A tourism leader today said “leading is challenging”.
And yes it certainly can be, for a variety of reasons.
Here were just a few that I came across in the early days of being in tourism;
To set the scene, I was barely 20, and the Cruise Director onboard Bounty the Tall Ship, playing pirate in calico pants, with lot of stripes.
It meant having to ‘direct an all male crew around’, which was challenging for a young lady finding her leadership voice. Tricky business.
It meant having to manage staff under pressure. The weather was often against us, blowing a gale or raining cats and dogs. We spent hours wet, climbing in slippery conditions (a HSE nightmare now!) and looking after passengers in difficult situations.
It meant having to deal with all kinds of customers. We did film shoots, kids’ education, weddings, birthdays and regular lunch, dinner and sunset cruises. We communicated with all sorts of people, talking about all sorts of topics, and solving all kinds of random problems.
It meant being responsible for staff, reporting to the captain, working with the galley chef to turn around meals under very tight confines with limited supplies that had to look fresh, amazing and edible.
Always lots of moving parts to manage, like you probably have in your role.
So remember the Littlest Things can make the Biggest Difference.
What little things could make the difference?
- Maybe it’s putting staff names on shirts?
- Tefining the weekly roster so you have a buddy system with more experienced staff helping new or inexperienced staff?
- Running a training session, recording yourself or experienced staff doing their do to use as a reference training tool?
- Debriefing after the daily, or weekly meetings, morning toolbox talks, or WiPs (work in progress meetings) to help everyone share feedback, stay accountable and keep on track?
- Identifying the team / department or business SWOT – Strengths / Weaknesses / Opportunities or Threats, and then taking one from each to work on, implement, clarify or deal with?
- Making time as the business owner / senior exec leader to get around and say “How’s it Going” with each and every staff member? It might be a totally informal conversation, or it’s diarised for you, so you do actually commit to doing it and make it happen?
Sit down with pen and paper, or get a few of the team together with the whiteboard and ask the question – what are the little things that could make a difference to everyone – as individuals, teams, departments, the business, customers, and other stakeholders.
You might find some things could be easily actioned. Just one or two little things that might make a big difference 🙂
P.S Whenever you’re ready… here are 4 ways I can help you develop and work on your business leadership capabilities:
- Grab a free copy of Smash Indecision and Overwhelm, 4 Steps for Better Business Leadership E-book
It’s the road map to overcoming doubt and indecision, how to deal with “overwhelm” to improve your business leadership capabilities. —Click Here
- Join the Tourism Business Leader’s Facebook group and connect with like-minded leaders focused on building highly effective teams
It’s our Facebook community where smart leaders get to learn more about creativity, leadership and performance for tourism business success. —Click Here
- Join our Tourism Pro-Team Program
Helping tourism business leaders develop their skills to improve engagement, accountability and performance of the team. If you’d like to work with me so you can stop being reactive, have the difficult conversations and drive performance to get the results you want and know the business need then…message PRO to me here and I’ll get you all the details.
- Let’s get the Whole Team Together
Would you like a different perspective and someone else at the front of the room or on zoom/teams to lead regular and consistent team building, accountability, and engaging learning experiences, that drive results and outcomes for individuals, teams, and the business? If you feel a little challenged with everything going on, maybe sounding like a cracked recorded saying things repeatedly, or actually not 100% how to motivate and inspire the team, given the current nature of business, it may be useful for us to chat. Message TEAM to me here… and tell me a little about the business, your team, and what you’d like to work on together.
