HR STRATEGY – Articles

Mobile technologies have streamlined data collection more than ever but knowing how to link and act on that business information is the key here. Leaders should therefore not assume that near-instant learnings always entail fast solutions or outcomes. On the contrary, there is a psychological phenomenon known as the "speed-accuracy trade off," which implies that one can do things "quickly" or "correctly" but usually not both simultaneously. This means that organizations are well advised to start thinking early about the feedback loop, the information that they are interested in gathering, how they plan to use it, and the process (and time) it takes to build and develop such data.

Companies that apply new learnings of the enchantment economy only to product offerings or curated experience packages will fail to fully capitalise on the economic rebound and recovery. This is because the most basic component of guest experiences must also be considered, i.e., the people delivering on brand promises. Sadly, many hospitality organisations across the globe continue to struggle with entice employees back to work. It is reasonable to deduce that the economic recovery might be at risk if employees themselves are not ‘enchanted’. The obvious question becomes how businesses can effectively accomplish this.

“Organizations worldwide spend more than $350 billion on corporate training and education each year, but much of it is ineffective.” Companies will continue to look for more effective and efficient ways of delivering training and particularly for methods that support the transfer of learning into behaviors that drive workplace performance. No longer will the key measures of training be the amount of money a company invests or the number of hours each employee spends in training. Training expenditures need to answer the same question as any other business investment: Is there a justifiable return?

Post-pandemics leaders must ensure that their organizations stay intimately connected to a higher purpose and value system that reframes “loss, frustration, isolation, and adversity” as an opportunity to appreciate and model “gratitude, fortitude, humility, and service.”

Psychology says that decision-making is complicated by a “speed-accuracy” trade-off. This issue becomes more salient as the post-pandemic “rebound and recovery” period approaches. Many organizations will need to increase their talent bench-strength quickly to meet pent-up demand. New psychometric research and AI-technologies confront the traditional trade-off by facilitating more efficient and effective hiring decisions than ever possible before.

Social and economic disruptions often shift people’s behaviours ― sometimes in small ways, other times more seismic. On this point, AETHOS conducted a ‘COVID Gap’ analysis for the C-suite within hospitality organisations at the end of last year. Yet, our ongoing interactions with industry investors and operators reveal that the pandemic has affected considerably more than an organisation’s senior leadership teams. Industry feedback consistently indicated that last year’s disruption clearly had a lasting impact throughout the organisational chart. We therefore examined empirical data to clarify the nature and extent of these apparent cultural shifts to organisations.

The restaurant industry has been hit especially hard by COVID. Layoffs, closures, a shift to delivery and outdoor dining, as well as mergers and acquisitions have dominated the news this past year. Many executives and even board directors have taken pay cuts during this health crisis. We also have seen restaurant boards in the news over the last several months. For example, in March 2021, Mellody Hobson will become the first African American Chairwoman of the Board of a Fortune 500 company – Starbuck – which is long overdue.

Das vergangene Jahr 2020 hat vielen soliden Firmen den Boden unter den Fuessen weggerissen. Allerdings gibt es auch Unternehmen, die 2020 schwarze Zahlen geschrieben haben – teils aufgrund der Geschaeftmodelle, teils wegen der Agilitaet und Kreativitaet von Fuehrungspersoenlichkeiten und Managementteams. Diese Agilitaet beizubehalten bleibt daher sehr wichtig. Der Jahresbeginn ist ein guter Zeitpunkt, um das alte Jahr Revue passieren zu lassen und vom Erlebten zu lernen. Wir raten Unternehmen und Fuehrungskraeften immer dazu sich die folgenden drei Fragen zu stellen: 1. Was muessen wir weiterhin so machen wie gehabt? 2. Womit muessen wir anfangen, um ein positives Momentum zu gewinnen? 3. Womit sollten wir aufhoeren, um negative Konsequenzen zu vermeiden?

“I recognise,” Susan said, “one has to grasp opportunities when they present themselves.” The year 2021 is one such instance – “for HR professionals, it provides the chance to really leave a lasting positive impact on the way hospitality organisations are facing the uphill struggle, but also the opportunities that present themselves after a year of destruction to build back better”.

Throughout 2020, AETHOS witnessed first-hand how industry leaders and teams have deliberately, or inadvertently, shifted their performance dynamics in response to COVID. These shifts can be considered ‘gaps’ because they often have negative or unintended effects on the business and people practices of organisations. Intriguingly, these performance gaps are easily detected in the psychometric patterns of senior executives. AETHOS thus decided to gather empirical data and find out what new patterns might have emerged.

The hospitality industry finds itself in a state of flux. Many organisations have had to restructure – thus not only forcing many executives to re-evaluate their professional careers, but also the organisations themselves to more critically assess internal workflows, staffing levels and productivity, as well as general business strategies. ‘Change management’, ‘adaptability’ and ‘innovation’ are certainly the buzzwords which are front of mind.

Many hospitality students and professionals around the world recently participated in AETHOS’ series of development webinars. These sessions offered attendees the opportunity to complete the 20|20 Skills assessment to gain a personal SWOT analysis to help them navigate these challenging times of occupational crisis and change. Interestingly, the attendees consistently voiced certain concerns and follow-up questions.

Many hospitality students and professionals around the world recently participated in AETHOS’ series of development webinars. These sessions offered attendees the opportunity to complete the 20|20 Skills™ assessment to gain a personal SWOT analysis to help them navigate these challenging times of occupational crisis and change. Interestingly, the attendees consistently voiced certain concerns and follow-up questions.

"... it is difficult to imagine anything people will crave or need psychologically more than a healthy dose of enchantment following weeks of monotony, restlessness, and anxiety that accompany COVID-19 quarantines." But what exactly are the core elements of enchanting experiences? Many people have talked around this question, but few research studies have actually delved into the nature and relevance of enchantment as a psychological construct or consumer motivator. Perhaps the closest guiding principle used by the tourism-hospitality industry has been the notion of the ‘experience economy.’ This reflects the philosophy that businesses compete in today’s market by offering increasingly memorable experiences versus strictly focusing on the quality of products or services. Moreover, some research has modeled the ‘ideal’ features of such ‘memorable experiences.’ Namely, the trend over the past decade or so has been for consumers to seek experiences grounded in (i) aesthetics, (ii) authenticity, (iii) education, (iv) entertainment, (v) escapism, (vi) newness, and (vii) a sense of transformation.

Regardless of where we are in the hotel cycle, the importance of high-performing asset management is critical to the success of any hotel owner. Over the last 20 years I have had the pleasure to work closely with this community assisting clients, such as public REITS and private equity groups, recruit high-performing executives, allowing owners to maximize value for their hotel property and/or portfolio. My thoughts regarding some important human capital misconceptions in the world of asset management will hopefully help shape the future for 1) hotel owners to attract and retain top talent and 2) for asset management executives thinking about charting their future career path.

The US Army War College introduced the term VUCA during the Cold War ― a time when the world was facing especially high levels of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. Since being introduced, this framework has become a trendy acronym that strategic business leaders regularly use to assess the suitability of their environment or market for launching new products, entering new markets, and embarking on other key initiatives. It allows them to pinpoint where the four challenges in their respective business are situated or skewed, as well as how to create appropriate responses.

"People are the product if the hospitality industry" – this most certainly holds true for the cruise sector. Without the continuity of the talent bench-strength cruise companies would be unable to execute on their ambitious growth plans. As the fight for talent has continued and intensified throughout the last few years, cruise companies have started to embrace an approach which can be coined as "future-casting" – in other words, rather than focusing on proven track record and/or domain knowledge, they have moved away from assessing task competencies. This shift in their recruitment efforts has enabled them to identify people with potential who are adaptable, inquisitive and knowledge-thirsty and who perform well in high-pressure work environments such as the cruise industry.

At present, business podcasts, industry articles and news bulletins are all about ‘sustainability’. The fact that the topic has established itself as a regular head-line feature across different media outlets is very commendable; yet, conversations appear to be somewhat one-sided. We read about initiatives to ensure economic benefits trickle down to communities which are otherwise left behind, to reduce pollution levels and/or to safeguard the environment. In short, most news coverage is about ‘pre-packaged solutions’ – but jumping to solutions will never get rid of the underlying cause of a problem. Should the conversation therefore be more multi-faceted and deeper?

Huge faith is placed in data, often blindly. People want to believe the black and white figures in front of them; it feels safe and reassuring. In the hospitality sector alone, data have spawned a whole industry of firms that specialize in collecting, housing, distributing, compiling and helping users to understand data – data related to bookings, food cost, productivity, guest reviews, water usage, market demand, average spend, CRM, etc.

One of the biggest pitfalls for organisations is to spend money and set up an AI infrastructure but not be able to use the outputs or insights gained – based on either incorrect avenues pursued that yield in irrelevant or difficult-to-use data points or based on a lack of in-house skills to “make sense” of the AI outputs. Understanding how “digitally mature” an organisation is and how ready its employees and executives are to implement “data science” should, consequently, be one of the first assessments one undertakes when looking at applying AI within an organisation.

It feels as though hotel food and beverage has received a lot of renewed attention in the industry as of late. Twenty years ago, around the turn of the millennium, we experienced a reinvention of the hotel fine dining model with the introduction of big name ‘celebrity’ chefs into hotels through outsourced, leased and/or licensing deals. One of the most prominent of such deals was that made between Blackstone and Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s in London, which spawned a decade of followers as hotel ownership succumbed to the old adage that “hotels can’t do F&B” and instead opted to give the space over to someone who supposedly could.

High X-Factor employees legitimately possess a widely transferrable skill set. Retaining such talent is akin to an “HR annuity” and it pays dividends in promoting productivity and ongoing bench strength in succession plans. The lesson is simple and straightforward—strive to hire and promote people who have a strong capacity for contextual performance, not just domain knowledge. Your service standards, guest satisfaction ratings and net promoter scores should increase in accordance with X Factor levels in your employees … up and down the organizational chart.

Hoteliers have historically considered the Food & Beverage (F&B) department as a loss leader, a ‘must-have’ to appease paying hotel guests. To put it bluntly, money was to be made on the rooms side of the business. Yet, times and attitudes have changed. Clients have become more discerning and thirstier for authentic and local experiences to tease their taste buds whilst hoteliers have recognised that their in-house F&B offering can be a point of differentiation.

Participating in countless client board meetings, I can say with confidence that gender diversity within the boardroom leads to first-rate ideation and collaboration. In addition, credible studies conducted by the likes of Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey & Company prove out a strong correlation between a board comprised of a larger female presence and superior results in the boardroom. While top governance experts have been promoting greater gender diversity for more than a decade, not much has changed within the restaurant industry. These glum statistics say it all.

For the first time in history, five generations will soon be working side by side. Executives of the older generation are working longer while the “young guns” are quickly rising through the ranks and gaining a foothold in the professional world as a force to be reckoned with. At face value, this is a complex, yet rewarding challenge for any leader in the hospitality industry. The level of experience and the, at times, distinct attitudes and character traits which are often attributed to an executive’s tenure within the industry, are often pointed out as the differentiating factors between the generations. Yet, it would be unfair to pigeonhole executives by these factors. In fact, AETHOS has often found that those differentiating character traits are innate and disassociated to the level of experience. Yet, the cross-generational divide does exist – it is driven, though, by different personal drivers and motivations, by different world views and by different communication styles and ways to manage relationships.

Effectively predicting the future success of job candidates, both internal and external, is challenging at best. Traditionally, this process has relied heavily on interviewing – documented as one of the poorest predictors of on-the-job performance – and, occasionally, the use of psychological testing or biographical information. Yet, there are approaches available that are more effective than using such tactics alone.

Core values reflect beliefs, and company culture reflects attitudes and behaviours – together they define the “heart” and perhaps even the “conscience or soul” of an organization. But, beyond these traditional HR and leadership tenets is the more fundamental concept of what we call the organizational spinal cord. In medical terms, the spinal cord is a bundle of nerves that go to and from the brain. Its main function is to transmit neural inputs between the brain and the periphery of the body. In business terms, the organizational spinal cord is the nervous system responsible for stimulating and directing critical actions across the entire “body” of an organization. Beliefs and attitudes define why a company is in business and what it stands for, but the spinal cord is about how the company actually implements its strategic and tactical initiatives.

Some of the most memorable and effective mid-managers and senior executives utilize leadership charisma to bolster their personal brands, build alliances, gain buy-in from team members and maximize their influence internally and externally to their organizations. But some of the most charismatic leaders have used these skills to wreak havoc. Think of Charles Manson, Adolf Hitler and David Koresh, to name a few. Today, many leadership pundits promote a style of “servant leadership” and empathy that better serves leaders in a modern world. In “Good to Great,” author James Collins calls it Level 5 Leadership. But all too often the “command-and-control” management style still dominates in many workplaces.

Self-confidence can be a friend and foe to emerging leaders and seasoned executives alike. In many cases, leaders must think and act against popular wisdom, and thus must exhibit confidence and grit in the face of severe—and even very public—opposition. Of course, self-confidence can also lead one down a very dark path of narcissism, nepotism and grandiosity if untampered, much less uncontrolled. As Herbert Joly, CEO of Best Buy told us, arrogance is the foe of self-confidence, not its equal. A healthy ego comprised of a sense of self-competence and self-esteem is important, but it is invariably dangerous if it lacks a corresponding sense of introspection.

This era of disruption, innovation and increased global competition means that businesses arguably endure more demands on their time, budget and human resources than ever. Some of the stress in organizations is inherent to today’s market conditions and customer expectations; however, leaders must constantly be wary of self-inflicted wounds. Here, we mean the kind of sustained but avoidable workplace stress that demotivates teams, causes unwanted turnover, reduces productivity and decreases profitability. Here are six strategies that can help guard against self-inflicted stress in a team or entire organization.

All companies have pain points during growth or stabilization phases, so leaders face two critical questions: Where are they, and how can we ease them? There is now an evidence-based model to help business leaders confront these issues more efficiently and effectively. It starts with understanding the “joints” in a company’s anatomy — joints being areas where strategic and tactical components in an organization intersect and are thereby particularly vulnerable to friction or bottlenecks.

“Learning and Development (L&D)” is HR speak for “ongoing education” – i.e., building or refining one’s skill set to enhance personal job security and broader marketability. These initiatives take many forms, such as traditional classroom or seminar presentations; personal coaching or mentoring; structured job-shadowing and cross-training; and “on demand” technology-driven methods like the eCornell platform, LinkedIn learning tutorials or Khan Academy videos. Naturally, companies should select the specific solutions or platforms that are best for them based on the competencies or domain knowledge to be cultivated, the learning styles of the intended audience, and the available financial or time resources to invest in solutions.

New leaders eager to prove themselves by taking a plethora of visible and impactful decisions and actions – aka “Caesar on a march” – can fall into a trap of doing much but accomplishing little. With respect to setting priorities and achieving goals, the problem is that even seasoned leaders can confuse important and urgent, as well as fail to realize they cannot do everything. Important means a task needs to be done, whereas urgent means it must be done immediately. Knowing the difference between the two simplifies priorities. Leaders can forget in the moment that tasks and projects have a domino effect. If you do one task, yet fail to do another, you may have wasted effort on the first task. There are seven tactics that make goal- and priority-setting easier for you and others. Read about these below.

Following a breakfast meeting with a senior executive from the UK restaurant industry, my attention was drawn to the fact that a small number of Food & Beverage businesses has started to hire marketers for their most senior human resource roles. Although this is not yet an overwhelming trend in hospitality, I wondered whether this approach made sense from a competency perspective. And, if so, would others follow suit? Could this be such a “butterfly moment” – one that defines roles to come as well as HR and talent management best practices for the greater hospitality industry?

Over the years spent collaborating on in-depth studies of hospitality leadership — including over 100 analytical interviews and assessment tests — my interest and co-research in the “anatomy” of leadership and the interplay of nature versus nurture has led to several studies published in the North American Journal of Psychology and the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly. Our work in this area has consistently found that leadership is more a mental state than a professional role or pursuit. The human brain has evolved over tens of thousands of years into an approximately-three-pound organic computer whose sole task is to make things more certain.

Individuals will only think and act as “managers when focusing on the tactical aspects of business, or the first three characteristics. These speak more to the “cognitive engagement” of team members. However, managers evolve into “leaders” when they focus on maximizing the most weighted characteristic, i.e., relationships. Indeed, research shows that “emotional engagement” with a brand promise or mission drives the greatest loyalty and performance. This lesson is typically not taught in business programs, but rather is learned the hard way during one’s climb up the corporate ladder. Save some time by using the cheat sheet below to foster more effective teamwork.

The hospitality industry is one of the world’s largest employers; the cruise sector is arguably one of the sub-segments which records one of the strongest growth rates (note: The Cruise Line Industry Association, CLIA, predicts 27 million passengers by the end of 2018). With that in mind, it is no surprise that everyone wants a piece of the pie. Although the market is dominated by just a few big players, new competition is muscling in. AETHOS recently assessed what it takes for one of those new competitors, the traditional lodging operator, to move into the cruise sector – looking predominantly, at human resources and talent management. One key decision that we have not yet discussed is the relevance of the country where a cruise ship is registered – does or does it not impact the ability to attract and retain talent? Could it have an adverse impact on employer branding?

GDPR. Four letters of the alphabet that are proving to represent one of the biggest challenges facing businesses in 2018. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect on 25th May across the European Union (including the UK) and impacts any organisation that operates within the EU and/or that processes data of EU citizens wherever they may be in the world. How organisations hold, store and process personal data will now be subject to higher, and more consistent, scrutiny with the potential penalty for non-compliance being significant.

If you want to improve employee performance, think about your daily (or “rolling”) conversations with employees. No better opportunity exists to reinforce and help refine excellent employee performance. You have the chance to discuss new projects, talk about overdue assignments, give updates about completed tasks, and more. Unfortunately, many managers miss these opportunities and instead try to influence or control teams with the counterproductive “FUD” method, i.e., using explicit or implicit threats of Fear, Uncertainty or Doubt. Leaders instead should use rolling conversations to reinforce the importance of meeting or exceeding goals by linking an employee’s performance to a specific workplace result. How? Read below for some in-depth guidance.

Leaders in any industry admit to having anxieties associated with making tough choices, especially choices that affect their employees’ lives. The level of accountability and responsibility implicit in serving in a CEO role isn’t for everyone. Mythology refers to the Titan Atlas who carried something very heavy, possibly the weight of the world, on his shoulders. It is typically assumed that this was a punishment that came down from Zeus, king of the gods, after Atlas sided against Zeus in the war of the Titans vs. the Olympians. But the famous Roman author Vitruvius claimed this “burden” was actually a reward, for "through his vigorous intelligence and ingenuity, he was the first to cause men to be taught about the courses of the sun and moon, and the laws governing the revolutions of all the constellations.” Indeed, we have likewise consistently found that modern leaders view their power, influence and responsibility as a great privilege.

Approximately a month ago, following Ritz Carlton’s previous announcement about moving into the cruise line sector, I contemplated the issues that must have been discussed in the board room prior to committing to such an endeavour. It stirred my thinking about a company’s transition into a new business area that requires new skill sets and a firm’s transformation from a company culture perspective to accommodate and welcome a new talent pool into its realms.

One of the most difficult and humbling things for us human beings is to admit we don’t know something. Our brain has evolved over thousands and thousands of years into a three-pound, organic computer with the sole task of “making things more certain.” Gaining mastery and a sense of control over our physical and psychological environments is a natural, inherent human drive.

This year marked the 4th annual meeting between academics and industry practitioners at Cornell University in beautiful upstate New York. Like past years the October conference was well-attended, and the speaker slate was varied albeit markedly skewed toward hotel and lodging. Despite this, there was enough general content that was applicable for businesses across the spectrum of hospitality.

Job candidates predictably distort the way they present their competencies and credentials out of concern for making a favourable impression and wanting to be liked by hiring professionals. These distortions, called social desirability biases, can be unconscious behaviours or they can reflect deliberate deceit. Behavioural clues to assess lying are too generalized to be effectively applied by most people. Rather, we outline a three-part strategy for due diligence on candidates that reduces bad hires resulting from erroneous information. Each component of the three-part strategy can be useful separately, but the components are especially powerful when used in tandem as a system of checks and balances.

Some would excuse the malaise (in the casual dining industry) because of the soft economy, demographic changes, and even the weather. However, that doesn’t explain the remarkably few success stories who must compete for similar customers and are at the mercy of identical forces as the failing brands. In my view, the casual-dining segment is mired in a management carousel that, for over a decade, has bounced senior management from one company to the next on the basis of little more than their title.

It’s the Super Bowl, and you are the quarterback for one of the teams facing off. Wearing your football jersey, helmet, shoulder pads and cleats, you look at your teammates coming onto the field for the kickoff. Now, imagine the confusion and looming sense of defeat you would feel being the team captain when you realize that each of your teammates was instead dressed and ready to play something other than football — say, soccer, baseball, basketball, hockey, tennis… and yes, a few even came prepared for 18 holes of golf, and one person had expected bocce ball. It’s an absurd scenario that dramatically illustrates the state and consequence of “misalignment” within a team. It is no different in the corporate world — misalignment is the proverbial kiss of death.

The hospitality industry remains one of the backbones of the economy in the Middle East, and the food and beverage (F&B) sector is certainly contributing its fair share. In the past, many regional businesses opted for an internationally recognised concept, but, nowadays, the market has matured and witnessed diversification. The UAE, in particular, has become a foodie destination in its own right and there is a notable appetite – from investors, developers and the consumers – for home-grown concepts. Not surprisingly, new outlets have sprung up (from ‘Cougley,’ to ‘Cocoville,’ to other home-grown start-ups such as Folly, Hikina, Matto Italian Restaurant, Publique or Ruya). The list is endless.

There are five enduring core issues (and potential pain points) in HR – Compliance, Compensation and Benefits, Organizational Dynamics, Selection and Retention, and Learning and Development. Of course, each can be impacted by real or perceived changes in market conditions and advances in HR theory and practice. Thus, we have the rise of specific buzzwords and increased attention to particular hot-button topics.

Speedy and transactional recruitment processes do not automatically equal quality outcomes. Until AI (artificial intelligence) can accurately and consistently mimic or perfect what human interaction can discern, technology can only assist in the match-making. The ultimate decision takes a bit more finesse. Let’s revisit the basic challenges hiring managers continually face, and then consider our thoughts on how to best tackle each.

My father worked for the Midland Bank (better known today as HSBC) for 33 years. His brother, too, had been employed by the same bank. In addition, their father had similarly spent the majority of his professional life at Midland. Their respective generations were of a time when you picked a profession and, if you were lucky enough to be offered a job, you then dedicated your working life to one company until you reached retirement age.

Many businesses are projected to double, even triple, in size over a short time frame, and the pressure this puts on all aspects of the current operation is extreme. One area of particularly potent stress can be the company’s leadership. For example, is the management team that has been running 10 hotels equipped to suddenly manage 20 hotels in the next 12 months? Does the management team have the necessary capabilities to manage new layers of organization, to integrate new accountabilities and to adjust to new lines of authority?

The concept of servant leadership has long been rooted in philosophy and religion, the grad student correctly noted that older, formal leadership theories did not explicitly support or address the concept. However, the same can be said of many currently held scientific theories, including continental drift or human evolution.

Millennials (aka “Generation Y” or “Echo Boomers”) are the talk about town. A day rarely passes without a new report explaining what this generation wants out of life and how their value set are economic and cultural disruptors. As consumers and employees, GenY is therefore fast becoming the focal point of marketers, as well as cultural, religious and political leaders.

The referendum result in the U.K. this past summer has plunged the U.K. into a period of uncertainty as the country waits to find out what the decision to leave the European Union will mean exactly. A plummeting in the value of the pound was the most apparent immediate impact of the vote in June, along with a whirlwind of successive resignations among the country’s political leadership. As the U.K. waits for Article 50 to be triggered and for the terms of exit from the EU to become apparent, we take a look at what immediate impact there has been on the U.K. hospitality sector and what the future may look like.

The greatest return on investment lies in bridging the gap between performance expectations and the daily realities of the job. The very best way to ensure this is happening is by aligning leadership and the HR department. The plan of attack? Back to the basics. Candid and open communication is the best way forward. If leadership is truly welcoming HR to have a seat at the board table, HR executives must step up and secure their place.

Speedy and transactional recruitment processes do not automatically equal quality outcomes. Until AI (artificial intelligence) can accurately and consistently mimic or perfect what human interaction can discern, technology can only assist in the match-making. The ultimate decision takes a bit more finesse. Let’s revisit the basic challenges hiring managers continually face, and then consider our thoughts on how to best tackle each.

Successfully merging corporate cultures in today’s environment of consolidation takes more of a social science degree than a business degree. Fields like cultural anthology, social psychology, and sociology have long studied and described the way groups – and members within them – think and behave. Insights from traditional and well-validated social models are invaluable tools for navigating both the expected and unanticipated consequences of bringing new teams, cultures and brands together.

AETHOS has recently profiled more than a 1,200 HR leaders from around the world. Results across ten core competencies that independent studies validate as significant predictors of performance in the service-hospitality industry indicate that modern HR pros look increasingly like CEOs and decreasingly like their peer set from five years ago.

There has been much discussion lately about disruptors – present and future – to the hospitality industry and what this means for leaders and strategic planning. What measures should an organization take to position itself to compete in this “continuously disruptive” environment? A quick answer that comes to many is “better use of technology” – to digitally transform the business.

The sobering truth is that personal and professional development hinges on the ability to be self-critical. Some might use softer language like “contemplative, introspective, and reflective,” but that undermines the rather raw and unforgiving nature of the task itself.

There’s a right and wrong way to mine for talent. It’s tempting to follow the latest crazes in testing, assessment, and interviewing – striving for some elusive silver bullet. Even iconic, trend-setting organizations fall prey to innovative-sounding approaches that ultimately fail. For instance, BusinessInsider.com famously reported that Google recently abandoned its legendary interviewing tactic of asking brainteaser questions in favor of interviewing against a set of competencies that were relevant to the role in question. Competency-based assessments have long been best practice in HR and workplace psychology. Google learned that lesson the hard way, and lessons like that cost money.

This era of big data, global connectedness, and instant access to a wealth of social media information makes it tempting for organizations sourcing or vetting executive talent to assume that it is easy to “see what you are getting” with potential candidates. After all, the logic goes, most everything about people’s professional and even social backgrounds would seem to be codified and quantified online or otherwise documented and accessible somewhere.

Studies generally show that assessment outperforms traditional behavioural interviews 4:1 in predicting job performance, so a targeted and valid assessment can give organizations a major competitive edge in identifying and retaining top talent. But that’s only the first part of the equation. The other part is to correctly choose and use these tools.

Keeping in mind the heightened M&A activity and the international buy-out or take-over activity that the hospitality industry is currently witnessing: How well do you think your organisation would fair if it were made up of likeminded individuals not used to be challenged or questioned by a different perspective? By individuals who predominantly come from the Western world and, although having gained international work experience, who have first and foremost made their careers in European or American institutions with belief systems quite distinct from their Asian counterparts?

Alignment has been a commonly spoken “business mantra” for years, although Human Resources professionals would agree that misalignment is a common issue that is neither comprehensively discussed nor addressed in today’s workplaces. That performance gaps and lapses in resources exist is not debated. What’s now needed to advance the conversation is evidence-based guidance on identifying and rectifying the catalysts of misalignment.

Keith Kefgen and Dr. Jim Houran on the recent trend of consolidation within the hospitality industry: "It’s not about trying to force a square peg into a round hold, but rather about building new, novel, and profitable configurations altogether".

Determining whether an employee “can be saved” or “coached to greater success” isn’t a simple “yes or no” question. It’s an educated risk or assessment. The best guess answer is arguably grounded in the CHIC variables, which define a continuum of likely coaching success.

Is HR Suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder? - During a recent mini TED-talk AETHOS held in Las Vegas with senior leaders in casino and gaming, one speaker noted the difference between aspiration and aspirational. This distinction strongly resonated with attendees who lamented that while the hospitality industry does well innovating on the product and service side (business practices), the industry has yet to advance its people practices and simply relies on familiar but outdated modus operandi.

Coachability goes beyond the simple notion of training or trainability, which often involves teaching a specific set of skills in a highly structured manner. Coaching, for lack of a better term, is a more intuitive process whereby an individual “absorbs” knowledge, attitudes, and skills via guided (versus highly structured) learning and development. It’s more nuanced since it partly involves an employee’s self-directedness in identifying and seizing learnings opportunistically, as well as an employee being positively motivated to devote time to attend structured learnings too. In other words, the most effective coaching clients have the insight, awareness, and self-directedness to recognize and seize leanings wherever they reside.

"Bringing in someone from outside [the sector] can lend new perspectives and experiences and produce extremely positive outcomes. The key is to know where to look, identify the needed skill-set, and then be sure to have a systematic on-boarding process in place to set up your new leader for ultimate success."

Dr. Jim Houran assesses global leadership profiles and specifically hones-in on the potential challenges faced by employers and senior executives on the African continent. Dr. Jim shares best practices in driving performance in the work place and identifies key issues that need addressing - the psychometric GM and CEO/COO profiles revealed in the article provide a data-driven response to the critical question posed as to what types of leaders will meet the guests defining the new haven of hospitality. Arguably that answer is leaders who are “technical capable but perhaps not fully prepared in their service mindset.”

CEO turnover among the world’s 50 largest hotel firms in 2013 was 10% down from a 2012 figure of 16%. Leaders who took office in 2013 were Sébastien Bazin (Accor), Lee Chee Koon (Ascott), Wolfgang Neumann (Carlson Rezidor), Frank Fiskers (Scandic), and Peter Gowers (Travelodge). New CEO arrivals always tend to prompt speculation from employees, shareholders, analysts, media, and industry colleagues as to the likely performance of the hire and of the hiring organization. Such transition events also give us a chance to take stock, look at the CEO role in the hotel world from a holistic standpoint and explore the profile of these industry titans.

Qestionnaires are popular tools for measuring many outcomes, yet their usefulness can be hugely affected by three key factors of which organizations are typically unaware of - Dr. James Houran speaks with Dr. Rense Lange about the importance of getting it right from the get go, understanding the type of data you are after and the best way to obtain it.

There are three major shifts within the industry and the workforce as a whole that drive the growing need for transformation within the HR department and the relationship between business leadership and HR professionals. Considering each on a case by case basis, it is subsequently questioned whether there are no other talent management tools beyond the established that are worthwhile applying.

Industrial and workplace psychologist Dr. Jim Houran is looking at the accuracy and effectiveness of a new form of hiring - social recruiting. Studies reveal that even for low-level positions a failed hire costs a company double the person’s annual salary. At higher levels, the cost can be six times annual salary. Corporate leaders and HR pros tend to agree that hiring is the most important thing any organization does, yet the best method for recruitment remains debatable.

The article takes an in-depth look at how leaders must possess both creativity and problem-solving skills to excel on the job. it is argued that these skills can be taught and are not necessarily innate.

Effective talent management leads to superior performance yet McKinsey & Company found that “talent has been the most under-managed corporate asset over the past two decades.” Chris Mumford looks at how companies can better manage this valuable asset.

The hospitality market is ever evolving, but hoteliers seem to struggle to adapt to changes in the work environment. Can they beat the constant labour shortage by adjusting to the needs and expectations of today's workforce - those of Generation Y.

Information to help employers select the most appropriate recruitment site.

20|20 Skills™ and Regent Hospitality Services share strategies to maximize HR and training programs. These best practices enhance short-term productivity and reinforce a culture of thinking and working smarter and more strategically.

Conducting surveys is a science. Surveys are competitive advantages only if you can act with confidence on the data since poorly designed instruments waste organizational resources. This article provides insight on the fundamentals of survey strategy.

AETHOS and EHL Masters students discuss job search strategies in the current economic turmoil.

Many companies are downsizing and cost cutting but also taking advantage of the opportunity to assess their talent and to upgrade where necessary.

We examine the best practice marketing techniques to attract top talent in the hospitality industry.

The passing of Sarbanes-Oxley, acquisition of hotels by non-traditional owners and Green Revolution are forces that have pushed the hospitality industry to develop new competencies within its talent pool.

Sophisticated technologies improve HR efficiencies but also warm the hearts of CEOs and CFOs as they can directly and dramatically affect both top and bottom line.

AETHOS is a model for organizations wanting to implement best practices for recruitment. Read how 20|20 Skills™ assessment bolstered our candidate due diligence and sharpened our competitive edge in the war for talent.