, I had invested enough time to get to know the person better. ‘The’ list, indeed, paved the way for fostering a great relationship. To this day, well 20 years after, I still count a lot of people on that list as good friends or business associates as the case may be.

Another time, I made an ambitious plan to make a giant database of guest contacts, pooling information from my own office, the General Manager’s, Sales, Front Office, F&B and the Guest Relations departments.  I set about putting all relevant information – from likes and dislikes to allergies and tiniest of preferences. Of course information on important dates in the guest’s life was de rigueur. And to make it one mean list, I also put all the relevant data around the guest’s virtual avatar. A list, such as this, kept in its most healthy and up-to-date condition is such a potent arsenal for conducting the business of hoteliering.

Network

The Rolodex is only as good as the use it is put to. A good list of contacts that is allowed to sit out for long and gather dust is a career-killer.

In most businesses, but primarily in industries such as hospitality, Networking is simply butter to our bread, elevating the simple to sublime.

There is a plethora of people to network with – colleagues from other departments, team mates from sister hotels in the chain, most definitely guests – all kinds viz. room, restaurant, Spa or those visiting any other facility offered by your hotel, the media, members of the fraternity, community folk, people from allied industries – travel agents, government bodies, tour operators, tourism boards and international travel associations.  

I find networking to be one of the best real-time teachers, imparting valuable lessons that you imbibe both consciously and subliminally. Besides, networking keeps you in the circuit, ensures top of the mind recall for you and your brand and provides a ready track for two-way information sharing.

Finally, in the present times of one-touch, instant communication, there is no excuse for not staying networked with the right audience. The only downside of this, perhaps, maybe that you must watch for the overkill!

Keep your ears, eyes and mind open

The above should, in any case, be a mantra for your life in general. It, undoubtedly, pays richly to keep your senses sharp, soaking in important information, new knowledge and experiences as you go up and along.

While at work in a people-rich environment, you must be aware of the concentric and intersecting circles the human equations work in. You must learn to accept peculiarities and idiosyncrasies, be receptive of behavioural differences, take the high road more often than not and be a great team player in the dynamics of the disparate smorgasbord of attitudes and aspirations.

Keeping your ears and eyes open also helps you be in touch with the grapevine – certainly an inevitable, irresistible and often the main source of information regarding important goings-on and changes in the offing.

But the most important thing is to keep your mind open and be amenable to changes, novel additions to your work life, new colleagues, new way of doing things and of the evolutionary aspect of business as it gets ready to fight new competition and meet its vision headlong.

Be indispensable as far as possible

None of us are really indispensable in any of the personal or professional roles we play. That is a sordid fact of life. Yet, we must endeavour to be as difficult to replace as possible if we wish to make a success of our chosen paths.

And that involves shaking up our old, jaded practices; taking ourselves away from the comfort of inertia into the realm of the yet undiscovered. It incorporates restructuring our strategies and allowing ourselves to grow upwards learning new things along the way.

In my last role, I wrote manuals and advertising copy – something that an agency would have traditionally done, wrote out business pitches for hotel chain tie-ups, learned enough about art to conduct an intelligent art tour to an audience ranging from royalty (the Princess of Thailand) to Young Business Leaders and an American Think tank, amongst a host of other luminaries.

I have seen a Sales Colleague get passionate about making Financial Review presentations and writing Due Diligence proposals. It came as no surprise, then, when he joined a major global company in a senior role of international development and strategic planning.

I have witnessed the blossoming of a shy General Manager who fought and overcome his innate inhibition to transform himself into a fine public speaker.

I have watched the growth trajectory of an F&B colleague who initially performed below par in his own department perhaps because he kept up a lackadaisical attitude; but take on the mantle of an officiating GM with such gusto, zeal and enthusiasm that he won plaudits not just from his fellow colleagues but also the GM, the owners and the guests at large. Today he manages an award-winning resort for one of the top ten hotel companies. 

I have noticed with admiration the Executive Housekeeper come out of the shell of her traditional role and expectation and branch out in the area of Revenue Management and the larger Rooms Division responsibility; all by challenging herself and attempting to make herself more valuable and indispensable.

Your professional destiny is really in the cup of your palms, the lines notwithstanding; and in the set of choices you make!

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Picture courtesy - Google Images

CRIMES WE COMMIT IN OUR e-COMMUNICATION!

Recently, I was approached for a job with one of the leading national business magazines. They are coming out with a new magazine on Hoteliers and were looking for an Editor. Though overall the assignment sounded very exciting, due to a number of other factors I had to turn down the position. Maybe, the personality traits exhibited (including through e-communication) could be one of the factors.

At the interview, the owner of the publishing house and the CEO had handed out a couple of magazines to me for reference, asking me to return one of the magazines whenever I had gone through it. On the third day from the day of the interview I wrote to them to thank them (sending thank you notes after an interview is considered one of the finest interviewee attitudinal aspects; but more on that later) for their time, for the lovely meeting we had had and to regret my availability for the position.

I got a reply from the CEO which I was shocked to go through. It had accusatory undertones. So what was really wrong with it? Let’s find out in the points listed below.

We all know that emails are the biggest aids, abettors and rescuers in business communication; so much so that we tend to use this vehicle even intra-departmentally. Regardless of what the health watchers will say, we still find it easier to tap on the keyboard and send mail than lifting ourselves even half up to confer over our cubicle walls.

Yet, in spite of the ease they bring to the way we communicate and conduct our business, we commit such glaring blunders that are nothing short of ‘communication crime.’ Here are a few to avoid, so as not to hang ourselves on the noose woven with threads of wrongful methods we adopt in our communication -

1.     Not sticking to facts (or not checking facts thoroughly)

It seems that we are in a tearing hurry to say our piece and hit the ‘send’ button. Goofing up on grammar and stumping ourselves with shoddy syntax is a minor issue. What is big is content that has not been checked to be factually correct, absolutely appropriate and relevant. People from my line of trade – Public Relations – tend to, ironically, commit this one quite a bit, given our propensity to be verbose, beat around the bush and weave unnecessary tapestry around what we actually want to state.

In that CEO’s response to my thank you note, he kept asking for papers & presentations that he had not given to me in the first place. I do not know what led him to it – amnesia, too much work load, carelessness; but at one point I was so irritated by his constant asking that I had a good mind to ask him to review his CCTV tapes.

Whether it is because we have not read the initial request carefully or are against a sharp deadline or are loaded with a multitude of tasks; we still do not have an excuse to send information that is not meaningful and correct. Our text, many a times, tends to get fluffy and superficial intended to just fill up the body of the mail.  Imagine the extent of disconcertment we put the receiver through by coming out as an indolent, incompetent individual.

With any mail that carries our signature at the end, the onus lies squarely on us to stick to the facts. No reason – real or imagined – is fit enough to cover our smudgy tracks. 

2.     Assuming others can read our minds

This is a basic communication flaw in general and not just with e-communication. This is also the root cause of most misunderstandings between every conceivable equation on this planet.

Parents feel children just know what is expected of them and vice versa. Bosses are of the opinion that the subordinates will magically know everything they are supposed to without proper, systematic and clear channels of communication. Guests are indignant if the hotels ever use the IDK option. Conversely, hotels have lost several dollars in damages only because they felt that their guests knew about the policies and had patiently read through the very fine print of all T&C.

In e-communication, this assumption costs us dearly. Without the benefit of our presence, with no body language or tone and modulation of our voice to assist us we become sorely handicapped when we leave gaps in our communication. Our baseless presumption that the person in front is tuned in into our chain of thoughts causes a terrible logjam.

Communication gurus have defined 7 C’s of effective communication, viz. Clear, Concise, Concrete, Correct, Coherent, Complete, and Courteous. And at least four of these assert the significance of complete lucidity in your communication.

3.     Using all caps

It has been universally stated that using all capital letters tantamounts to shouting on e-communication. And that is being grossly uncivil and impolite in any circumstance. The point we are trying to make is often lost in the noise we create by raising our voice. This holds true for e-communication too, with all caps blocking the flow and continuity of the remaining text.

So why do we do it? Whether it is to make a loud statement, have the words stand out, reinforce what we wish to say or plain laziness of removing the Caps Lock, text in all caps is always an eyesore.

There is a time and place for using all caps. It is a communication privilege that must be used judiciously.

4.     Copying to all

Going back to the erring CEO, all the mails he was writing to me, he was copying to everybody and their brother. Mind you, he was only replying to my thank you note and asking me to return ONE magazine that he had lent to me. Yet the mails (every back and forth of them) were copied to the Chairman, the Consulting Editor, the Editor of a sister magazine. Along the way he added a couple of more people including the new hire for the position that I had declined. I found it all truly absurd and annoying. A dialogue between two seemingly senior and mature professionals was being turned into a street square exchange with several unrelated or remotely related onlookers.

I don’t know about you but I stand guilty of this one. At times, when dealing with certain kind of crafty colleagues, one wishes to copy the communication to the boss. That is never a good idea as it amounts to tale-telling or unnecessarily ploughing a path to the Boss’s ear. What’s more, the Boss needs to know the beginning of a project and the outcome and not all the drama played out in between with its convoluted twists and turns; unless and until a major issue has cropped up.

The same applies to a lot of people we add to our cc list. It is essential that we reflect on the need, importance, role and significance of the names we wish to merrily add up. If they bring value to the discussion then we must go ahead and click on. If not, then we should let ourselves and others be; thereby allowing more important things to happen in the organizational cosmos and the universe at large.

5.     Replying to all

When you receive a mail that has already been copied to a large group of people; if all those that are cc’ed are significant links in the topic being covered in the mail then there is no problem whatsoever. You reply to them all too and get it done and over with.

But when people are copying mails to bring in authority or a larger ringside audience for the heck of it or for covering up their backsides or for making a superfluous point or for one-upmanship; it is then that you get sucked into the vortex of communication complications. If you omit some people in the reply back then it may appear that you have something to hide or fear. Also, it becomes an ego thing if the sender is copying to all and you do not return the favour. On the other hand, if you too copy to all then it becomes an e-tussle which neither party is willing to let go of, holding onto their piece of rotting meat like a terrier gone berserk. I really have this visualization each time I catch myself getting caught in this trap.

In either case, one is damned. Therefore, it would make a lot of sense, bring peace to the situation, ease up the matter at hand and streamline the two-way communication if we were to watch the cursor before it inches close to the cc button.

6.     Letting emotions get the better of sense

Communication is ‘the’ official carrier of our thoughts and emotions. Perhaps because we as human beings have the maximum number of emotions, including the sub-emotions we have created for our convenience; we love to play out our personal overly-dramatic soap operas, yes even on professional forums.

As extremely complex beings fighting to get a foothold on the higher planks on the Maslow Pyramid, yet slipping miserably ever so often on the lower bases, we often replace sense with schmaltz, rationality with rashness, wisdom with wilfulness.

With our bent towards over-emotionality we tend to rev up our reactions at the tiniest of real or imagined slight, we get into the quagmire of ego battles stemming from roles, responsibilities and designations and we play pliable pawns in the hands of that dreaded trinity of ‘power, leadership and control’ that has been foxing many a psychoanalyst from the time of Freud.

What’s worse in e-communication is that once we have let it out, the tirade and the torrent rests in the abyss of archives threatening to be unwantedly resurrected at a mere click of a few keys.

7.     Thinning the line between personal and professional

Riding on the high, unrestrained horse of emotions arrives this one; showing us in poor light both as a person and professional. When backed against a wall or held in a battle of wits or facing a threat to our perceived identity and the importance we hold for it in our own eyes, we resort to means that blur the difference between the two. Sometimes, it is also to show a state of familiarity with the person we are communicating with. But stepping on the line to get more on to the personal is a sign of over-familiarity and sheer impropriety.

Without being too starched up and stiff upper-lipped we must maintain the decorum and respect the rules that divide professional from the personal. There are dos and don’ts to be adhered to and observing them not only safeguards our reputation but also creates a conducive atmosphere for conducting dialogue and business.

8.     Using casual language and slang

First it was thought to be the lowest common denominator differentiating between the white and the blue collared. Then it tip-toed in with a set of new age professions which signalled post-war liberation and a sense of wild freedom that followed to herald the setting in of capitalism and materialistic rejoicing (think advertising and marketing). Next, it sort of became official together with Friday dressing and the over-riding success of Silicon Valley smartness. Finally, with digital revolution it tried to force its way in as a requisite to the changing modes of communication.

But regardless of the changing times, usage of casual language and slang will always be considered indecorous and unacceptable. Never mind the temptation from technology or the leeway sought from lethargy.

Use this only at your own risk. Just as people make opinions about you from your appearance, demeanour and body language; so do they from the e-persona and language you use in your communication, electronic and otherwise.

9.     Getting off on a tangent (and creating long threads of communication)

At one point we cry ourselves hoarse for facing daily exigencies and for the general lack of time. On the other, we sit in front of our computer screens getting entangled in long-winded web of words. We, carelessly, engage in stretched out back and forth dialogues that defeat the S.M.A.R.T objectives which should actually define our work strategies.

We forget that concise, concrete and coherent are integral aspects to the effectiveness of our communication; allowing ourselves to go with the mindless flow.

It is surprising how we take out time to fritter away the precious hours in inflated texts and ostensibly intellectual regurgitation, when clear, simple, to the point and crisp communication would stand us in better stead.

Before you crib at the water cooler about how little time you have to chew on the mountainous pile on your desk, step back to think about where your time is unwisely invested. If this is a problem area, like it is in most of our cases, then sit up and rectify. Also, if you see yourself getting caught in the mesh of meandering exchanges; immediately disengage, retract and get on the course of meaningful and productive communication.

10.                         And worst of all – not responding

This is plain bad manners and one of the highest forms of unprofessionalism. Yet we commit it; for lack of time or intent. Or because our decks are not clean enough, weighing as they may be under the deluge of excessively collected debris of unnecessary mails so much that we find it hard to fight our way to the more important stuff.

Sometimes, we reduce the significance of a mail or its sender by inflating our sense of importance that we feel it is okay not to respond. Often times, we hide behind excuses to cover up our ineptitude.

I, once, had a busy GM for a boss who made sure that he replied to every mail (personally and not through his secretary) even if it was with just a word or two.

I have also had the pleasure of dealing with some hotel chain owners who make it a point to respond. It does not matter whether the mail was written by an entrant or an advertising executive.

They know, like any professional would, that the loop of communication will close only once it has been replied to.

Like I said before, while in face-to-face conversation you still have body language to fall back on; in e-communication there is no recourse and you must meet the situation head on.

And in these times of all the smart devices, androids and voice operated software at our disposal; there is just no getting away!

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Picture courtesy - Google Images