A top priority for hospitality leaders is fostering a great workplace culture, but the word “culture” is frequently used in many different contexts, often losing its true meaning. Many companies claim to have a great culture, underscoring the word’s importance, but what does that really mean in practical terms?
When I think about workplace culture, I understand it as a verb—an action or a call to action. Culture isn’t merely what you declare it to be; it’s what you do. It’s about actively modeling your values on a daily basis and setting expectations for your team.
This realization about culture struck me profoundly several years ago when I led the opening team for a new hotel in Portland, Oregon. It was during an orientation meeting for around 200 new employees and the room buzzed with excitement.
The leadership team had met days before to plan the meeting, covering standard topics like HR policies, time clock procedures, uniform standards and department trainings. The meeting proceeded well until, unexpectedly, I posed a question that shifted the entire dynamic in the room. Acknowledging the high energy from the group, I made an offhand comment, saying, “Everyone seems excited to be here today!” The response was a chorus of the word “yes,” smiles and even applause.
Then came the pivotal question that changed the course of the dialogue and my perception of workplace culture forever, “If you’re this excited today, I bet you were equally as excited to start your last job, right?” The room quieted and the team exchanged nervous glances.
I continued, “Whether it was five years or five months ago, I bet you were so excited to start the first day at your new job. Yet, for some reason, you’re here today, now equally as excited about this one. What happened before? What aspects of your last job, which initially excited you, led you to leave and be in this room today?”
The response was immediate and eye-opening. At least fifty hands shot up, revealing issues ranging from lack of feedback and inconsistent management to team discourse and unaddressed concerns. “I never had a review,” one person replied. “My managers never talked to me, and I never got feedback on how I was doing,” said another. “One manager would say one thing, then one the other manager would tell me something completely different and you never knew who to go to or trust,” said one more.
The comments kept coming. Some notable concerns included:
“The team didn’t get along and the vibe was awful.”
“No one ever said I was doing a good job and I was.”
“My paycheck would be missing hours all the time.”
“I was never trained properly.”
“No one was ever held accountable.”
In our recap meeting the next day, I shared the comments with the leadership team noting that the new employees had just shared with us everything we need to know. They had specified what is crucial to their happiness and success and that if this didn’t work, it would be our fault and not theirs.
Read More: How to Create a Positive and Mindful Workplace Culture
This brings us back to the initial question about what culture truly is and how it is created and fostered in the workplace. It’s about establishing and clearly communicating expectations from the start. It’s keeping promises—all of them. It’s maintaining consistency as a leader and living up to your commitments. It’s showing genuine compassion and care for every team member. It’s embodying the principle of treating others as you want to be treated, making it a daily practice. It’s recognizing victories and learning from losses. It’s establishing an environment that shows it’s acceptable to make mistakes, but not acceptable to not learn from them. It’s having difficult conversations with underperformers and, when necessary, making tough decisions to remove them from the team.
On the surface, these seem like very basic principles to lead by, yet they are so often missed or forgotten because things like consistent communication and development take time to practice. Showing genuine compassion and caring for your team takes time because to do it you need to create the time to communicate and connect with people.
As leaders, we’re under a great deal of pressure to deliver results on a multitude of levels.
Too often, we mistakenly place more importance on the transaction or the bottom line as opposed to the experience that our teams are having. This is the complete opposite of what a healthy and vibrant workplace culture should be. Taking the time and making it a priority to focus on creating a robust, and meaningful experience for the team is how culture is established and maintained. When this type of culture is thriving, the transactions tend to take care of themselves as they manifest in low turnover, higher productivity and happier teams.
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As the general manager at Central Station, Troy Dixon oversees day-to-day hotel operations, guest relations and team development for the property. A seasoned hospitality executive, Dixon brings more than a decade of leadership experience to the team.
