Paper Due Date
First I would ask for a staff meeting if a regular staff meeting was not part of the standard operating procedure. Once I have the staff in for a mandatory staff meeting, if one does not currently exist, I would inform them that from now on we will be having a weekly staff meeting so that we can keep the communication lines open. Particularly for the backpackers, I would want to ensure that they are always closely following what needs to be accomplished and not having to wonder what may be the right thing to do.
Once we are all together in the staff meeting, I would let them know that we will have a meeting like this one on a regular basis going forward and that each meeting will have a specific agenda. Additionally, I will let the staff know that we will use these meetings going forward to make sure that I’m getting feedback from them, as much as they’re getting feedback from me. Communication has to work two ways in order for it to be effective.
I would start the first staff meeting by creating a shared set of goals and objectives. I would let the staff know that our collective goal will be to reduce customer complaints in all categories as quickly as possible in as many areas as possible. To reinforce this, I would commit to making myself available to them to help them with what they may not be able to accomplish themselves. In this way, I will position myself as the person to come to for resources and to reduce/eliminate obstacles.
During this first meeting, I would present the complaint data in an objective manner. Be matter of fact about presenting the data and put no blame on anybody. This helps to reinforce that shared sense of purpose that I want to create. I would then quickly get to the area of most complaints: room readiness and ask for feedback from the staff about why they think we get so many complaints in this area. I believe that if I give the staff the opportunity to air their grievances that in that summary, there will be good insights that can be used to solve the problem.
I need to make sure that this open discussion doesn’t devolve into a pointless griping session, and to do this, I must set limits to what is being said and how long I allow any particular speaker to have the opportunity to speak. This will be a good way for me to assert my authority in a non-threatening way.
The staff meeting will conclude with a to do list for every person based on the issues raised. And the progress in these key areas will then become the agenda for next week’s meeting. In doing this, there will be specific, measureable, achievable, realistic and time-based (SMART) goals established (Smart goal 2013).
There are two sources of information that I will want to check. The first one each employee’s personnel file; and the other is any feedback from clients about their complaints.
With regard to the personnel files: as their manager, and supervisor, I have privy to each of my subordinates’ employment information. When I came on board, I signed many agreements with The Hunter Valley Resort & Spa that ensures that I keep any and all personnel information confidential. To that end, there is no need for me to share this information with anyone else, except the employees themselves. In fact, it would be a breach of the confidentiality agreements that I already signed when I started my Assistant Housekeeping Manager role if I were to divulge any of the contents of the employees’ personnel files and its information to anyone other than a superior in my chain of command.
I will want to check each employee personnel file to better understand who they are. I will need to know if any have been reprimanded by previous managers and why. Conversely, I will also want to know who the shining stars are. Knowing this valuable information gives me insight into who I’m working with, and, what I may need to do to motivate them individually or as a group. From this important data I can be prepared for any upcoming problem areas based on previous performance. Although, I am not totally convinced that previous performance alone is an accurate predictor of future failures – context is also important.
The second set of data that I will want to check is any feedback that was left by customers when they complained. From this perspective, I can better determine where the specific problem areas might be. If, for example, I know that Sally always works the fourth floor on Saturday and if that is the area that is not ready on that day, then by mapping this physical location to a specific employee, I can begin to do pattern spotting. This way, the data is objectively specifying the problem area, and not a subjective, potentially confidentiality breaching co-worker. The data never lies – the purpose of gathering as much objective data as possible is to be able to determine the best course of action going forward.
Earlier, we discussed how SMART goals can help to structure a specific solution to a problem by breaking down the bigger action of “solving the problem” to smaller, more doable tasks. Such is the case with performance appraisal goals. Communication is also a critical component of performance appraisal. Therefore, it is important, particularly for a staff such as housekeeping that measurable goals are not overwhelming. A way to make the process simpler for the staff is to plan semi-annual reviews and an informal “check-in” with me. This is a huge time commitment on my part, but it will be worth it, because I will be able to potentially quell problems before they occur and reinforce key accomplishments that must be performed in order to have a good performance appraisal (Getting the most 2014)
The following is a snapshot of the housekeeping performance appraisal plan:
What: at the beginning of each year, when the Resort is slow and quiet after the holiday rush, I will sit down with each employee to describe their SMART goals and to answer any questions that they may have. A specific goal may be something as simple as: clean 25 rooms per day on average.
When: a schedule will be implemented that requires the employee and I to sit down together in six months, or ideally sometime during May, before the big summer rush starts and review accomplishments versus goals. This mid-year discussion will focus on areas of strength and areas for improvement.
How: I will develop a simple one-page summary with five specific goals that each employee must accomplish in order to keep their position, or to advance at the Hunter Valley Resort & Spa. Some will be stretch goals designed to motivate the housekeeping staff toward career advancement.
References
(2013). Smart Goal Setting. Available: http://www.network-marketing-mlm-success- system.com/smart-goal-setting.html [3 April 2014]
(2014). Getting the most out of Performance Appraisal Systems.
Available: http://www.successfactors.com/en_us/lp/articles/employee-appraisal- systems.html [3 April 2014]
