December 7th 2020
If you want to be a winner, you have to think like one, be like one, act like one, believe you’re one. If you can master the art of winning, then you can achieve any result you can dream of. That’s a fact. It’s not easy. Other people are thinking the same, so out-think them.
I remember as a restaurant manager back in England, I somehow got involved with my daughter’s football club as their chairman. The girls wanted to win, they wanted to be the best in the country. There were many other factors that went with this, but I adopted the same principle as I have all my life. Want to be a premiership footballer? Then play like one, be like one, act like one. My job as your leader is to make sure you have everything you need to be a premiership footballer. Systematically over eight seasons Coventry City Ladies became premier league champions and the eight year olds that started out then, now lead the club as coaches and leaders.
Why do I use this analogy? Teamwork and coach leadership is a critical factor in sport and so it is in our world of hospitality. I’m not a footballer, but I knew we needed to be fitter, stronger and faster and had to know our competitors better than they knew themselves. Winning smart, balanced with humility, is important. I believe we have to create a winning culture by leading with fundamentals. In this month’s edition, we celebrate our industry winners. As you read through their citations, I’m sure you’ll read common themes, and these are the fundamentals that I talk about. When making decisions with a top down management culture it is about, as FranklinCovey say, the collective behaviour of your people. It’s what the majority of your people do the majority of the time, the nature of the language and relationships within the organisation, and the spoken and unspoken values, norms, and systems operating at work.
I think there’d be a fair chance that all of the winners could be described as ‘coach leaders’ – something that I have focused on as I’ve built teams around the world. We come across autocratic leaders whose questionable values and integrity are rarely admired as they seek adoration and command attention. Genuine coach leaders craft a team of talent. You know a coach leader when you talk to their staff and listen to how they helped, supported, taught, developed, listened with unconditional care. When you arrive in a hotel and you see the staff glowing with pride, you know there’s a GM at the top who thinks and acts like they are at the bottom holding up their team as a servant leader.
Magical things start to happen when you foster a winning culture. Winners plaques endorse unspoken values and behaviour. Today there’s a plethora of industry awards that one can enter, what makes the Hotelier Awards worth winning is that they have independent judges with years of experience as talented global leaders. Winning awards, such as the Hotelier Awards this month, do much for a business, but a huge amount for team morale. Coach leaders make sure their teams’ hearts swell with pride when they know their business has won an award such as these; the plaque might have an individual’s name on it, but you can be sure they will be shared with many. If you’re reading this as one of this year’s winners, well done and thank you for making a difference, it matters.
David Singleton has worked in the hospitality and retail industry around the world as a brand builder, creator, operator, franchisee, and franchisor for some of the world’s best known and respected brands. He moderates, speaks, writes, advises and mentors across the hospitality and service sectors globally. Find out more at www.sociusgroup.com, www.davidsingleton.work and @singletoncity.