Motivating Your Hospitality Staff: Which Style Is Best For You

Figure out the best strategies to motivate your hospitality staff by determining what management style will work best with your employees while remaining true to yourself. A variety of styles can be effective depending on your company, location, or your clientele. What’s the best one for you – and your team?

What’s Your Management Style?

Management styles dwell on a continuum, with rigid structure one end and complete autonomy on another. On the extremes of each end lie the micromanagers and those who provide no direction at all. Effective management lies somewhere in the middle.

The Micromanager

He trusts no one and insists on supervising every detail. His employees have no confidence in their own abilities and seldom do more than precisely what is asked of them. This style discourages initiative, thus setting up a vicious cycle where the manager really has no choice but getting involved to get anything done. Typically his own work suffers as more strategic responsibilities are sacrificed to the daily duties he refuses to delegate.

The Laissez-Faire Manager

He leaves his people scratching their heads. They don’t know what is expected of them, so they have no idea if they are getting it right. With a working style akin to throwing darts at a dart board, these employees get little satisfaction from their jobs. Deadlines, if any, are frequently missed and important tasks that no one is tracking slip through the cracks.

How Can You Hit The Happy Medium Management Style?

Keep your team motivated by committing to always letting them know what is expected of them. It’s up to you to determine how much supervision they need to get the job done effectively. If you have a tough time letting go and trusting your team to get the job done, consider keeping a tight grip on the reins just until you see how well they do with the tasks you assign. Gradually increase their level of responsibility once you gain confidence in their abilities.

If your management style is more hands-off, try to be more forthcoming with your expectations. Tell your employees the results you expect. Let them choose the how they achieve those results unless it becomes clear that you need to step in.

Looking to improve your management style to keep your hospitality staff motivated? Need to add to your team? Contact the experts at Horizon Hospitality.

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One thought on “Motivating Your Hospitality Staff: Which Style Is Best For You

  1. Fantastic piece on how to be an effective manager, Scott.

    I particularly liked your advice on learning how to “let go” by first tightening the grip to see how the team responds, then gradually loosening the reins and increasing delegation of responsibilities. Very useful tips on how manage people.

    We also have a similar article that shares similar insights on how managers can be better leaders as well:

    4 Simple Ways to Become a More Effective Manager

    http://www.cangrade.com/blog/2014/08/19/4-simple-ways-become-effective-manager/

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