Leadership Qualities -Do you have what it takes

Practice makes us better in our behavior and in the daily acts that we do. For example, when we learn yoga, ballet, gymnastics, piano, tennis …..we consciously practice the relevant movements, repeatedly in a deliberate way. Thus by these conscious repeated practice, we become better each day at these acts. Our entire life is like this, but we more often than not, are less conscious of the practice that goes behind the acts and the behavior.

Each day if we consciously practice good habits we will excel at it and they will become a natural way of our life.

I believe that credentials on the wall alone do not necessarily make you a decent human being. A LEADER can be any of us, one with NO TITLE. It is important to be human & what is more important is One’s disposition. Each of us can inspire others by the way we conduct ourselves on a day to day basis and be inspired by others.

So what are these qualities that each of us can have to inspire others in whatever we do

1. GRACIOUSNESS – Be gracious in all situations no matter if you are dealing with your subordinate or supervisor. Many forget their graciousness if they feel their power is lost. We are benevolent when our status is unchallenged. But if it comes to a power-play situation, very few of us can tolerate being upstaged, even for a fleeting moment.

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Viktor E. Frankl

2.LEARN FROM MISTAKES – Don’t judge somebody by the mistakes they have made. In fact, the greatest virtue of mistakes is that they show us a path to new discoveries and open our mind. The key is to learn from one’s mistake and move forward rather than not having tried at all. One of the things that defines our character is how we handle mistakes.

I read in a blog post How To Make A Brilliant Mistake by Paul Schoemaker about how a mistake can be viewed positively by a company and how they can reap benefits from the same. Relevant extract from the blog below

“The president of an Ann Arbor, Michigan business concocted what he calls the Golden Egg award to make sure his people would extract as much learning as possible from failures. He asks managers to share their mistakes at a monthly meeting not unlike the mortality and morbidity reviews hospitals hold to learn from medical errors. At first participants were reluctant to open up, but eventually these confessionals became a favorite part of the session.
The manager who presents the best mistake of the month gets the Golden Egg trophy—a spray-painted L’eggs pantyhose plastic egg. Initially, the trophies stayed in the desk drawer of the (un)lucky winner. But over time, winners became proud enough to place the trophy on their desk for the entire month. This naturally prompted conversations with visitors about with how managers were able to convert egg on their face into omelets rich with insight and learning. In short, the president managed to change the culture from one that hides mistakes to one that celebrates them.

3. MULTICULTURAL LEADERSHIP Starts from within. Just like each of us would like to be respected, we need to understand the values of different cultures whilst dealing with people on the global front. Only through knowing and understanding the sensitivity of other cultures deeply can a person link different people to a common cause and influence them to achieve the goal.

4. ENCOURAGE< CRITIQUE BUT DO NOT CRITICIZE/JUDGE - it is way too easy for us to criticize someone because of our perceptions of them. When I hear and see a kid screaming in a café, my first thought may be “can’t the parent teach the kid to behave well and be better mannered.” That thought is being too judgemental without even knowing the kid or the parent or what each of them has gone through. A leader tends to walk a mile in another’s shoe before criticizing or judging first. The following lyrics from one of Elvis Presley’s song Walk A Mile In My Shoes resonates the message well

Walk a mile in my shoes,
just walk a mile in my shoes
Before you abuse, criticize and accuse
Then walk a mile in my shoes

5.LEAD BY EXAMPLE – The story here (Source) highlights the qualities of authenticity, honesty, daring to live one’s dreams, listen to understand, encourage and empower those around you

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.
She said, ‘Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?’I laughed and enthusiastically responded ‘Of course you may!’ and she gave me a giant squeeze. ‘Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?’ I asked. She jokingly replied, ‘I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids….”No seriously,’ I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.’I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!’ she told me.

After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this ‘time machine’ as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.
Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she revelled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor.

Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, ‘I’m sorry I’m so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I’ll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.’ As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, ‘ We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.

There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humour every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up…If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.’ She concluded her speech by courageously singing ‘The Rose.’

She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives… At the year’s end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it’s never too late to be all you can possibly be.

Leadership is A Choice to inspire each other in all we do and something we practice day-to-day from within.

Hope you enjoyed the post, if you would like to add some more qualities please feel free to do so.

9 Tips to Proper Employee Counseling

by Extreme John

I recently received a request via email from a reader that wanted to know a few tips on proper employee counceling, this can be somewhat of a gray area because every business has it’s own best practices. Chances are you would find these same tips in any large retail corporation like Home Depot or Wal-Mart, however these tips are excellent tips for small business owners to follow as a “best practices” for handling employee issues.

1. Do Your Homework

The single most important part of properly counseling an associate is having your facts straight, take the extra time to review video or go through time cards and make copies of your findings, having them handily ready during the counseling process makes it easier to get results from the counseling session.

Another important factor in doing your homework prior to actually doing the counseling is that you don’t run the risk of counseling an associate that doesn’t deserve to be counseled.

2. Don’t believe everything you hear

It’s always best to keep things professional during the homework phase of the counseling process, don’t discuss employee issues with other employees unless they are employees that have something to do with the actual situation at hand. Interviewing employees in regards to other employee issues is tricky business, don’t believe everything you hear and keep in mind that you can re-interview someone you already interviewed. Doing so might expose inconsistencies that aid in the homework process.

3. Stick to the facts

When it comes to counseling notices or growing employee’s through the counseling process it is important to keep in mind that your opinion DOES NOT MATTER. Keep all opinions out of the counseling notice as well as the conversation during the actual counseling process, this is not about your opinion, it is about the actual issue at hand.

4. Document It

There should be phases to every documentation process in order to give every associate the same fair chance at succeeding, this means that with each counseling session a new phase should be entered. For more information about counseling phases please read “3 Phase Employee Counseling Process“.

5. Setup a Gameplan

One of the most important parts of properly counseling an employee and setting them in the right path is to provide a gameplan for the associate moving forward. Let’s assume that you are counseling Mary, an associate that has been late to work for her two previously scheduled shifts, a gameplan might look something like this:


Mary’s time and attendance will be monitored over the next 60 days to ensure that Mary follows her scheduled shift, if Mary has any more “No Call No Shows” Mary will be subject to further written documentation.

This would of course be the scenario if this was the first time Mary ever had an issue.

6. Keep it Professional

A counseling notice is a training tool for managers to use in addressing any business related issues, a counseling notice has nothing to do with your personal views on the subject or your personal views of the employee. In addition to keeping it professional and free of personal views it is also important to keep your counseling environment professional as well, no cell phones in the room, no interuptions from other employees, friends, or customers.

7. Have a Witness

When it comes time to administer the counseling notice you should have a witness present in the room, the witness should not be an associate of equal position to the associate being counseled, anyone would find that demeaning. Having a witness ensures that there are no “he said, she said” issues and it also reduces the chances of a sexual discrimination claim or anything along those lines.

8. Keep it Confidential

No one likes to be told they aren’t dong a good job and it’s safe to assume that most people don’t want to feel like failures or feel as if everyone knows their business, keep the counseling confidential and ensure the associate that you have no intention on making it knowledge for everyone.

9. Move Past it

If you properly counseled the associate and stuck to the facts and some of the very basic best practices for counseling an employee than you should feel confident that the situation is resolved. Don’t hold counseling notices or sessions over your employees head, at the close of the counseling session reassure the associate that your moving forward and you hope they do the same. There is no sense on holding grudges, whats done is done.

Here on Extreme John we have a pretty good community that brings a lot of people together, many who are very intelligent and focused on running a good business with a solid core set of rules. Take a moment to leave a comment and share any additional tips that you might have, you would be surprised how many business owners your tips can help.

Leading Is Following

By Sefu Bernard

This is a *great* video from Derek Sivers called “Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy.” Loved it and had to share it. Powerful, yet simple.

It’s also timely… I had just met with my mentor last week while in Toronto and he was asking me whether I thought that leaders were born or could be made. To that, I responded: everyone can be a leader. You see my definition of leadership is influence. Simple.

You don’t have to be the ‘pack leader’ to create influence; instead, you just have to know when and who to follow. Leadership, as Derek shows in this short clip, is also followership.

If you’ve learned a lot about leadership and making a movement, then let’s watch a movement happen, start to finish, in under 3 minutes, and dissect some lessons:

A Leader Needs The Guts To Stand Alone And Look Ridiculous.

But what he’s doing is so simple, it’s almost instructional. This is key. You must be easy to follow!

Now comes the first follower with a crucial role: he publicly shows everyone how to follow. Notice the leader embraces him as an equal, so it’s not about the leader anymore – it’s about them, plural. Notice he’s calling to his friends to join in. It takes guts to be a first follower! You stand out and brave ridicule, yourself. Being a first follower is an under-appreciated form of leadership. The first follower transforms a lone nut into a leader. If the leader is the flint, the first follower is the spark that makes the fire.

The Second Follower Is A Turning Point

It’s proof the first has done well. Now it’s not a lone nut, and it’s not two nuts. Three is a crowd and a crowd is news.

A movement must be public. Make sure outsiders see more than just the leader. Everyone needs to see the followers, because new followers emulate followers – not the leader.

Now here come 2 more, then 3 more. Now we’ve got momentum. This is the tipping point! Now we’ve got a movement!

As more people jump in, it’s no longer risky. If they were on the fence before, there’s no reason not to join now. They won’t be ridiculed, they won’t stand out, and they will be part of the in-crowd, if they hurry. Over the next minute you’ll see the rest who prefer to be part of the crowd, because eventually they’d be ridiculed for not joining.

And ladies and gentlemen that is how a movement is made!

Let’s Recap What We Learned

If you are a version of the shirtless dancing guy, all alone, remember the importance of nurturing your first few followers as equals, making everything clearly about the movement, not you.

Be public. Be easy to follow!

But the biggest lesson here – did you catch it?

Leadership is over-glorified.

Yes it started with the shirtless guy, and he’ll get all the credit, but you saw what really happened:

It was the first follower that transformed a lone nut into a leader.

There is no movement without the first follower.

We’re told we all need to be leaders, but that would be really ineffective.

The best way to make a movement, if you really care, is to courageously follow and show others how to follow.

When you find a lone nut doing something great, have the guts to be the first person to stand up and join in.

12 Management Skills All Great Bosses Must Have

by Rachel Miller

What is the def­i­n­i­tion of a great boss?

As a rule, great bosses are excel­lent com­mu­ni­ca­tors. They use ver­bal and body lan­guage to moti­vate, edu­cate and inspire. But what else qual­i­fies some­one as a great boss? I sat down and recalled all of the bosses I have ever had. The good, the bad and the kind that still show up in my night­mares. The list below out­lines man­age­ment skills all great bosses should have.

1. Look into My Eyes. Mak­ing eye con­tact is an under-rated com­mu­ni­ca­tion skill. Even if your iPhone is sur­gi­cally attached to your hand, take your eyes off the screen, and really con­nect with your employee. While you might be lis­ten­ing closely, if you are not mak­ing eye con­tact with the per­son speak­ing, you appear to be dis­tracted or unin­ter­ested. Both have extremely neg­a­tive effects on employee morale. Eye con­tact sends a mes­sage to the employee that he or she has your full atten­tion and is important.

2. Small Things Mat­ter. Remem­ber names of your employ­ees’ spouse, chil­dren, life part­ner, pets, etc. Know­ing the dif­fer­ence between Fluffy and Fido will score you many points. It is well known that employ­ees feel moti­vated and spe­cial when a higher up remem­bers their name. Remem­ber­ing not only your employ­ees’ names (not always easy to do if you work for a large orga­ni­za­tion) but some­thing spe­cific to their per­sonal lives will win your employ­ees’ respect and inspire them to per­form better.

3. Even the Play­ing Field. Share funny or embar­rass­ing work sto­ries with your staff. Using humor in con­ver­sa­tions is a great way to build rap­port with employ­ees and can also relieve ten­sion to make the work envi­ron­ment more relaxed. Also, laugh­ing at your mis­takes is a great way to open the lines of com­mu­ni­ca­tion and encour­age staff to share their work suc­cess and fail­ures. Con­ver­sa­tions like these often lead to con­struc­tive process brainstorming.

4. Tell It Like It Is. Cor­rect­ing is one of the most impor­tant parts of being a great boss. When offer­ing feed­back to employ­ees, espe­cially when giv­ing con­struc­tive crit­i­cism, focus on the facts. Clearly point out the incor­rect behav­ior, explain the effect of the incor­rect behav­ior, and clearly state what you expect the employee to do dif­fer­ently next time. Do not add unnec­es­sary emo­tion or exam­ples of past incor­rect behav­ior. Focus on the cur­rent issue and why it is impor­tant to cor­rect it.

5. Show Your Flair. We are all unique beings. Maybe you are a crazy tie guy or maybe you like to wear bright rimmed eye glasses. Express­ing your per­sonal style makes you mem­o­rable and approach­able. Bosses are human too. Dis­play fam­ily pho­tos, exam­ples of your hob­bies and inter­ests in your office. Give employ­ees oppor­tu­ni­ties to bond with you.

6. Crack the Whip. Address inap­pro­pri­ate behav­ior in a timely man­ner. Be sure to doc­u­ment the dis­cus­sion via email. Writ­ten word car­ries a lot of weight and is per­ma­nent. Mem­o­ries of a dis­cus­sion will fade but email stays forever.

7. Hey, It’s Per­sonal. Some coach­ing can be done in pub­lic, but be sen­si­tive to issues of pri­vacy. If you have some­thing impor­tant to say, invite the employee into your office or go on a walk around the block. Cor­rect­ing in pub­lic can be a blow to someone’s self-esteem, and bad lead­er­ship exam­ples spread like wild­fire. Remem­ber the golden rule: treat oth­ers how you would like to be treated.

8. Walk the Walk. You may have made a lat­eral career move from a com­peti­tor a few years back and are very good at your job, but take the time to edu­cate your­self on the job duties of the man­agers and super­vi­sors who work for you. Noth­ing builds respect faster than get­ting down in the trenches and rolling your sleeves up for a few hours. Being able to fill in for some­one in a pinch not only increases com­pany effi­ciency, but makes you a more valu­able leader.

9. Keep the Peace. All employ­ees are sus­cep­ti­ble to stress. To main­tain a well-functioning team, keep your eyes and ears open. Each indi­vid­ual has his or her per­for­mance lim­its. One employee may be a great multi-tasker and another sin­gle project ori­en­tated. Keep the peace by opti­miz­ing each employee’s strengths and reas­sign projects to suit work traits.

10. Show Me the Money – Not! Do not make the rookie mis­take of assum­ing that that human moti­va­tion is tied to eco­nomic out­comes. Sin­cere per­sonal inter­ac­tion with your staff and col­leagues will get you much further.

11. Be the Squeaki­est. Inex­pe­ri­enced man­agers need their bosses to tell them when their team is over– or under-resourced or unbal­anced. Lis­ten to your employ­ees and be proac­tive. Do you need to acquire addi­tional resources, newer tech­nol­ogy or rec­om­mend process changes? Your employ­ees are inte­gral to your suc­cess. Lis­ten to them and be their voice.

12. Spread the Love. Great bosses redi­rect kudos and credit onto their team, or ide­ally, indi­vid­ual team mem­bers. Be gra­cious and share the spotlight.

Great bosses attract tal­ented peo­ple like Win­nie the Pooh to a pot of honey. Tak­ing time to get to know and appre­ci­ate your staff will not only improve their per­for­mance, but will dra­mat­i­cally improve the work­ing envi­ron­ment. You know you have suc­ceeded when work­ing on improv­ing your man­age­ment skills is no longer work – it’s just who you are and what you do.

What is your primary leadership style?

by Dr. Rob Fazio

If You Build It, They will Engage: Develop Your Leadership Philosophy

Having a personal leadership vision and strategy is critical to excellence. Quite simply, clarity is king. A common mistake that executives make is not knowing how their values, interests, and motives impact their leadership success. Developing your leadership philosophy allows you to be strategic about how you approach your people and situations.

Developing a leadership philosophy is a process that needs to include your ability to leverage your strengths, enhance your areas of growth, and minimize your weaknesses. For new leaders, you don’t want to just reflect on what made you successful and what you need to do differently because so much of your success was based on your individual performance and not leadership effectiveness. This is an opportunity to differentiate yourself and accelerate your transition into becoming a credible leader.

Simple Strategy: Develop your Leadership Philosophy
1.Create your Leadership Philosophy (LP)
2.Collect feedback
3.Change your LP to meet your situation and success criteria
4.Communicate your LP

I know it sounds simple and it is, but it’s not easy. The challenging part is having the self-discipline to self-reflect and follow through on the all of the steps.

I. Create your Leadership Philosophy

We all lead, but very few of us lead with intention and a core philosophy. By creating clarity for yourself, you create clarity for others. A key component is to create a set of leadership principles that will encourage and guide your people.

Below are some questions that will help you define your LP.
■How do you know if a leader is successful?
■What are your core beliefs?
■What is your view on leadership effectiveness?
■What usually helps or hinders people from being successful at leadership?
■What are your leadership principles?
■What motivates people to succeed?
■What frustrates you the most?
■Do people change? If yes, how do people change? If no why?
■What do people need from a leader?
■What is your primary leadership style?(i.e. Direct, Relational, Visionary, Coaching, Delegating, Collaborative)
■What style do you need to use more frequently?
■What leadership approach have you taken that has been most successful? Most ineffective?
■What are your beliefs on what makes an effective leader?
■What do you want people to say about you as a leader?
■What style of leadership is important based on the culture of your organization?
■What quotes/sayings/phrases reinforce your leadership brand?

Once you answer these questions you will know what your preferences are and how you believe people are led. This is often a key insight into what motivates you and how you prefer to be led. The next step is to be flexible and incorporate the point of view of others. This will allow you to leverage your instincts and integrate the beliefs of others your respect.

II. Collect Feedback

While your leadership philosophy(LP) may be genius to some, it may impact people in ways that you do not intend. Take the time to share your LP with colleagues. Be sure to talk with people who are willing to give you honest and direct feedback and with some people who don’t always have the same view on things as you. A few key questions you can ask are:

1) What are your initial reactions?

2) Do you think my LP fits our culture? If not, how I can adapt my LP?

3) If you were in my role, what would you adapt?

III. Change your Leadership Philosophy to Meet your Needs and Success Criteria

Based on the feedback you receive and what your organization needs, make any necessary enhancements or changes. The development of your LP will be a versatile and ongoing process. Embrace the fact that how you lead, and teach others to lead, is dynamic and change is part of the process.

IV. Communicate your Leadership Philosophy

Now that you’re clear about what effective leadership looks like, give others the gift of clarity. Explain to your team highlights from your LP. This will close the gap between your intention and your impact. By giving people insight into how you plan to lead and what principles are important to you, they can better lead themselves and others.

What Companies Want

Over the past decade working with executives, HR departments, Boards, and a variety of Fortune 500 businesses, I have learned that organizations crave strong leadership. A colleague of mine, Dr. Paul Gaske, teaches as a principle: neutral leadership does no harm, strong leadership multiplies performance, and poor leadership divides productivity. Therefore if you can build a foundation for your leadership, people will be more willing and able to follow your lead.

The Bottom Line

The more you put into leadership, the more you will get out. Becoming an effective leader that inspires others and drives sustainable results takes time and energy. You will find that a little reflection, recognition, and regulation will yield you a lot of engagement. Who knows, maybe people will even do things aligned with your philosophy that you want done without you even asking…

—

Dr. Rob Fazio is a Principal with Leadership Research Institute (www.LRI.com). He specializes in partnering with senior level executives and high-potentials. Dr. Fazio areas of expertise include talent strategy, transitions/crises, and Executive Emotional Intelligence (EEI). Rob is the co-founder of Hold The Door For Others (www.holdthedoor.com), a nonprofit dedicated to teaching people how to grow through adversity and achieve their dreams.

www.successtelevision.biz

5 Leadership Lessons from Star Wars

Who has not heard of this movie series? Few, if any. It has been a great source of entertainment and frustration.

A beautifully crafted story. One that provides five great leadership lessons from a galaxy far, far away.

Watch on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g3_CFmnU7k&feature=player_embedded#!

•Guard your thoughts: In the Star Wars universe there is a light side and a dark side. What leads to the dark side?

As Yoda would say “Anger, Fear, and Aggression. The dark sides of the force are they.” Anger, fear, and aggression come from your thoughts.

In Star Wars, this would lead to the dark side.|||In your life, these will lead to frustration and failure. Continuously guard your mind against these thoughts.


•Good leaders can go bad: We find out that Darth Vader was not always evil. He once was a young boy who had great potential.

During the prequels, we are shown he had the potential to be a great leader. Slowly we see his great skills used more and more with evil intent.

The change from the light side of the force to the dark side did not happen overnight. It was a slow turn.

Be vigilant in your leadership and make sure the choices you are making will benefit others. Do not let your leadership skills lead you to the dark side.


•Do or do not, there is no try: We hear Yoda tell this to Luke when he is trying to raise his spaceship from the swamp.

Luke is frustrated and tired. He has tried to use the force to raise his ship and is unable.

This is when Yoda tells him to either do it or not. Trying does not matter.

Stop using trying as an excuse.

By saying you will “try” to do something, you are already limiting yourself. You have given yourself an escape. You can say “I tried it. It did not work.”

Either say you will do the task or you will not. Do not give yourself the easy way out by saying you will try.


•Put your fear into words: Yoda says “Named your fear must be before banish it you can.”

“What does this mean to you?”

It means you need to be clear on what you fear. Give it a face. Make sure you know exactly what it is.

With what you fear clearly defined, you can step forward and conquer it.


•Have a bigger cause: Luke Skywalker was just a farm boy. Han Solo was just a smuggler.

Yet throughout the movie you see them become more than just a farm boy or a smuggler.

Luke and Han could have denied the bigger cause.

They could have turned away and let the alliance fight the empire without their help. They could have let their needs and desires lead them elsewhere.

But no, they stepped up and fought for a bigger cause.

They become heroes. They get to save the galaxy. They get to defeat evil.

You must have a bigger cause. Without it your skills will not be fully utilized.

Don’t Be A Status Quo Leader

I have never liked status quo, any status quo leader. Maybe someday when life is perfect; when there is no disease or conflict and I am all knowing and want for nothing……maybe then I can accept status quo. Of course at that point I will be so prideful, arrogant and annoying that I will have to change my status quo. So I guess I will never like it.

As we all know, status quo is to “keep things the way they presently are” (Wikipedia). As business leaders we can rarely if ever be accepting of “keeping things the way they are.” It is our job to succeed and achieve, in fact it is our responsibility. It is our responsibility because there are so many people depending on us. Employees depend on us, colleagues depend on us, vendors, partners, suppliers, customers, heck even our country and the world economy depend on our success; but most of all, the well-being of individuals and families of everyone we can touch depend on our ability to succeed.

This topic has always been a sore spot for me. I see people immigrate to the United States from other countries and be here 20 years and still cannot speak proper English. I see people stuck in dead-end jobs that stay there for years and years because they do nothing to increase their knowledge or training. We have all seen people with annoying habits or weaknesses that they never put any effort into changing.

We all have our “some-day’s” and “tomorrow’s”. You know, that excuse that pulls us back and drags us down, sometimes for our entire lives. Someday I will learn to be a better sales person. Someday I will learn to speak in front of large groups. Someday I will learn how to communicate better. Someday I will learn how to manage my money. Someday I will take a vacation with my family. Someday I will show my employees how much I care for them. Someday I will write that book. Someday I will overcome such and such bad habit or someday I will spend more time with my kids. Tomorrow I will tell my spouse how much I care for them. It seems they never stop.

Status quo is something we often think of as a kind of “environmental” problem that is happening around us, something that is caused by others or caused by the “system”. But bring it back and bring it closer to the individual level, to the personal level. If we could foster this value of progression in ourselves and in those that work for us, think about what could be achieved. If every employee had a learning mentality and a mentality of overcoming their weaknesses and learning new skills, how much more powerful of a culture could we have at our companies? We would not just have a lone leader progressing, but we would have an army of people going the extra mile and improving every day. How much greater profit and greater happiness could be produced in this scenario? How many more people could we positively touch?

I mentioned that this is a sore spot for me, because changing our current state does not necessarily have to be hard. Learning a new language is hard, but if you learned 10 words a day or 5 words a day, how much greater could you learn to speak that language, than if you had done nothing? Dr. Nido Qubein, said: “I learned English by memorizing ten words a day. Each day, I would review the words I had learned the day before and then study 10 new ones. By the end of the week I had added 70 new words to my vocabulary. It was this consistent effort, that enabled me to achieve fluency in English.” Nido is a self-made raving success.

This is not some rant on immigrants. What I am driving at is that small consistent effort is the key to overcoming status quo. There are thousands of stories like this, where someone took small consistent steps and were able to overcome great challenges, setbacks or weaknesses. By only reading about 5 pages a day, you can read an average business book or self-improvement book a month. There is a wealth of information in books that will help us overcome just about any challenge we face, although more effort is often spent searching for the remote control.

The biggest excuse I hear is “lack of time”. It really is an excuse. What you are really saying is: “I enjoy staying in my miserable state and I cannot prioritize what I do so I will just stay miserable and keep making excuses.” ”Miserable” might be a strong word, but there is almost always some level of suffering by not progressing. That could be missing out on a better salary, a healthier lifestyle, amore loving relationship, a more profitable business, etc…. People will do what is most important to them. If you find yourself watching TV a couple hours a week and not working for 5 minutes a day on something that could help you, then obviously the TV is more important. If you spend your time always doing menial tactical work, and never strategizing to grow the business, then obviously business growth is not that important.

There is always a better way to do something or squeeze more time in somehow. Great leaders know this and do not make excuses; they focus on what is important to them and their organization. They will make time.

No matter if you are a CEO or a high school drop-out, I invite you to look at your life and to consider what small and consistent effort you could work on that might have an impact on your current situation. Then start acting. Don’t be haunted by “some-day’s.”

Leadership Competencies

I don’t think there are two people in the world that would think the same about which competences are the most important for leadership. That is why I decided to write this article about leadership competences. I will try to explain which leadership competences are the most important and explain them a little.

Goal and people oriented

Every good leader should be goal oriented and people oriented as well. It is very important that he or she has a good balance between these two. If the leader is too task oriented, forgetting on people is very likely to happen therefore making people he is leading unhappy and bad workers. But on the other hand, if he is too people oriented he might have problems getting things done, which is of course not good either.

Self motivation

Every good leader should be able to motivate himself. There are many situations when people are down and unhappy, when tasks are boring and hard and in this situations, leader must be able to motivate himself in order to continue to work great.

Full of energy

Not this one might seem little strange, but we all know that some people are more active than others. Well leaders have to be the ones who are more active. I don’t think there can be a good leader if he is a passive person. Always being alive and ready to work is very important for every good leader.

Great speaker

Leader also has to be a good speaker in order to convince people in his ideas and lead them through them. Making people believe is very important!

Good looking

One might laugh, but looking good is important when you’re leading people. If you’re not dressed well and if you stink for example, it is very unlikely that people will like you and follow you. So always try to look neat.

Dimensions of Change

by Pettigrew Whipp and R.Whipp

A.M. Pettigrew and R.Whipp distinguished between the three dimensions of strategic change in their book Managing change for Competitive success published in 1991. The three dimensions were:


1) Content: It refers to the objectives, purposes and the goals. It aims at what is to be developed and what is to be achieved.

2) Purpose: It is the implementation of procedures and methods to achieve the goals. It means “how”.

3) Context: It refers to the internal and the external environment. It aims at where the process is to be placed.

Both of them emphasized on the continuous interplay between the three dimensional changes. The implementation of change is an iterative and a cumulative process. The interaction between the content, the process and the organizations context leads to a successful change.

On the basis of the substantial empirical research they also prevent the five interrelated factors that belong to the successfully managing strategic changes:

1.Environmental Assessment: It refers to the continuous monitoring of the internal and the external environment within the organization with the help of open learning systems.

2.Human Resources as Assets and Liabilities: The employers should realize that they are considered valuable and must be felt as trusted by the company.

3.Linking Strategic and Operational Change: The intentions are executed and transformed with the passage of time. Building of operational activities becomes powerful and leads to new strategic changes.

4.Leading Change: These changes move the organization forward thereby creating the right climate for the change by coordinating the activities. The situation not only demands setting up of the agenda for the direction of change but also for the right vision and the values.

5.Overall Coherence: The strategy of change must be consistent with clear goals and constant with respect to the environment, must provide a competitive edge and must be feasible.

Theory of Planned Behavior

TPB is an acronym for this. It is a theory related to the attitude and behavior. This theory was given by Icek Ajzen. It explains why a person behaved in some particular manner at some particular time. It also explains the reasons of the actions being performed by people. This theory is an extension of another theory given by Ajzen related to reasoned action. The need for TPB emerged because people had little control on some of their behaviors. TPB can be used to change the behavior of people and also to predict their deliberate behavior. It says that a person’s behavior can even be planned. According to TPB, there are 3 considerations which guide human behavior. They are:

1.Behavioral beliefs: It is associated with the behavior of an individual in particular situations. For example: Some people believe that eating potatoes would add up to their fat and continue to follow it without actually knowing the fact. Such a belief can produce a favorable behavior or an unfavorable one too.

2.Normative Beliefs: These are the beliefs related to the normative expectations which other people have. This belief gives rise to social pressure.
3.Control Beliefs: It is a belief that some factor is present which may have an impact on the behavior of an individual. If an individual has available resources to perform an action, then he would intend to do it in very possible manner.

An individual’s behavior is governed by the intentions he has in his mind. And the intentions are a result of the beliefs described above. A person always does what he believes is right. Thus, TPB helps control the behavior of a person and predict the outcomes of that behavior

Contingency Theory

The Contingency theory, given by Fred Fiedler, is a theory on leadership. Contingency theories explain that there exists no single best way that can be used in organizing or leading. An organizational style that can be very effective in one situation may prove to be the worst way of leading in some other situations.

Fred Fiedler, by giving this theory, helped the leaders to improve their personality and characteristics. He said that the effectiveness of a leader depends on the situation and there is no leadership style that can be called “The Best”. Thus two factors should be considered to judge a leader’s effectiveness:

1.Leadership style

2.Situational favorableness.

Contingency Theory gives the following ideas:

1.No universal or single best way to manage, organize or lead exists.

2.An organization should be designed in such a way that it along with its subsystems , fits the environment.

3.Not only with the environment, should an effective organization fit well between its subsystems also.

4.Needs of organizations could be better satisfied if it has a proper design, the management style should properly take care of the tasks undertaken and it should be appropriate for the working group’s behavior and nature?

Working of the Contingency Model

The following three steps are to be followed to apply the contingency model

Identification of your Leadership style

1.Identification of your situation.

2.Determination of the best leadership style suitable for your situation.

Disadvantage of the Model

Lack of flexibility: It did not allow for flexibility amongst the leaders. He believed that a leader has his own natural style of leadership that is fixed and so to handle different situations the most effective way is to change the leader. Thus his model didn’t permit flexibility in leaders.

Implementation Management

The changes that occur in an organization are visualized by Change Implementation Management. This was first explained by Wilfried Kruger. The model was named as Iceberg model.

It is important for an organization that it deals with the barriers in an efficient manner. What kind of implementation management is to be applied depends on following:

1.The type of change which is needed, i.e. if change is to be made in hard things like information system and processes or soft things like mindsets etc.

2.The strategy which is used to apply that change, i.e. revolutionary or evolutionary.

In the iceberg model the managers are concerned only with its top layer. The topmost portion of iceberg emphasizes on issue management which deals with the cost along with time and quality management.

There are two more dimensions associated with iceberg which are below its surface. They are:

1.The management of beliefs and how people view things.

2.The management of the politics and power.

Following are the people involved in this:

1.Opponents: These are the people who are against some particular change. They need to be controlled by the management of perceptions.

2.Promoters: These are the people who are in favour of the change and will support it in every possible way.

3.Hidden Opponents: These people pretend to support the change whereas actually they are against it on individual level.

4.Potential Promoters: They are not against the change. They do support it as well, but they do not find something very convincing in this change.

All these people lie below the surface of iceberg in iceberg model.

Proper Management of changes in an organization is of utmost importance. All the changes should be made in a transparent manner and with the consent of all involved.

4 basic functions of management

Management is a job with a very wide spectrum of duties. But every manager should always stick to the principle of 4 basic management functions when achieving his goals. I will shortly describe which are this four functions basic functions of management. I belive this is something everybody should know. Also if you are not a manager, following this four steps will help you achieve your goals in life much faster and much easier.

Function number one: Planning

No matter what you are doing, you have to plan it out first. You have to set your goals straight and decide how you are going to achieve them. You have to decide how much money or time you will invest and how many people will you employ. On this step you are doing simply what the name of the step means, you are planning.

Function number two: Organizing

On this step, you have to organize yourself to achieve what you have decided to achieve in the first step. You need to start gathering the resources, to decide who will do what (in case more people are involved) and basically prepare everything so you can start working.

Function number three: Directing

Since you know what you want to do and since you know how you gona do it and you’re ready to do it, let’s do it! On this step, you need to start leading people to your goal. You need to motivate them and yourself as well, to achieve your goal. On this step, it is very important to communicate with people who are helping you (directly or just with informations). Also in big companies, department dynamics, and department leadership are very important. You need to set “sub-leaders” or so called lower management and make sure that smaller teams under you work as a team and communicate with each other good enough. It is very important to set up teams correctly, that means to put the right person into the right team.

The final function: Control

I love this one the most (not always though). On this step, you need to control how people are working. You need to make sure that everyone is doing their best and you need to replace them if their best is not good enough for you. You sometimes need to re-do step number 3. On this step, you need to check if you have planned well and if you have managed to achieve your goals. And as the last thing to do, you need to buy a champagne or you have to resign. I hope you know which one to choose based on your situation, hehe.

As i said on the beginning, try to always follow this 4 functions/steps in your life and you will maximize your performance. No matter what project you are working on, do this four basic management functions and you will do it better.

Written by: Matt

Leading From Within

Much like the lighthouse that provides guidance and direction for sea-bearing vessels, leaders must become the beacon of light in their own lives before they can effectively lead others.

As we have come to learn, true leadership is not about a title or a position in an organization. Nor is it about a person’s genetic make-up, level of education or socio-economic status. Leadership is a way of being. Effective leaders are those who lead by a set of core values that reflect who they want to be in the world as well as the contribution that they want to make. These leaders show up in all endeavors as the same person guided by the same principles. They lead with integrity, passion and an unresolved commitment to making a difference in the lives of those they touch. This to me is truly leading from within. As author Kevin Cashman says in his book, Leadership From The Inside Out, “Who we are says as much about us as a leader as the act of leading itself.”

The following steps are critical in leading from within:

1. Define It!
Leaders need to first identify their core values, purpose and personal leadership visions. These three components together form the road map which guide and direct leaders on a daily basis and in all facets of their lives. Once identified, leaders can then transform these foundational principles into their values, purpose and leadership visions at work.

2. Get Behind It!
The next step involves creating accountability and support around these important principles. To do this, it is critical for leaders to share their values, purpose and visions with those around them, whether at work or at home. By enrolling people in this process, leaders are able to not only create a support system for themselves, but also create a feedback loop that empowers people to let them know when they have gotten away from their visions.

3. Exemplify It!
It is vitally important for leaders’ everyday actions to be in alignment with their values, purpose and personal leadership vision. Being inconsistent or “ho hum” about their vision will very quickly sabotage any previous efforts made towards self-improvement. Inconsistency can also breed distrust, both internally and externally. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance for leaders to consistently show up as the person they have declared themselves to be.

4. Learn From It!
Leadership development is an ongoing process that involves a continuous improvement plan. Continuous improvement could involve seeking out feedback on a regular basis or taking skill-based classes and workshops. Leaders need to revisit their personal leadership vision bi-annually and make any necessary revisions. The point is that continuous improvement is a never-ending component of personal leadership. Remember, when leaders stop learning, they also stop growing.

5. Refine It!
Finally, leaders must hold themselves accountable. Since actions speak louder than words, it is essential for leaders to continually assess and reassess how they are showing up in the world to make sure they are in alignment with who they say they are. The following questions, if asked on a regular basis, should help.

* If I was to die tomorrow, would I be remembered for the things I want to be remembered for?

* How am I a better person today than I was a month ago?

* What is the feedback in my life telling me about how I am showing up in the world right now?

Leading from within is not about turning a switch on or off in order to show up as the leader you want to be. It is about leading your life authentically and purposefully in everything you do.

Written by: Ggiesen

Leadership Tips For Hotel Managers

As a person who guides or directs others in the hotel management field, it is important to understand what leadership requires and what some of the different styles of leadership are. If you can understand what kind of leadership style you have, it will become easier to take on the role of leader and change your style based on the needs of your employees.

Effective leaders look at the office environment and listen to their employees in order to ensure that the end result, the customer, is satisfied. Employees are watching those who are put in charge of them, so here are some tips to help you as a hotel manager to show impeccable character and earn the trust and respect of your employees – by giving it back.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #1.

Saying “No”, Hostility Free. This is a true talent. Neutralizing hostility when denying the request of an employee is a necessity to keep order in the work environment. The key to reducing hostility in this situation is to show concern and be sincere as you explain in detail the reason for the denial. Your employees will respect you for being honest and for showing concern.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #2:

Leadership is About Relationships – But Not the Dating Kind. Build relationships with your employees that show care and concern about their employee relationship with you, but do not date in the office. Interoffice dating is unprofessional and has been proven to only cause problems sooner than later.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #3:

Consistency and Fairness. Treating your employees fairly and consistently will give you respect and will build your character as a fair and equitable leader.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #4:

Show Camaraderie, Don’t Become “Buddies” With Your Employees. Sharing your thoughts and providing feedback to your employees is an excellent way to open up and show camaraderie. It is important not to become “buddies” with your employees because it could give the false impression of favoritism and tarnish your credibility.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #5:

Acknowledge and Take Care of Complaints. When employees complain, their issues are very important to them. They do not know that to your world of bigger issues, their issues are not so big. Make your employees feel important by handling their complaints in a timely manner.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #6:

Make Commitments That You Can Keep. Making commitments to employees in the form of promises can make or break your employee respect of you. Do not make commitments without allowing yourself the fail-safe of explaining that unforeseen circumstances may occur that are out of your control. Respect and confidence in your leadership is very important and can change abruptly when commitments are broken.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #7:

Never Stop Learning. Continue to be a part of trainings, life enrichment courses, seminars and workshops on building your leadership qualities. The more you learn, the more you will grow as a leader, and your employees will admire you for continuing your education.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #8:

Hire Experts to Motivate Your Employees. Your employee morale is important and their attitudes carry over to the attitudes of the customers that you serve. Enrich your employees by sending in experts to motivate them to produce. This will super-charge your work team’s efforts and give you more respect because it shows that your employee’s motivation is important to you.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #9:

Provide Opportunities for Training and Growth. Employees want to advance and take on more responsibility. Providing training for your employees will allow them to take on more complicated tasks and have a sense of fulfillment.

Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers #10:

Lead with a Varying Style. If you have a diverse team of employees who have different needs, it is important to vary your style of leadership for your particular group. If your team is consistent in their needs, then it is okay to adopt one leadership style but only if it meets the needs of your team effectively.

Make sure that all the leadership tools you are using will be beneficial to not only yourself but also to your employees, this in turn will make your business successful.

Written by: Adelyn Perillo

Sales Leadership Tips for Hotel Managers

By Daniel Edward Craig

In the battle for market share, hotel managers with a background in sales have a distinct advantage. For managers who worked their way up through other departments, keeping the sales team productive and motivated can be a daunting task. Here are a few tips for ensuring your property is sales driven from the top down.

Be an advocate. Years ago, when I transferred to sales from the front desk, I became “one of them”: prancing around in designer suits and swilling cocktails with “clients” in the hotel lounge. If I wasn’t harassing my long-suffering colleagues on the front desk for last-minute showrooms, I was tossing around upgrades like confetti at an Italian wedding.

If only the job were that glamorous. As hotel manager, you need to support the sales team by educating other departments on the unique challenges of securing business. Sales people are demanding and exacting because their clients are, not because they get a thrill out of seeing operations staff sweat.

Celebrate success. The pressures of revenue targets, activity quotas, and frequent rejection can make sales people a tad needier than their hardened colleagues in operations. And chattier too. Don’t hide from them. A good hotel manager engages sales staff, understands their ups and downs, and acknowledges wins big and small. Drop by the department regularly, attend sales meetings, and covet your big producers.

Prospect or perish. Sales managers will find any excuse not to make cold calls—reorganizing files, springing for office lattes, chatting up the ladies at the front desk. Days and weeks drift by, and suddenly your hotel has lost market share. Don’t let this happen. Prospecting is like saving money: most people pay expenses first and save what’s left over: nothing. Save first by making prospecting the number one priority every day. Rest assured, the other duties will get done.

Praise rewards, but money motivates. An incentive plan is like a silent supervisor: it keeps staff focused and motivated even when you’re not around. A well-crafted plan is simple to understand and easy to track, with individual and group components, tiered quarterly and year-end payments, and activity quotas. Foster a sales-driven team environment by including support staff in the plan and implementing upsell and suite sales incentives for reservations and the front desk. And don’t be stingy.

Create structure. Sales people can be hard to track; they’re notorious for long lunches and unexplained absences. But they’re not above the rules. If they’re not making their numbers, there’s simply no excuse for dashing out the door at the strike of five. Above all, they must be there for the client, whether it’s a late evening, an early morning, or a sunny Sunday afternoon. The more self-disciplined they are, the fewer rules you’ll have to enforce.

Back to the basics. Sales is about building relationships, and that means lots of sales calls, entertaining, and networking events. Tradeshows have diminished in effectiveness; a sales trip crammed with targeted one-on-one meetings will produce far better results. Good salespeople are resourceful and highly competitive; they scour the news for business opportunities, survey competitor reader boards, and blitz local businesses. If a sales manager prefers to hide behind her computer, she might be more comfortable in accounting.

Think like a client. Salespeople must be instantly likeable, and even more likeable over time. If not, they’ll have a hard time getting face time with clients. They should also instill confidence, be immaculately groomed, and be a great listener. If you’re not getting this vibe in an interview, your clients won’t either—move on. When making an offer, leave room for negotiation; it’ll be a good indication of how well they’ll negotiate with clients.

Don’t interfere. Support the sales team by meeting and entertaining clients and, when appropriate, picking up the phone to thank (or ask) them for the business. But don’t impose unless you’re adding value; the sales manager has worked hard to build the relationship, and an awkward meeting or clumsy remark might blow the deal. When groups are on property, make your presence known. Follow protocol by addressing VIP welcome cards from you, not from Susie the sales coordinator.

Comments or more tips to share? Post them at www.blog.danieledwardcraig.com or email me at dec@danieledwardcraig.com.

8 Things Your Employees Need Most

Forget about raises and better benefits. Those are important -- but this is what your staff really wants.

By Jeff Haden


Pay is important. But pay only goes so far.

Getting a raise is like buying a bigger house; soon, more becomes the new normal.

Higher wages won’t cause employees to automatically perform at a higher level. Commitment, work ethic, and motivation are not based on pay.

To truly care about your business, your employees need these eight things—and they need them from you:

1. Freedom. Best practices can create excellence, but every task doesn't deserve a best practice or a micro-managed approach. (Yes, even you, fast food industry.)

Autonomy and latitude breed engagement and satisfaction. Latitude also breeds innovation. Even manufacturing and heavily process-oriented positions have room for different approaches.

Whenever possible, give your employees the freedom to work they way they work best.

2. Targets. Goals are fun. Everyone—yes, even you—is at least a little competitive, if only with themselves. Targets create a sense of purpose and add a little meaning to even the most repetitive tasks.

Without a goal to shoot for, work is just work. And work sucks.

3. Mission. We all like to feel a part of something bigger. Striving to be worthy of words like "best" or "largest" or "fastest" or "highest quality" provides a sense of purpose.

Let employees know what you want to achieve, for your business, for customers, and even your community. And if you can, let them create a few missions of their own.

Caring starts with knowing what to care about—and why.

4. Expectations. While every job should include some degree of latitude, every job needs basic expectations regarding the way specific situations should be handled. Criticize an employee for expediting shipping today, even though last week that was the standard procedure if on-time delivery was in jeopardy, and you lose that employee.

Few things are more stressful than not knowing what your boss expects from one minute to the next.

When standards change make sure you communicate those changes first. When you can't, explain why this particular situation is different, and why you made the decision you made.

5. Input. Everyone wants to offer suggestions and ideas. Deny employees the opportunity to make suggestions, or shoot their ideas down without consideration, and you create robots.

Robots don't care.

Make it easy for employees to offer suggestions. When an idea doesn't have merit, take the time to explain why. You can't implement every idea, but you can always make employees feel valued for their ideas.

6. Connection. Employees don’t want to work for a paycheck; they want to work with and for people.

A kind word, a short discussion about family, a brief check-in to see if they need anything... those individual moments are much more important than meetings or formal evaluations.

7. Consistency. Most people can deal with a boss who is demanding and quick to criticize... as long as he or she treats every employee the same. (Think of it as the Tom Coughlin effect.)

While you should treat each employee differently, you must treat each employee fairly. (There's a big difference.)

The key to maintaining consistency is to communicate. The more employees understand why a decision was made the less likely they are to assume favoritism or unfair treatment.

8. Future. Every job should have the potential to lead to something more, either within or outside your company.

For example, I worked at a manufacturing plant while I was in college. I had no real future with the company. Everyone understood I would only be there until I graduated.

One day my boss said, "Let me show you how we set up our production board."

I raised an eyebrow; why show me? He said, "Even though it won’t be here, some day, somewhere, you'll be in charge of production. You might as well start learning now."

Take the time to develop employees for jobs they someday hope to fill—even if those positions are outside your company. (How will you know what they hope to do? Try asking.)

Employees will care about your business when you care about them first.

From the Other Side: A look at How Guests View Rate Distribution & Online Experiences with Hotels

By Drew Rosser, VP of Business Development, Whiteboard Labs

This certainly isn't the time to be confusing to your online shoppers. You must be clear about your rate structure and show added value when it's being offered. Show your hotel in its best light with good images, creative, clear rate and room type description copy.

With so many options out there these days for people to search for and book hotel rooms there's no wonder why so many would be travelers get confused when doing their online research. There are nearly as many sites out there to book a hotel as there are rooms at the hotel. Between the hotel's own site, online travel agencies, destination specific sites, an online shopper can easily get confused. So why make matters worse with a confusing convoluted rate structure, poor room type images and bad descriptive copy?

I think one of the main things hotels lose sight of when putting together a revenue management strategy is their source of the revenue, the actual hotel guest. Keep in mind despite the seasoned leisure and business traveler most people have no idea what a Rack Rate is or what the difference is between a Standard Rate, Best Available Rate, Promo Rate, Corporate Rate and so on. Use language that is understandable by the general public, be truthful and use good images to show off your rooms.

Think of it like this; you go to the grocery store to buy a gallon of milk. In the milk aisle you have a number of suppliers to choose from. Think of these as various hotels. Then within each supplier you have different types of milk: 1%, 2%, whole, organic and in some cases chocolate. These are your rooms. Each gallon is priced based on the type of milk. However, just imagine if you found your desired supplier, type of milk and you noticed that there were two identical gallons of milk, same expiration date and same type of milk, 2% organic but the cost for each one was different. Why?

Hotel guests get into the very same shopping scenario when looking for rooms. Same room, same arrival and check out dates but a list of rates. All different prices and no real clear cut explanation as to why. Even worse you'll see a number of different rates all at the same rate value.

Nomenclature as defined on Wikipedia; "can refer to a system of names or terms, or the rules used for forming the names, as used by an individual or community... " Hotels are a community amongst themselves but stop using hotel speak when you create your rates that will be displayed to the general public. Say what it is, Best Available Rate, really it should be, Corporate Rate Includes Breakfast, slightly higher than your BAR but it includes breakfast each morning. Be clear about the added value. Make sense to a shopper. Restricted Rates, AAA, AARP, Government...be very clear about these rates. Make sure in your rate description you state that "ID is required at check in." If these rates are exactly the same value as say your Best Available Rate then remove them from your booking engine.

I know that each distribution channel as its own particular searching protocols. Travel Agents use a GDS differently than say an online shopper interacts with a booking engine. If you're plugging in holes in your CRS so you show up on certain GDS searches then do your best to make sure your CRS feeds your online booking engine differently so it speaks to your online shoppers differently than it does a Travel Agent. The GDS's also have character limitations. Know what these are and write your copy accordingly. General rule of thumb is roughly three lines and about 45 characters per line. Ideally, you should have different rate and room type descriptions for the GDS than you do for your booking engine. The booking engine is where you're speaking directly to the consumer so take advantage of it. Be clear and not choppy with your words.

Good imagery. Shoppers love to look right? Give them what they want. I get so frustrated when I see the same room type image for different rooms types. Standard King Bed Room and the Standard Double Bedded Room. Same image with a King bed for each....wrong. Quite frankly you should have more than one image on your booking engine for each room. If you're a hotel known for it's rooms then make the best of what the Internet gives you and show the place off. There are a number of visual content distribution companies that specialize in the hospitality industry. There's no excuse not to have good images of your hotel. If an OTA site isn't showing your hotel images track them down and fix it. A grey box does nothing to sell you. And what about video? It's powerful and so easy to implement these days. Bandwidth is no longer an issue as it was just five years ago. And don't get caught up trying to create a Hollywood production. Yes it needs to look professional but you can get video created these days very economically. Videographers are everywhere. Think about using video on your booking engine, have the GM thank the guest for their reservation via the confirmation email. So many ways to effectively communicate to your guests. Take full advantage of this amazing opportunity.

Once again stay true to what you have. If a certain percentage of your property is renovated then I suggest creating a different room type for your renovated rooms so that you're not over stating what you truly have. You'll not gain loyalty by showcasing your newly renovated rooms on your Web site but booking guests in your non-renovated room types. The only thing that will increase is the negative chatter about your hotel on the social networking sites.

Be true to what you are. Don't create illusions by over representing your hotel with misleading copy and images. Sell to your target market. If location and budget conscious is what you offer speak to those buyers. Trying to up sell by showing off your one renovated room won't serve you well. But at the same time take the opportunity the Internet gives you.
•Try to remove hotel speak when creating rates
•Use good descriptive copy for room type and rate descriptions
•Use multiple images in your booking engine
•Add video to your booking engine
•Manage your OTA relationships to ensure you're being represented properly
•Be truthful with images and copy

The bottom line is think about your target audience. Don't be ambiguous, you'll just create confusion and possibly ill will with your guest. Look at guest retention not just the short acquisition of a head in bed.

Drew Rosser joined Whiteboard Labs to focus on iHotelier CRS sales. After the sale of iHotelier to TravelCLICK, Mr. Rosser became the Director of Operations for the iHotelier division of TravelCLICK. He started in Orlando, Florida, then moved to Atlanta, accepting a position at Holiday Inn's Corporate Flagship Hotel as the Assistant Guest Relations Manager. He was Guest Relations Manager at another Holiday Inn property in the Atlanta area. Mr. Rosser sits on the Boards of Linx Technologies and Force 10. Both are technology based and deal with enterprise level systems. Mr. Rosser can be contacted at 713-333-9944 or drosser@whiteboardlabs.com

Indianapolis hotels score with the Super Bowl

INDIANAPOLIS—The United States will come to a halt this Sunday evening to celebrate its unofficial annual holiday: The Super Bowl.

The NFL championship football game is being hosted in Indianapolis for the first time in its 46-year history, and tens of thousands of fans will travel to the city to watch the action unfold firsthand.

Hoteliers in Indianapolis also will have ample reason to celebrate with 91.3% of rooms in the region already booked for Super Bowl weekend, according to data from research firm TravelClick.

Data from STR, parent company of HotelNewsNow.com, shows Indianapolis hotels reported 26% occupancy on 6 February 2011, the night of the game last year when it was held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Average daily rate came in at US$62.14 and revenue per available room was US$16.14.

Meanwhile, hotels in Arlington during last year’s big game, had a 92.9% occupancy rate the night of the big game, a 175.2% increase from the same day in 2010, according to STR.

Tim Hart, executive VP of business intelligence for TravelClick, said the Super Bowl this year is most likely affecting a wider geographic area in Indianapolis than it has other host cities because of Indianapolis’ smaller size compared to past Super Bowl cities.

The Super Bowl XLVI roman numerals at Monument Circle in Indianapolis.

“There’s no availability for quite a perimeter around the city’s towns. If they are open, many of them are selling at very high rates that are clearly associated with the Super Bowl event,” Hart said.

Additional data from TravelClick shows rates in Indianapolis are up 199.6% over the same time last year.

The night of the Super Bowl last year in Arlington, ADR shot up to US$248.66, a 324.2% increase from the same night in 2010, and RevPAR increased 1,067.5% to US$231.06, according to STR.

Lack of supply
Ninety percent of the rooms within a 30-mile radius went to the NFL four years ago when the initial bid to host Super Bowl XLVI was contracted. Room rates for that inventory also were determined when the contract was signed.

“When the bid goes in for a community to put themselves up for the Super Bowl, a large part of that bid is all of the rooms they’ve congregated. We committed to our rates four years ago,” said Jeff Good, president of Good Hospitality Services, which manages 13 properties in Indiana.

The NFL takes the rooms and resells them to corporate sponsors and partners, leaving hotels with very few rooms to sell at their own prices, Good said.

Only eight rooms were available for sale at management-set prices at the Good Hospitality-managed Homewood Suites by Hilton Indianapolis Northwest.

Because of the lack of supply, the rooms left on the online travel agencies’ sites are being sold at incredibly high rates, Good said.

A search completed Tuesday for a room on Orbitz returned results for 12 properties with availability out of 244 properties. The closest property from downtown Indianapolis, five miles away, was an America’s Best Inn, charging US$399 for the least expensive room, a 625.5% increase from its usual rate of US$55.

While many hoteliers increased their rates for Super Bowl weekend early on, some blocked out availability at the beginning and opened it again closer to the event to charge even higher rates, Hart said.

Operational challenges
Good expects it will be business as usual at Indianapolis’ select-service hotels, but the full-service properties should expect some challenges. “It’s the food-and-beverage component of it and dealing with high crowds,” he said.

Understanding how to deal with the large crowds of people is the main concern for Phil Ray, GM of the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown, which is the National Football Conference team’s headquarters in the city.

“Unlike other cities, Indianapolis has a very compact downtown,” Ray said.

He said a handful of task force staff from other hotels was brought on to ensure all the details come together as they host the New York Giants this week.

The hotel also is staffed with additional security to ensure the players, the team’s staff and coaches are secured properly, as well as to make sure nothing unusual happens.

“We are used to doing big events. This is just high profile … so we want to make sure it’s the highest level of quality,” Ray said.

At the Canterbury Hotel, also in downtown Indianapolis, the major challenge is the logistics of staffing for such a major event.

Starr Peterson, director of sales and marketing at the Canterbury Hotel, said the hotel brought on additional staff about a month ago to begin training for the Super Bowl weekend crowd. The hours at the hotel’s restaurants and bars also have been extended for the weekend.

“We’ll be well prepared for everyone’s arrival on Thursday,” she said.

STR: US results for week ending 28 January

HENDERSONVILLE, Tennessee—The U.S. hotel industry experienced increases in all three key performance metrics during the week of 22-28 January 2012, according to data from STR.

In year-over-year comparisons for the week, occupancy was up 4.0 percent to 53.8 percent, average daily rate increased 4.3 percent to US$101.84 and revenue per available room was up 8.5 percent to US$54.78.

Among the Top 25 Markets, Chicago, Illinois, experienced the largest occupancy increase, rising 22.9 percent to 57.1 percent, followed by Anaheim-Santa Ana, California (+13.5 percent to 64.2 percent), and Nashville, Tennessee (+10.1 percent to 54.9 percent). Three markets reported occupancy decreases: Washington, D.C. (-6.3 percent to 58.9 percent); Phoenix, Arizona (-4.3 percent to 61.5 percent); and Atlanta, Georgia (-2.1 percent to 58.9 percent).

Chicago (+15.5 percent to US$107.26) and Oahu Island, Hawaii (+10.7 percent to US$178.17) achieved the largest ADR increases for the week. Washington, D.C., fell 1.5 percent in ADR to US$139.82, posting the largest decrease in that metric.

Five markets reported RevPAR increases of more than 15 percent: Chicago (+42.0 percent to US$61.20); Miami-Hialeah, Florida (+18.9 percent to US$174.52); Anaheim-Santa Ana (+17.5 percent to US$72.20); Oahu Island (+16.8 percent to US$158.80); and New Orleans, Louisiana (+15.8 percent to US$75.58).

Millennials: Look inward before being heard

If there were any television theme that stuck out last year, it would have to have been the singing competition. Remember? It seemed like the major networks were saturated with them. All of them boasting about and showcasing their musical version of a show that promised to turn a nobody into somebody.

I’ve wondered why Americans, and much of the rest of the world for that matter, are so entranced by this form of entertainment. I think what it might come back to is the fact that we all want to find our own voice—not necessarily in a musical sense, but rather in a personal, individual way. We want to be unique and special. We want to be heard.

For us millennials in the hotel industry, we sometimes have difficulty being heard among industry leaders and those who are above us in the managerial hierarchy. Our ideas, efforts and who we are often fail to stand out.

How can we get past this and make ourselves known? I recently caught up with Steve Belmonte about this subject. Steve is the CEO of Vimana Franchise Systems LLC and Hospitality Solutions LCC. Having been in the industry for a little while, I can say with confidence that if you know Steve, you know he has a strong voice. While speaking with him, he shared his equally strong belief on how to stand out positively in business and in life. His approach, Steve admits, hasn’t always been perfect. However, it has helped guide his path over the years. In many ways I feel his thoughts can provide guidance for our own paths as well.

It starts with passion
Few people may know that Steve is actually the youngest GM in Holiday Inn history. It’s true—he assumed this sought-after position at just 18 years old. It might surprise you further to know that he also never graduated college. Now, if you are like me, you are probably asking yourself how he did that. This successful life achievement of becoming a GM at an early age, as Steve pointed out to me, started gaining momentum many years earlier.

“I had a genuine love for the hotel industry,” he said. “When I was a little kid traveling with my parents on vacation, I was absolutely fascinated with hotels. I knew at an early age that I wanted to be in the hotel business. Maybe that’s unique, maybe it isn’t, but I knew what I wanted.”

After Steve said this, I thought to myself, “Am I doing what I want to do?” I think this is a burning question for many of us in the early parts of our career. Then again, how do we truly know for sure if we are doing what we want?

Steve continued by explaining, “If you genuinely love what you do, you will do it with a high degree of passion. The truth is that passion can take you very far in this industry. It can set you apart from other employees, players and executives. If you are passionate about what you do, it is no longer a job and it is no longer work; it is a very enjoyable journey.”

Stay balanced and emulate noteworthy traits
Whenever I think about the word “journey,” I’m reminded that so many parts of our lives are not one-stop destinations. Rather, the trip down the career path of our dreams is a process of continual refinement. Once we do find that position we love and enjoy, our jobs are not done yet.

Steve shares, “I feel like I did pretty well in business because of the second most important element I think we need to have: balance in our life. I see a lot of people who have no personal life. They work around the clock, pound back their Scotches and four to five years later they are just burned out. I thank God that this hasn’t happened to me because my home life has been a strong part of my identity.”

I feel like each of us can take this thought to heart. On many occasions I have been caught taking on too much, traveling too often and working too late. As recently as this past fall, I’ve had to reevaluate how I balance work with my own home life. It’s a challenge but one that must be taken head on if we are to get past the sprints and marathons the world carves beneath our feet.

Assisting us with all of this can be leadership traits that we emulate from different individuals. Steve shared with me traits such as integrity, a heart for giving and passion that he captured from industry icons such as Mike Leven and Jonathan Tisch. “I targeted traits that I admired and allowed them to guide me.”

What traits would you like to emulate from leaders that inspire you?

Remember the importance of your name
As we began to wrap up our discussion, Steve settled his words on a final thought. He said, “At the end of the day, your name is all you have. Part of the reason I have been successful is because people trust me. I’m blunt, but I am always honest. This is why I was very successful with Ramada. We took the brand from 400 hotels to 1,100 hotels. This happened because my franchisees trusted me.”

I thought back to an earlier story Steve shared that occurred in 1991. At this time in the hotel industry, Steve came on board to work for a company known as HFS. Hospitality Franchise Systems eventually became Cendant, and you might know its present name, the Wyndham Hotel Group. He was hired by a gentleman by the name of Henry Silverman, company founder, to head up the Ramada franchise that was purchased out of bankruptcy.

“Why did he think of me?” asked Steve. “He thought of me because I was in the trades every other publication with Equity Hotel Corporation. We made a great name for ourselves through hard work, promotion and passion. I guess if it wasn’t for this I would not have been on his radar screen.”

This story jumped out at me because if we are truly going to stand out and have our voices heard by those above us and around us, we have to remember the importance of our name. Steve created a great name for himself and was recognized because of it. Over the years he has been successful because he held steadfast to being honest, hard-working and passionate.

Focus on the inside to make a difference on the outside and be heard
What I gathered from my conversation with Steve is that so much of what makes a difference externally must first start within us. If we want to stand out among other individuals, have our ideas heard and be recognized, then we have to take a hard look at ourselves.

What is the name you are creating for yourself? If you feel that name is awesome, are you staying committed to preserving it? Are you emulating the best character traits from those that inspire you? How is the balance in your life? Are you passionate about your current position and what you are doing?

“Passion, commitment and hard work will get you to the top if you truly love this (hotel) industry,” Steve said.

One of my favorite lessons on leadership is that it doesn’t matter what you do. You can be the president of the largest hotel organization, a GM of a hotel or even own a few for that matter. All of that doesn’t matter. What holds more weight and significance is who you are and how you do what you do. Steve reminded me that if you want to be recognized, you have to start by looking inward. Focus on who you are and be heard.

Mark Williams is Director of Development for Coakley & Williams, one of the nation’s top third-party hotel management companies. In 2006, Mark received his B.S. degree in Hospitality from University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management. He also received his MBA from Grand Canyon University’s Ken Blanchard School of Business in 2011. Currently, Mark serves as Chair for the American Hotel & Lodging Associations’ Under 30 Gateway. He can be reached by phone at 301-614-8848 or by email at mwilliams@cwhotels.com.