Employee Empowerment - Does It Lead To Business Success?

Wendy Cole

@HospitalityGrowthSolutions

@hoteltravelgirl

As a hotel consultant who has also enjoyed a lengthy career in the hotel and travel industry, I have had the opportunity to experience many types of management styles.

Those management styles have varied, including Autocratic; where the top hierarchy makes all the decisions without collaborating or informing, to Transactional styles; do this for me, and I will do that for you, better known as quid pro quo. Other approaches to management have also included Visionary; leadership establishing purpose and direction, setting the team's vision, strategy, and goals, allowing employees to work on their terms while checking in to ensure they are on the right track, and Coaching style, which encourages long-growth with employees.

In an Autocratic management style, employee empowerment would not be encouraged, if anything, it would be banned outright or discouraged. In a Transactional management style, it sets an attitude for the employee of "why put extra effort into my work if I won't be rewarded." In the long run, intrinsic motivation based on an emotional reward (being recognized by colleagues for doing a good thing for the company) encourages taking additional steps to ensure customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction means better business and business growth opportunities.

Now, if you look at Visionary leadership and Coaching management styles, the purpose of what the company is there to do and achieve is shared with employees. A management style strategy and goals are established, and management supports employees through coaching and empowerment.

I was introduced to empowerment when I worked with Ritz-Carlton. Employees are hired with the understanding that they are professionals and are allowed up to a specific dollar amount to fix or enhance any guest issue or experience without having to contact a supervisor. These gestures of empowerment were then shared with all team members and celebrated weekly with recognition for the largest impact they made on the guest and the hotel.

In one case, I remember an employee going to Walmart after their shift one night and spending $20 on a little Christmas tree and decorations to place in a guest's suite. Somehow they knew the client loved Christmas and were away from their family on business, and Christmas was a week away. That gesture led to that high-profile guest returning to that hotel year after year, even after a new luxury property that was a direct competitor, with the company's corporate contract opened in the area.

In another case, a reservation agent requested a birthday cake to be delivered to a guest on the day of their birthday after the client's assistant mentioned they would be at the hotel during their birthday. The agent even had a birthday card signed by several team members to add to the delivery. Room service noted that the guest had teared up when the cake was delivered. That experience cost the hotel the price of a cake and a card, but it led that client, who happened to be the CEO of a large company, to host their annual conference at the property the following year.

In a non-empowered environment, I have had my own experience. I stayed at a hotel where on the second night of my stay, in a ground-floor room, a mouse ran from under the couch. Maintenance came and captured it, but when I asked the Front Desk Agent to move rooms to a higher floor or refund my night (I was checking out the next day), he replied that he was not empowered to make that change and could not reach a Supervisor. I checked out and left without a refund. This hotel company lost my business not just because of their rodent issue but because I know they don't empower their employees to solve issues.

Here is a link to a story of a company that supports employee empowerment recently posted by @FourSeasons : Four Seasons Hotels Instagram Feed

So does empowerment lead to better business? In my opinion, it does. It creates an environment of a Visionary management style, which leads to employee retention. Employees feel good about themselves for impacting the company and the guest experience and going beyond the confines of their job responsibilities. It also leads to a human approach to customer service, solving issues, and the potential of sourcing new opportunities for the company.

Of course, there needs to be guidelines and coaching when it comes to empowerment, but when you look at the alternative of an Autocratic and Transactional management style where there is no empowerment, which company environment will be more profitable in the end?

@hospitalitygrowthsolutions is a hotel consulting company based in the United States and Canada.

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