How to nurture confidence and resilience within your hospitality managers and employees
At a time of huge cultural change, building agile, resilient and confident leaders, managers and employees will bring benefits to the hospitality sector for years to come.
When we think about resilience we think about strength, about flexibility and the ability to bounce back into shape, absorbing whatever comes along. We asked Sandra Kelly, Director of UK Skills and Policy at People 1st international, and Edward Gallier, Head of Learning and Development from Jury’s Inn and Leonardo Hotels for their tips on building a confident and resilient workforce.
Communication and engagement
A primary focus has to be attention on workforce planning and employee engagement. Different levels of communication will be needed depending on whether people are still on furlough, have worked throughout the crisis, or are back at work. Knowing where your team are in this process is vital as people’s priorities and job roles may have changed during lockdown. Leaders and managers need to have a clear strategy about how they will communicate what is happening within the business.
Emerging talent strategy
Assess the impact of lockdown on your emerging talent strategies and revisit your intern, graduate and apprenticeship plans. Is it possible that employee skills and confidence may have deteriorated during this time? Longer-term talent needs should be centred around offering HR support and performance management systems to rebuild skills, resilience and confidence.
Managing retention
Retaining good people may be hard post COVID19. Lack of information can lead to feelings of isolation and uncertainty. Think about implementing retention strategies that address those needs by communication all changes, at every level of your business, so that there is a consistent approach which will have a positive impact on retention.
Share best practice
Spend time with your peers, collaborate and share best practice honestly with kindness and thoughtfulness. Peer to peer insight is invaluable in supporting and building confidence and resilience.
Mental health & well-being
Look after your team’s mental health and well-being. Be aware of how workplace changes can affect individuals and put steps in place to offer support and guidance. Take time to have proper conversations that are not workplace or operationally focused.
Develop new skill sets
Focus on your digital, green and social skills COVID19 has shown how important digital and soft skills are. The use of digital technologies has become commonplace. Now is not the time to stop developing their use and training in digital technologies.
Sustainability is a buzz word and hospitality faces some challenging times ahead. By developing, and training hospitality people in a strong sustainability strategy, businesses can cut costs, increase recycling and enhance employer brands.
What is your strategy for the development of social skills? During lockdown soft skills, empathy, compassion, understanding and resilience, were all used to reassure our workforce. Positive mental health and wellbeing support is a topic that should be at the forefront of any HR strategy.