The 5 Fundamentals of Hospitality Management

What is a Manager and a Leader? How can you be both?

The first fundamental of hospitality management we are going to look at is Managing yourself. However, Before you can even begin thinking about managing yourself and understanding how you can adapt to your role as a manager, you need to first understand what a manager is and where your skills base is at now compared to where you ultimately want to be.

In this section you will get a clear understanding of what your role as a manager is. A clear understanding of what a leader is, and how you can effectively be both. You will also learn about developing a mindset to embrace positive and negative experiences as opportunities to learn.

What is a manager?

Everyone has their own understanding of what a manager is. A manager is basically a person who is responsible for controlling or organising the day-to-day tasks, planning or coordinating resources and people to deliver a result. For example: if you are managing a marketing project or the launch of a new menu, you are organising and coordinating the different parts or people involved in the project to get the job done properly and smoothly.

What is a leader?

A leader is a person who inspires, encourages, motivates and influences those around them to be their best self and ultimately, drives people to achieve a common goal. Leadership is a mindset and you don’t actually have to be in a level of authority to be a leader, it is something that is innate in you, however leadership is a skill that can be learnt.

The different between a manager and a leader

In simple terms, the main difference between a manager and a leader is that managers manage processes, leaders lead people. The key is to be able to master both.

Workbook Exercise:

• Take a minute to think about someone who you consider to be a good leader. This could be a previous manager you have worked with, a CEO, a sports coach or a head of a department.

• What did they look like? How did they stand or carry themselves? How did they act? How did they speak? What did they do in your eyes that inspired you?

• In your workbook, take a minute to think about this person and write down the things they did that made them a great manager and leader.

How can you be an effective manager and leader?

For you to be successful and effective in your Management role, leadership and management must go hand-in-hand. It makes no sense being an excellent organiser and planner or a master in certain processes if you are not going to motivate, inspire and influence the people who will be working with you to achieve your ultimate objective.

On the one hand, a leader without management skills will struggle to bring a vision into reality and on the other hand, a manager who cannot lead will struggle to gain the support and trust of their team. The last thing that you want to be is that type of manager who is a really nice person that everybody likes, but doesn’t get things done and doesn’t provide their team with the tools they need to perform their roles effectively.

There are 4 essential things that you need to do to be an effective manager and leader. You need to…

1. Be brilliant at the basics

2. Be competent and knowledgeable

3. Lead from the front and manage from the back

4. Build Relationships

Being brilliant at the basics

Being brilliant at the basics focuses mainly on the "management" side of your role - managing the day to day essentials of your business. This includes executing processes and responsibilities that need to be done in order for your business to operate effectively. For example, Making sure your staff are paid on time and correctly, ensuring their weekly schedules are ready in good timing, or your team have all the tools they need to perform their job effectively. As already mentioned in the previous lecture, you can be the nicest person in the world, but if you can’t provide the basics for them to perform, you will not get very far. Make sure you are completing your check lists and duties. Take your time to learn the ropes and show your team that they can rely on you to get things done.

What does Competent mean?

The next thing you need to be an effective manager and leader is knowledge. You need to be competent in your job and in other areas of the business. But what does the word competent actually mean? To be competent at something means that you have the knowledge, skills and ability to perform a task or role efficiently and successfully. For example, after completing this course you will have the knowledge to perform your job, you will know what skills to work on and develop until you are fully capable to do be an effective manager and leader.

Be Competent and Knowledgeable

You don’t have to be an expert in every field of management and hospitality, however you do need to be knowledgeable. As well as doing the basics brilliantly, ensure you know your products, you know your policies and procedures, you understand how every department works to support your team. Knowledge is key to your success and builds confidence.

Your team will look up to you and come to you for answers. By being super knowledgeable will gain their respect and will help build trust with them as they will know they can rely on you for support and information. A great way to learn is by asking questions and getting your hands dirty. For example, If you are a floor manager and you want to learn the menu; spend time in the kitchen, make it your aim to learn every detail about every dish on the menu so you can share this knowledge with your team. Another example is if you are an events manager and you want to learn about wine so you can answer any enquiries a guest may have; ask your bar manager to help you, go to wine bars and sample wines, read books… Improve your knowledge everyday. One of the beauties of the hospitality industry is that it is always evolving and there is always something to learn.

Workbook Exercise:

In your workbooks, write down 3 small things you want learn about when you get back to work. These can be about a specific product, or a process or maybe systems based. By being brilliant at the basics and knowledgeable, are 2 essential parts of being a competent and effective manager and leader.

Lead from the front, Manage form the back

The 3rd essential thing you need to do is lead from the front and manage form the back. Leading from the front is showing your team how you like things to be done while managing from the back is ensuring all the basics are done and everything is in control. No one likes a lazy manager – respect is born from performance, so always lead by example and work with them.

Set them up for success, be their eyes and ears. Let your team know that you are there to support and guide them through the good and the bad days. When things go wrong, as a manager you can’t blame it on someone or something else, you have to take responsibility for everything that happens in your business – even when you aren’t there. Your team will always watch what you do and follow your actions. If you expect your team to come to work on time, make sure you are always on time if not early. If you expect your team use a tray when running drinks, make sure you use a tray. A leader never dishes up food for themselves until they know everyone else has been served. These are just some examples of how you lead from the front. Managing from the back is following up on everything that happens on that shift or during that project, being one step ahead and proactively thinking.

Workbook Exercise:

In your workbook, take a moment to reflect on how you manage or lead your team… Is there anything you think you can start doing differently? If so – write them down and the next time you are on shift – try it out.

To recap, to be an effective manager and leader you need to be brilliant at the basics, be knowledgeable and competent, lead from front and manage from the back, and last but not least, possibly the most important thing for you to do – you need to build relationships.

Building Strong Relationships

When I was a new manager, someone once said to me “We are not in the food industry serving people, we are in the people industry serving food”. Think about that for a second. We are not in the food industry serving people, we are in the people industry serving food. This changed my whole understanding of my role as a manager and also helped steer my career in the direction of where I am now. I realised that if the people I was working with were empowered and happy, they will approach their work in a positive and enlightened way. They would deliver great service, guests will return, revenue will go up… Happy days.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not telling you to be best friends with every member of your team, but take some time to get to know your team on a slightly deeper level than just work. Do they have hobbies? Are they studying? What are their interests outside of work? By doing this you will break down barriers and builds trust, as well as an emotional connection between you and your team. Your team will develop a sense of loyalty towards you and towards their peers. You will go from being “just their boss” to their manager and leader.

Never forget that the people in your team are your most important asset and the key to your success – get to know them, include them in decisions, make sure they feel valued.

Now that you understand what a manger and leader is and you have the knowledge of the 4 management essentials on how to do both effectively, we are going to look at the second part of "Managing yourself" which is all about adapting your mindset.

What is a mindset?

What I mean when I say mindset, I am talking about how you think or approach your new role. How you can develop a mindset to embrace positive and negative experiences as opportunities to learn.

Workbook Exercise:

In your workbook, list the names of the people in your team and write down 3 interesting facts about each person. If you don’t know 3, make sure you find out the next time you are back at work.

Top Tips when Stepping into Management

In the first part of this managing yourself, the words "Role" and "Responsibilities" and "skills" were mentioned. But how do you know what these are exactly? Start by looking at your job description. Every role in any business should have a job description. It doesn’t matter if you are a Restaurant Manager working in a Fine Dining establishment or an Events Manager working in a hotel or office, job descriptions have one purpose: They highlight the role and responsibilities of that position, as well as the skills needed to do the job.

Roles refer to the position individuals hold​ and Responsibilities refer to the tasks each role performs on a day-to-day basis​. Fortunately, most of the management responsibilities are process focused and can be taught quite methodically. For example: Handling customer complaints can be taught and there is a process to follow. Skills on the other hand, are harder to adapt and master. For example: Developing people skills or coaching skills, developing the ability to remain calm under pressure or learning how to delegate tasks effectively. Once you have established and fully understood what your role and responsibilities are, as well as the areas you need to develop, you now need to get your head in the game by changing your mindset.

Workbook Exercise:

1. Get a copy of your job description and highlight the different responsibilities you will have and skills you will need to perform your role. Put a little star next to the skills or responsibilities you think you need to develop.

2. The next step is to establish where your skill set is at now compared to where you want it to be. Establish what skills you need to develop to become an effective manager and leader. Be honest with yourself and assess yourself in your managers eyes. Start by looking at your established abilities or current skill set you can develop. For example: You are good at multitasking, you have good product knowledge or you learn processes quickly. In your workbook, write down your strengths and abilities that you already have to do your new role (these can be in your job description as well as what you personally believe are your strengths). If you are struggling with this exercise, ask your manager or a colleague you feel comfortable with who can have an honest conversation with you.

3. Decide where it is you want to be. What skills do you need to learn and develop from scratch to be an effective manager and leader? For example: How to manage and lead a team, how to remain calm under pressure or how to delegate tasks to others

4. Write down what skills you need to develop to be an effective manager (again these can be from your job description).

5. Highlight 3 areas you feel least confident in and make a list of steps you can take to help you grow.

Changing your Mindset

As mentioned previously, changing your mindset means you need to change the way you think. You need to be open to learning new skills and you need to be open to the fact that you will make mistakes a long the way. This is the most important and valuable lesson you can learn. You are going to make mistakes and you are not going to get things right all the time – That’s OK! What you do with those mistakes is up to you: You can either shrug them off and blame others or certain circumstances for things going wrong or, you can look at those mistakes and learn from them.

Even the most experienced managers don’t get it right all the time they are still learning. As you develop in your role, you will try different things and approach situations in different ways until you find what works for you and gives you the results you set out to achieve. Every person is different. Every manager is different. You need to figure out what type of manager you want to be and what style works for you.

How can you change your mindset?

Step 1: Acknowledge the fact that your strengths and weaknesses are not fixed – They can change and develop.

Step 2: Be open to learning and developing new skills – If you are prepared to learn and work hard, nothing will change.

Step 3: Use your initiative and take ownership of your own learning – no one is going to do it for you, it’s only up to you. The only person standing in your way of achieving your goals and success is you.

Workbook Exercise:

The task for you to do to help with this section is to Find a mentor. Think of someone you look up to, who you think is a master at what they do, and you can learn from them. Ask them to help you grow. There is so much information out there that can help you learn. Don’t know where to start? Maybe ask your Manager for suggestions.

What is a team?

When I think of a team, I think of a group of people all playing different parts to achieve an ultimate goal. A team has a mix of different experts or talented people, in different areas, with different personalities. Everyone is unique, and usually complement each other. A team works together and supports each other to achieve a common goal.

Think of a puzzle made up of lots of pieces and imagine that every person in your team is a piece of that puzzle. The picture you are trying to put together is what you are working towards and ultimately want to achieve in your role. Have you ever tried to put a puzzle together without the picture to use as a guide? This is not an impossible task, but probably will take you much longer to build and you might get frustrated or lose momentum as you work on it.

Just like building a puzzle, the same relates to when you are working with your team. By sharing your goal, your picture, your vision, and including your people in your plan will give them a clear understanding of what role they play and value they bring to the table.

So how can you take you current team and make them stronger and better connected to achieve your goal?

First, you need to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve. For example: You want to be the best bar in your area. You want to be in the top 10 best rated establishments on TripAdvisor. What does it look like – create a picture in your mind, then share it.

Next, have a conversation with the people who are going to help you get there, either 1-2-1 or as a team. Tell them what you want to achieve and how they can help you achieve it. Get them excited, get them involved and also get their input.

Workbook Exercise:

In your workbook, plan your next team meeting agenda:

• What is it that you want to achieve?

• How are you and your team going to achieve it?

• How are you going to get them excited.

If you don’t know where to start, speak to your line manager or a colleague for inspiration.

Putting aces in places

The next part of managing your team is putting aces in places, or more simply put, putting the right people in the right roles. Once you have shared your vision, each member of the team needs to know what part they play. They need to know what their role is and what value they bring to achieving the team's goal.

To understand what role each individual plays, you need to consider their skill set, their abilities, their knowledge and their attitude.

For example: In a bar, you have different roles: Bar backs, bartenders, head bartenders, supervisors and a bar manager. But even within each role, you may have different levels of experience, different levels of knowledge and ability to perform the role competently. You could have a bartender that is very methodical and just bashes drinks out quickly and efficiently, speed of service is his thing. However, they may also be quite shy and doesn’t feel confident speaking to guests. You could also have a bartender that is more chatty and brilliant with guests, who has great energy and can sell ice to an Eskimo. But, they may not be very quick and is a bit messy in the way they work. Where would you place both bartenders if they were in your bar?

By knowing the skill set and ability of each member of your team, you can ensure you are placing them in the right area to perform at their best. In this case, if it is a busy Saturday night, you would put the first bartender on dispense so that drinks are made and delivered to guests quickly and you would put the second bartender at the front bar so they can talk and build the guest experience, as well as generate higher revenue in sales. What would happen if you put them in the opposite roles? More than likely they won’t perform, frustrations will boil and goals will not be achieved.

What are the skill set, abilities, knowledge and attitude of the members of your team? What are their strengths and areas to develop? Once you have a clearer understanding of how your team is made up, you not only will be able to place them in the correct role, but will help you identify if there are any gaps in your team. You need a balanced and diverse team of people to be successful.

Workbook Exercise:

In your workbook, put the names of the people in your team in the first column. In the next column write their strengths, then their opportunities, Rate their knowledge (maybe give your team a quiz) and rate their attitude (By attitude I mean how they approach their job eg positive, can do attitude, team player etc).

Adapting your Management Style

Now that you have established what role everyone plays in the team, you need to figure out how to manage them in a way that empowers and enables them. You need to adapt a management and leadership style.

There are a number of different management styles that you can research on line, such as Kurt Lewins or Golemans management and leadership styles. Each style has their benefits, but if you only adapt one style and use this to respond and react to everything and everyone, irrespective of what the situation is or who the person is, disaster will follow.

For example, imagine working for a person that just yelled and barked orders at you and didn’t listen to anyone’s opinion and ideas. They have this "It’s my way or the highway" mentality. Someone who managers by fear. The team will be timid, unhappy and would be afraid of making the smallest mistake.

How you manage and lead your team can either make or break them. In hospitality, no day is ever the same and you will be faced with different situations and different types of people. You need to be able to adapt quickly and be flexible, to think outside the box to get the desired outcome you want to achieve. To be an effective and successful manger in hospitality you need adopt a “Shape Shifter” leadership style.

What is a “Shape Shifter” manager?

A Shape Shifter manager has the ability to adapt and change their response or reaction, depending on the situation or person. Shape Shifter managers understand and appreciate that every individual on their team thinks and acts differently, meaning you need to engage and manage each person accordingly. Shape Shifter manager knows when to be direct and instructive or when to be inclusive and guiding. For example: If you have a new member of staff who doesn’t know what to do or how to do it – You would give them direction and instruction on how to do their job. But as this individual gets more confident and learns their role, you can adjust how you manage and lead them accordingly. (If you would like to learn a bit more about being a Shape Shifter manager, check out the resource attached to this section of the course).

That is part 2 and the 2nd fundamental of hospitality management: Managing your team.

Remember that your team is made up of different people with different expertise and personalities. Share your goal with them and make sure they feel included and valued and know what part of the puzzle they play. Put your aces in places by establishing your teams strengths, opportunities knowledge and attitude and lastly adopt a Shape Shifter leadership style to empower and enable your team.

Prioritising your Tasks

When planning your time, there are two things you need to consider: How important the task is and how urgent it is. Let me give you a simple example: You get a delivery that has a combination of perishable, non perishable and frozen foods. How do you decide which items to put away first? You would think about which items are high risk and which items need to remain below a specific temperature. Considering these factors, you would put the frozen items and perishable foods away first, leaving the non-perishable items to deal with later.

You can adapt the same logic with any task you are faced with at work. By assessing the level of importance and the level of urgency of each task, you can then place them of a priority scale. Our priority scale ranks from 1 – 10, 10 being extremely important and urgent and 1 being the least.

To help you understand how to do this yourself, we are going to use an example of a manager doing the opening shift of a restaurant. I must mention this, everybody thinks differently and this method may not work for you, however it is a good base to start with.

Start by making a list of all the tasks the opening manager would need to do:

1. Do the safe check

2. Check the bookings and events sheet

3. Check the previous days rota and amend the hours on the people system

4. Complete morning checklists

5. Check Emails

6. Enter Invoices on the system and check the cash up balanced from previous shift

7. Check handover notes and shift report

8. Set-up restaurant

9. Order change before 12pm for the next day

10. Get Specials approved and printed

From the list, you can then decide which are more time sensitive or have to be done in order to either complete another task. You can also see what tasks can be delegated to someone else. What order do you think the opening manager would put these task down on the priority scale?

1, 7, 5, 2, 10, 8, 9, 4, 3, 6

Having a list will help you stay on top of things, especially when ad-hoc tasks come up unexpectedly. Which takes us nicely onto the next part of managing your workload - the 4 Ds of Time Management

In hospitality, no day is ever the same and is somewhat unpredictable, but that’s what makes it so special and exciting. As well as your daily tasks that you are prepared for, You will also have some ad-hoc tasks that pop into your day. To ensure you don’t get overwhelmed or confused about what to do first, think of the 4 Ds: Do it, Diarise it, Delegate it and Dismiss it

Workbook Exercise:

In your workbook, write down all the tasks you need to do daily or before a specific time of day, like the example of opening the restaurant. Once you have your list of tasks, put them into an order that you think they sit on your priority scale.

The 4 Ds of Time Management

D1 = Do it: Any tasks that are Health & Safety or business critical and need to be dealt with immediately. For example: There is a burst pipe or Someone slips down the stairs, you have to Complete month end reports or submit your payroll. Basically

D2 = Diarise it: These tasks are important but are not as urgent as the previous tasks. They can be scheduled in for another time. For example: Preparing for appraisals, completing the rota for the next 2 weeks, social media posts, preparing for managers meeting. Remember, the last thing you want is for these tasks to move into the do it block, so don’t leave them to late to complete.

D3 = Delegate it: Some of these task may need to be done with a sense or urgency, however they are not that important that they absolutely have to be done by you, these can be handed over to another member of staff. For example: Delivery checks, booking confirmations, writing shift briefs, setting up for an event. Delegation is a powerful tool that empowers and develops your team. How you delegate we will look at in just a bit.

D4 = Dismiss it: These tasks are what we call time parasites… things that eat away at your time and distract you from doing tasks that are more important and urgent. They are irrelevant, unproductive and unnecessary tasks. For example: Researching things on the internet, meetings with no agendas, carrying out staff surveys, having phone calls for a sales person. Dismiss these tasks, these are things that are not at all important or urgent.

To recap, start your shift or day or week with a list of tasks that you need to complete. Prioritise them by understanding if they are time sensitive or essential for you and your team to perform your jobs effectively. Next, use the 4 Ds of Time Management to figure out how to prioritise any ad-hoc tasks that come up and delegate the things that don’t have to be done by you. This takes me to the final learning point of managing your work load, the art of delegation.

The Art of Delegation

Being able to delegate is a skill you will need to learn as a new manager. You may not know where to begin and may have that golden excuse of not having the time to delegate. If I am honest with you, I was scared that I would lose control of everything and I didn’t think or trust that anyone else could do as good a job as I could, or even worse – someone would do a better job than me which I felt quite threatening. Delegation is part of development.

How do you delegate to others?

By following these simple steps, you will master the skill of delegation:

Step 1: Ask them if they can do you a favour by helping you with an important task. This will empower the individual and also make them feel appreciated. Don’t just order them to do something.

Step 2: Tell them clearly what it is you want them to do. Be specific when instructing them to avoid any confusion on how to do it.

Step 3: Check that they have understood what you have told them and why it is important. Ask them if they feel they are capable of doing the task.

Step 4: Tell them that if they need any help or have any questions that you are available.

Step 5: When the task is completed, check that it has been done properly. If they did the task well, acknowledge it and say well done. If they made a couple of mistake, give them feedback and tell them what to do the next time they are given the same task.

Step 6: Always thank the person for helping you.

Workbook Exercise:

Look at your list of tasks from the previous exercise and think about which ones can be delegated and to whom. Write them down and how you would delegate it.

That takes me to the end of the 3rd fundamental of hospitality management – Managing your workload. Remember to list your tasks and prioritise them, use the 4 Ds of Time Management to figure out how to prioritise any ad-hoc tasks and delegate the things that don’t have to be done by you.

Introduction

The 4th fundamental of hospitality management is Managing Challenging Conversations.

I don’t know about you, but when I first stepped into management, having difficult conversations gave me heart palpitations and made me exceptionally nervous – anything I could do to avoid facing it, I would do. Unfortunately, what I realised was the longer I avoided it, the harder it became to handle or deal with and the weight of the matter became a lot bigger in my mind than it initially was.

Having challenging conversation is an area that most, if not all new managers fear. Why? Because they don't know how to have them. They fear that having difficult conversations will damage their relationships or negatively impact their work environment. The key is to learn how to handle these conversations in a way that produces a better outcome: less pain for you, and less pain for the person you’re talking to. In this section, you will learn some techniques to approach and handle difficult or awkward conversations at work while also keeping your relationships intact.

How can you approach and handle a difficult conversation with a member of staff. For example: A new manager is managing a team that were previously their peers and there is a member of the team who isn’t performing. If you turn a blind eye and avoid approaching it head on, an atmosphere of tension could build between you and your colleague, other team members may start to act out resulting in poor team performance, or you can lose the respect and trust you have built with the rest of your team. Ultimately, Issues escalate, resentment grows, and eventually, people become disengaged.

How can you approach this situation? By following these 6 steps

• Get in the right mindset

• Gather all the facts

• Clarify your role

• Be clear what you need to address

• Get your ego in check

• Agree on a solution

Managing Awkward Conversations

Now that you know how to approach and handle difficult or challenging conversations, we are now going to go one step further and look at the second learning topic of this section, having awkward conversations. Nobody likes to have them but like any difficult conversation, they have to be done. For example: Addressing someone’s personal hygiene or bad body odour. We are going to share an effective technique we like to call “awkward whispers” that will make any awkward conversation less awkward.

Awkward Whispers

Create a safe & private space: Meet in a private room where no one else can overhear and ideally no one else can spectate. Make sure you are both sitting down or at the very least, make sure you and the other person are on the same level. If you remain standing while you talk to a person who is sitting, you'll be physically talking down to them - which isn't the tone you want to set. If there's only one chair in the room, remain standing with the other person. Make the other person feel at ease by having casual, light-hearted conversations before you broach the subject.

Acknowledge and share your discomfort about having this conversation: There is absolutely nothing wrong with being open and honest with the other person and telling them that this is an uncomfortable conversation for you to be having with them. By showing vulnerability humanises the conversation and will make it easier for the person to hear what you are going to say.

Prepare them for the feedback: Soften the blow and don’t catch them off guard by preparing them for the news or feedback. Imagine someone just blurted out to you: All of your team mates think you smell – How would that make you feel? Give them a bit of warning. You can say "What I'm about to tell you might be a little difficult to hear." That gives the other person a minute to emotionally prepare for what you're about to say.

Be specific and frank: When telling them what the issue is, don’t beat around the bush or elaborate on the subject – Stick to the facts and keep the conversation short. Why would you want to prolong an awkward conversation. Be mindful of your tone of voice and pause after you have told them what the issue is to give them an opportunity to process it.

Experience the silence: Once you have told them the issue, pause and listen. This will be hard, and you will feel the urge to just say anything, anything at all, about the colour of the floor, or a speck of dust on your fingernail, but bite your tongue. It’s not comfortable, but neither is what’s lead you to have this awkward conversation. Don’t hijack the silences; let them exist as an opportunity for you both to think, and process the new information being shared. When they are ready, Give them an opportunity to speak and be an active listener by reflecting back what you hear and get clarity on points that may have been misunderstood.

Agree on a solution: Agree on what actions are to be taken by either party to resolve the issue and bring the conversation to a close. Don’t over complicate it or over think it. Awkward conversations often end in an equally awkward manner. Uncertainty about whether the conversation is actually over, or confusion about what will happen next, only adds to the clumsiness. Let them know they can come to you if they have any questions.

And that’s all it takes. Having awkward conversations is never easy, but following this technique will help massively. Remember, like handling difficult or challenging conversations, empathy is key – approach the conversation with how you would like to hear it and you will be fine.

Managing Performance

The 5th and final fundamental of Hospitality management is Managing performance.

Do you remember when we were learning about managing your team, you learnt about putting aces in places? You also learnt that your team need to understand what’s expected of them, and must be managed so that they are motivated, have the skills, resources and support they need to succeed in their role. Managing performance will help you take your team from performing to high performing.

Managing performance is all about finding a way to motivate the people on your team, encouraging them to do their best, and unlocking their potential to develop and maximise their own performance through something we like to call “levelling up”.

What is motivation?

Motivation is an interesting concept and is different for everyone. This is a really important point to remember. Think about what motivates you at work? Is it recognition? is it money? Or is it developing new skills? Are your colleagues motivated by the same things? Probably not.

In order to keep your team motivated, you need to understand what makes them excited. What drives them? What makes them tick? Some people in your team might just be happy where they are and don’t really want to grow or do anything else – that’s OK. Accept this and use their skills for what they are, but don’t completely right them off – sometimes people don’t know that they want to develop because they don’t know what it looks like. So how do you figure out what motivates the people on your team? Ask them. It really is that simple.

Workbook Exercise:

In your workbook, write down the names of the people on your team and in the Motivation column write down what you think motivates them. To be sure you are correct, ask the individuals what motivates them when you next see them. Then, in the Action column, write down what you can do to ensure they are motivated at work.

Levelling Up your Team

We are now going to look at unlocking and developing your teams potential through something we like to call “levelling up”. Levelling up is when you take small steps to stretch a persons capabilities and performance, helping them grow. For example, do you remember the first bartender from the Managing your team section? To develop or stretch this bartender in his current strong skill set (which was speed and efficiency), you would challenge him to beat his own timing when making drinks. You would ask them what they thought was a realistic time to deliver drinks to guests and then increase that slightly to challenge them. Example they could say 7 minutes and you might say, let’s try for 5.

To develop their lack of confidence, on quieter shifts you could put the bartender on the front bar, possibly next to second bartender who was more confident and bubbly, and again ask them what they want to achieve on that shift. Say for example they say they are going to reach a sales target of £1000, you might say "how about stretching that to £1100". You would also ask they how they think they will achieve this goal? Maybe it will be by recommending different spirits and double measures to their guests. Whatever scenario it is, you would check at the end of shift if they achieved their target and celebrate success if they did, or ask what they would do differently next time to ensure they achieved their goal.

What I have just described are the steps you take as a manage when levelling up your team.

Step 1: Goal setting

You first have to set them a goal that is specific, motivating, realistically achievable and time sensitive or trackable. Has anyone ever set you a goal that you weren’t really motivated to achieve and also thought there was no way you could achieve it anyway? If the goal isn’t realistically achievable, the person will feel demotivated, and it may leave them feeling incompetent. You have to make sure that the goal is challenging and stretches them, but is realistically achievable.

Step 2: Actions to take

The next thing you have to do is ask them how they think they will achieve their goal. What steps are they going to take to ensure they reach their target? What are they going to do start doing differently or stop doing to achieve their goal? This step makes them accountable for their actions and will also give them a clearer understanding of what steps to take in order to achieve success.

Step 3: Follow up

Finally, you need to follow up and check if they were successful in achieving their goal. If they achieved it, great! Celebrate their success and make them feel good about their achievement and tell them next time, lets build from that and aim a little higher. If they didn’t achieve their goal, ask them what they struggled with and what they think they would do differently. This enables them to be in control of their own development and will keep them motivated to achieve their goal instead of giving up.

Putting it into practice

So how can you do this with your own team? A great way to start is by having a development conversation with your team and asking each person what they want to achieve. This can be done at the beginning of the week, shift, day, or even just having a coffee with them to catch up on how they are doing. The conversation doesn’t have to be very formal, unless you are doing an appraisal or writing a 6 month development plan. Give them a realistic target which stretches their growth. Ask them how they will achieve it and then follow up to see if they reached their goal. You are now one step closer to developing a high performing team.

That brings us to the end of our 5th fundamental of hospitality management, managing performance. Keep your team motivated and encourage them to level up by setting specific and realistically achievable goals, stretching their abilities beyond their expectations.

Workbook Exercise:

In your workbook, set yourself a goal and fill out the different steps you will take to achieve your goal. Remember to make it specific, motivating, realistically achievable and time sensitive or trackable.

Thank You

You have now reached the end of our 5 fundamentals of hospitality management course. Congratulations. I hope that you have enjoyed this course and have learnt some valuable tools and techniques that will make you an effective and successful manager and leader. Take the time to finish all your exercises in your workbook and put what you have learnt into practice at work. Enjoy the your learning and development process in this fantastic, ever changing hospitality industry.