No kidding there I was, playing the best round of golf in my life.
Like I shoot around 100 but this day I was like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson rolled into one. I was on the green after a perfect drive, leading to an slightly up/down 6 foot put on a perfectly manicured green for eagle on a par 4. The sun was shining, a slight breeze and my short game was on fire. I mopped my brow in the 90 degree Texas heat, took a deep breath, pulled my shoulders back slightly and …. my phone when off.
It was the office, and they were calling on my day off. Just having the phone rattle shook me from my game and I had to take a step back.
They called because they needed to know how to solve a specific problem and felt it couldn’t wait till tomorrow. Answering that call brought up emotions of frustration, irritability, feeling tense, and overall disappointed in myself. The team 100% knew how to solve that problem; why did they contact me?
I reflected and saw that I was always the bottleneck. Everything came to me. No one did anything without checking with me first and as a leader at your organization I firmly believe that there are hundred of us out there that fall into this trap. The trap of thinking that everything must fall to us. We are the only ones that can handle it and solve it even if there are capable team members surrounding us.
And here’s a little tough love, we lie to ourselves with garbage like, “Oh yeah, but you don’t know the stress I’m under,” or "you don’t understand the people who work with me can’t handle it.” And I have to say, stop kidding yourself. You haven’t trained or developed them to handle it.
And today, I want to walk through 4 vital ways that you can start implementing today to get back out there on the course, leave the work mindset at work, enjoy your life more, all while building your team up.
The way in which you are going to get your life back is through uplifting your team with more responsibility and respect.
How to Guide Your Hotel to Lead With Responsibility and Respect
1. I delegated just 1 task at a time to keep things clear and easy to manage. I picked one problem that continually came up and the next time it happened I walked my top 2 leaders through how to solve it. Then when it came up, I watched how they completed it and didn’t give any advice until after it was completed. 2. Next, I followed up with them on a routine basis. I went over their performance, what they learned from overcoming the problems and asked them what ways they would have handled it differently. Everything was built on developing them to grow, make mistakes, and then learn with my support. Side note, I don't recommend monthly until you have a good process. 3. I began to set clear expectations of what I wanted to be completed. I mean I was crazy specific on exactly what I wanted to see. I would make a video of myself going over a process, key points to check, and my thought process of why and not just the how. The funny part was, most of those videos were just of me talking to a camera about a problem that came up and how I responded. Examples included consulting calls with clients on hiring and I would talk to my team about the questions that came up during the call and then how I responded so that they had a full picture of the way I handled responsibilities. Provide a finished product so that they know exactly what you expect and when you expect it. 4. I praised and thanked them for their work at least every other day. I mean, I was constantly telling them how much I appreciated them even when things didn’t go perfectly. And this built an immense amount of loyalty and trust between the team and myself.
So what happened after I did these 4 simple steps?
Well, suddenly, my mindset began to transform as I became excited about my responsibilities as I thought of them as learning opportunities for my team, the team began taking ownership and jumping into problems before bringing them to me, and very importantly I noticed that I stopped getting calls on my day off.
These are all extremely simple to do but rarely do we do it. So right now, I want you to take out a piece of paper and write down the name of 1 person you want to share some responsibility with and push them to their next level. Then I want you to pick 1 task that comes up routinely across your desk, this could be about scheduling, how to handle a disgruntled customer, or a specific task. Finally, I want you to put on your calendar to spend 15 minutes with them going over whatever you wrote down.
So, our tip for this week is to delegate only one task, set a routine to follow up with the person responsible, set clear expectations for the desired outcome, and praise, praise, praise. This isn’t just for your own sanity but for your team’s growth and development as well. And as for that 6ft put, I made it, shot an 89, and have the ball in the top of my closet.
Alright, I hope that was helpful! If you haven’t signed up for our weekly videos, please do so below or if you know someone who this would help send it to them! Talk to you soon!
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