3 Staff Strategies To Make This Summer Season A Winning Season

Picture this: it’s a hot summer day, in the middle of July, and you’re in the lobby of a hotel about to check in. 

This is it, you think to yourself. Your vacation time has finally paid off. 

You take a look around and you see people everywhere you look. Hotel staff, guests, and even pets! 

While half of the world is taking their well-deserved summer vacation, the other half is working to make dreams a reality. 

When you work in hospitality, you get to be part of a team of people working behind the scenes of what a guest sees daily. You realize there’s no magic button you can press if you need help, but there will always be people. You realize that your team is what makes magic happen. 

You see, the summer season for hospitality workers is like the Olympics. 

It’s the time of the year that we’ve been preparing for. We make sure we have a team full of amazing staff, endless supplies, and a handful of resources to overcome any challenge. It’s the season to show off the skills that we’ve been practising. It’s a season to strengthen as a team and leave our guests feeling they’re our top priority. 

And to win the gold medal, there are three things you can do with your team before you fly off to the Olympics this summer season. 

1. Show your team all the how-to’s.

Like in every other industry, we lead by example. It’s easy to print out instructions introducing steps of service or guidelines, but having your team see you walk the walk, it’s a whole different story. 

This is one of the best ways to show leadership skills to your team. It’s important to show that it’s okay to roll up our sleeves once in a while and perform tasks that you ask your employees to do. A quick tip: don’t ask your team to do something that you wouldn’t do. 

Showing how to handle different situations daily will improve your team’s confidence and they’ll feel more prepared and comfortable to handle them in the best way, even when you’re not around. 

2. Be their coach and their cheerleader. 

As a manager or a supervisor, it’s important to assume two roles: coach and cheerleader. 

The summer season brings all kinds of different challenges: the hours are long, the short-staffed shifts, overbooked nights, and the endless walks up and down the place.

It’s easy to get worried or overwhelmed even before the shift starts, so at the beginning of each day, make sure you’re keeping your team motivated and focused on a goal. It’s your job to coach your team members and help them have a winning mindset. 

As every coach does, it’s important to recognize each team member’s different abilities and strengths to make sure you’re setting them up for success. Keep an eye out for the person who is great at multitasking and time management so you can place them as an expo in the kitchen, or maybe as a host for your restaurant. 

Keep an eye on the person who is great at breaking the ice with people and can make them smile instantly, and locate them at a front-of-the-house position. 

Knowing where to place each team member is crucial, just as it is in the Olympics to know each athlete’s strengths and weaknesses. 

As their coach, it’s your job to remind them why it’s important to work with passion, enthusiasm, and kindness. To let them know that working in hospitality means getting to be a part of people’s lives and important events, so it’s our job to make them even more special. Make your team feel confident that they’re more than capable of excelling at their jobs, knowing that you will have their back no matter what. 

And as a cheerleader, celebrate the small wins. Even when a work shift was difficult, find something to appreciate and let them know that what they do, matters. Every day may not be good, but there’s certainly something good in every day. 

And when a team member makes a mistake, be sure to be there for support and correct them afterwards. Nobody’s born learning how to do every job. It’s okay to make mistakes as long as we learn something from them. Encouragement is key to making your team know that there’s always room to grow and learn. 

3. Give them the megaphone. 

From time to time, make sure that you switch the megaphone from your hands to theirs. Give them space to talk and share concerns, questions, or experiences.

During the middle of a busy summer season, it’s important to be able to listen to what every front-line employee has to say to be able to improve and learn. They’re the ones who are in charge of the guest experience and are almost face-to-face with the guest every day, so don’t forget to stop and chat with them. Let them know that any question is valid and that there is no wrong answer. 

As a team, they’ll be able to feel more confident if they know they can share their questions and experiences in a safe space where there’s only room to improve. 

At the end of the day, winning the gold medal in the hospitality Olympics means being proud to be part of a team who makes people have an incredible experience. It means looking at your team and coworkers and the end of each shift and being able to recognize the hard work each one of them put in. It means being able to do all the side work and cleaning afterwards laughing and finding good moments throughout the day.

Yes, working in hospitality during the summer season is no easy task for managers or employees. But we can prepare ourselves and our teams in the best way possible.

Put on your best pair of sneakers, and get ready to make this summer season a winning season with your team!