No Time for a Stand-In

Years ago my boss called me into his office and wanted me to revamp the employee orientation program and develop a training program for existing staff to boost morale and lower the turnover rate. Sure, no problem! Like many senior managers, he knew the result he wanted but had no clue as to what the cause of the problem was or what needed to be done to fix it.

Always up for a challenge, and with a strong desire to keep my job, I went about interviewing staff on their feelings about the workplace and what they thought would improve the overall morale. I also conducted an employee satisfaction survey and had a few focus group sessions. These uncovered some issues, but one was unexpected. From almost every group came the same request…the senior manager needed to be more visible. He tended to stay in his office, barking out orders over the telephone or making surprise ambush appearances when he observed a problem via the many security camera monitors in his office. A lot of the employees were afraid of him, since they only saw him when things were in crisis mode.

The fact that they wanted to get to know him better was half the battle. Despite his outbursts and management style, he was a friendly, even jovial guy when things were going well. He liked to be around at the hotel in the evening and would wander around when the guests were settled and things were a little quieter. I took all of the employee’s suggestions and put together a revised employee orientation, an interactive customer service workshop for all the employees, complete with a slideshow of candid shots of all the employees set to a Bon Jovi song as the grand finale.

I made a point of making the senior manager the star of the show, asking him to do the welcome speech, kick off the first exercise, and then come back at the end to rally the troops through the finale slideshow. I shared the employees’ request to have him be more visible and the opportunity to get to interact more. What the employees were looking for was a leader—not just a boss. This was an opportunity to really build relationships and camaraderie. I sent several reminder emails before the day of the program.

That morning, I got an email saying he wasn’t going to come, but was sending our General Manager instead. The meetings went off well, the employees were engaged and danced and laughed when they saw themselves and their co-workers in the slideshow. They expressed their disappointment that the Senior Manager was a no-show. They felt let down by his lack of personal involvement in the effort to build morale. It was a simple request—just show up. Many senior managers, CEOs and GMs don’t realize how important their presence is to employees. When one hotel I worked at was taken over by new management, the CEO of that management company came personally to conduct the orientation for all employees. He was the most prominent name in the hotel industry, but spent the better part of a week of his time so he could convey a consistent message of philosophy and customer service. More impressive than his words, which were brilliant, was his willingness to be present for all of us. As a result, we were ready to walk through fire for this guy, because he made us feel important.


Mary Nestor-Harper, SPHR, is a freelance writer, blogger, and workplace consultant. Based in Savannah, GA, her work has appeared in "Training" magazine, "Training & Development" magazine, "Supervision," “BiS Magazine” and "The Savannah Morning News." You can read her blogs at www.skirt.com/savannahchick, www.workingsmartworks.blogspot.com/ and on the web at www.mjnhconsulting.com.