ABOUT THE COLUMNIST: Manish Kumar Rishi serves as director of human resources at the Westin Hyderabad
Mindspace.
As told to Raynah Coutinho
If you zero in on the word ‘motivation’, it is a very relative word. It is synonymous with getting inspired or enthusiastic, and can be applied to any situation, not just the workplace. Some people need to be motivated, whereas others are naturally motivated — the naturally motivated are often very successful.
Starwood encourages properties to not only care about guest satisfaction, and the community and environment, but also to ensure associate satisfaction.
My belief is that every associate must carry a passion for his or her individual area of operation – note that I say passion, not interest or dedication. Passion, in turn comes from being motivated and at the brand level, too, Starwood gives individual properties tools to motivate associates. There are various initiatives organised to ensure associate satisfaction. Each one of these pillars has a direct ripple effect and directly leads to the next.
Primarily, the leadership team at The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace is proactive in identifying and settling grievances among associates. There is a close check on the moods of our associates across levels. When the leadership team is this involved, it displays a level of commitment to associate wellbeing. When there is a need, they counsel the associates. This ensures on-the-spot, proactive settlement of grievance, if any, with a touch of personal care. This goes a long way in retention. Besides this, a close eye also aids round-the-clock maneuvering of performance.
The involvement of the property’s management extends to all initiatives. The human resources team ensures that any initiative, notwithstanding its size, sees the participation of the leadership team throughout its implementation. At an ex-comm level, it is important to ensure that you serve as an example for the rest of the team. We strongly believe, and I always give this example that, while we are only a pair of eyes (to keep a watch on your team and iron out creases where necessary), there are 100 pairs of eyes watching and observing us (to take in cues about everything from grooming to loyalty, participation in HR initiatives and of course, guest satisfaction). Even team building activities involve the property’s leadership team because we strongly believe that this participation displays the leadership’s involvement. This, in turn, automatically reflects on associate engagement as well, which has a direct impact on associate satisfaction levels.
Another area where it makes sense to invest, and most hotels do this, is training. Remember that motivation also emerges from feeling confident about the product in their care. So, unless we take out time to teach employees about our brands, bring them over to believing in our brand standards, they will not feel passionate about following our brand standards and will lack the confidence and security required to carry them out. Hence, The Westin Hyderabad focuses on this area right from day-one, i.e., the on-boarding experience known as Discovery, which is the formal induction given to all associates. We also have a feedback session after this, to take in what a pair of fresh eyes has to say about the way things are done. As the associate progresses in the company, the leadership team personally carries out department-specific overviews — each stage is designed to ensure that there is clarity in the expectations from both ends, so that the associate knows what is in store for him during his tenure (referred to as journey internally).
Of course, the little things count. We celebrate associate success and special occasions in an extraordinary way — the goal in mind while carrying these out is to ensure that the associates feel a sense of belonging with the team that takes joy in their success.
All our initiatives are well recognized within Starwood Hotels & Resorts, but the most valuable recognition we have received on several occasions is from associates who, after hving moved to other organizations, return due to our positive culture. We have also had several instances of associates who go to other hotels for support and cross-training and return to affirm that nothing beats our culture of care. To an HR professional, this is real recognition.
I would like to close with some food for thought: “Real leadership is when the leader is no longer present and the ‘will’ of the team stands strong.”
Engage & enthuse
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ABOUT THE COLUMNIST: Manish Kumar Rishi serves as director of human resources at the Westin Hyderabad
Mindspace.
As told to Raynah Coutinho
If you zero in on the word ‘motivation’, it is a very relative word. It is synonymous with getting inspired or enthusiastic, and can be applied to any situation, not just the workplace. Some people need to be motivated, whereas others are naturally motivated — the naturally motivated are often very successful.
Starwood encourages properties to not only care about guest satisfaction, and the community and environment, but also to ensure associate satisfaction.
My belief is that every associate must carry a passion for his or her individual area of operation – note that I say passion, not interest or dedication. Passion, in turn comes from being motivated and at the brand level, too, Starwood gives individual properties tools to motivate associates. There are various initiatives organised to ensure associate satisfaction. Each one of these pillars has a direct ripple effect and directly leads to the next.
Primarily, the leadership team at The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace is proactive in identifying and settling grievances among associates. There is a close check on the moods of our associates across levels. When the leadership team is this involved, it displays a level of commitment to associate wellbeing. When there is a need, they counsel the associates. This ensures on-the-spot, proactive settlement of grievance, if any, with a touch of personal care. This goes a long way in retention. Besides this, a close eye also aids round-the-clock maneuvering of performance.
The involvement of the property’s management extends to all initiatives. The human resources team ensures that any initiative, notwithstanding its size, sees the participation of the leadership team throughout its implementation. At an ex-comm level, it is important to ensure that you serve as an example for the rest of the team. We strongly believe, and I always give this example that, while we are only a pair of eyes (to keep a watch on your team and iron out creases where necessary), there are 100 pairs of eyes watching and observing us (to take in cues about everything from grooming to loyalty, participation in HR initiatives and of course, guest satisfaction). Even team building activities involve the property’s leadership team because we strongly believe that this participation displays the leadership’s involvement. This, in turn, automatically reflects on associate engagement as well, which has a direct impact on associate satisfaction levels.
Another area where it makes sense to invest, and most hotels do this, is training. Remember that motivation also emerges from feeling confident about the product in their care. So, unless we take out time to teach employees about our brands, bring them over to believing in our brand standards, they will not feel passionate about following our brand standards and will lack the confidence and security required to carry them out. Hence, The Westin Hyderabad focuses on this area right from day-one, i.e., the on-boarding experience known as Discovery, which is the formal induction given to all associates. We also have a feedback session after this, to take in what a pair of fresh eyes has to say about the way things are done. As the associate progresses in the company, the leadership team personally carries out department-specific overviews — each stage is designed to ensure that there is clarity in the expectations from both ends, so that the associate knows what is in store for him during his tenure (referred to as journey internally).
Of course, the little things count. We celebrate associate success and special occasions in an extraordinary way — the goal in mind while carrying these out is to ensure that the associates feel a sense of belonging with the team that takes joy in their success.
All our initiatives are well recognized within Starwood Hotels & Resorts, but the most valuable recognition we have received on several occasions is from associates who, after hving moved to other organizations, return due to our positive culture. We have also had several instances of associates who go to other hotels for support and cross-training and return to affirm that nothing beats our culture of care. To an HR professional, this is real recognition.
I would like to close with some food for thought: “Real leadership is when the leader is no longer present and the ‘will’ of the team stands strong.”
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