Thought leadership by Alastair Scott
When I ran All Bar One, one of the disciplines instilled in us was to send out a weekly e-mail to our team. We did it on Sunday to show to our teams that they weren’t alone on the day, even if we weren’t there in person.
It was hard. Firstly, thinking of something to say that was either relevant, profound, or uplifting. Something that rallied the team but also made them better; something that highlighted different members of the team every week so that over time everyone felt special and important. And let us not forget the many from head office also copied in, who were probably more eager to criticise than to praise.
But we all knew the value of some well-chosen words, kindly meant, to everyone’s spirit and enthusiasm. I have no clue how many times I failed or succeeded, or indeed how many times I annoyed my wife by heading off for an hour to the study every Sunday morning.
Anyway, I have now volunteered to do the same thing in Propel. Every (other) week, I hope to share something that will hopefully help lift people’s spirits, improve their skill, or make them more determined.
Since running All Bar One, I have become a bit of a labour management anorak. I see most of the world through a labour management lens. I look at team productivity wherever I go – whether I am on holiday, at a railway station or an airport, in a supermarket checkout, or of course in a hospitality venue.
And what do I see? Often people with not enough to do; people who don’t know what else to do; people who are bored; people who just want the day to pass and then they can go home.
But when I see people who are engaged, working hard, who know what their purpose is and who seek work and see the customer, service is a joy to watch. This summer I have been so impressed by the Jet2 team, always happy to sort your problems out, in stark contrast to the train teams at so many stations, who don’t seem to have any work today and God forbid try and help a customer.
I have been impressed by Greek waiters making roses out of napkins. I have been really impressed by the people working hard in the security section at airports, who seem to have been more helpful and constructive than I remember.
It has been a great reminder that we should always pay attention to other industries and other countries, observing their best and noting their worst, and resolving to raise our own standards where we can. Our only success in hospitality is when we offer great value to our customers. The value of some carefully selected words, a friendly smile, and some small elements of attention, are as important as the food and drink that go with it. And we forget or ignore these things at our peril.
Paul Charity has kindly agreed to let me write a fortnightly column on labour management in Propel. Labour management is not just about cost control, although it is one of the critical elements of the job.
Increasingly, labour management is about setting the right environment for our people to thrive. Not bored, but focused energised and loving their jobs. That is my purpose.
