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I’m a new GM and completely overwhelmed by my responsibilities. How can I get a handle on what I need to do and lead my team?
The best advice I can give a new GM who is completely overwhelmed by their responsibilities and wants to lead their team effectively is to prioritize their tasks and time.
Time management is critical to an operation’s overall success, and great leaders must have the ability to determine the importance of a task and define the impact of what needs to be addressed first. If a decision does not impact guests, staff or key, stakeholders, the task can be moved down the list of priorities to be completed at a later date or time. Delegating and saying “no” to non-critical tasks is a sign of sound judgement.
Use all available tools to help manage your day. For example, printing out your calendar from Outlook for the week ahead helps you plan accordingly and identify scheduling conflicts. It also allows you to get a jump start on tasks that are due in the future and eliminates last-minute stress to meet deadlines.
Most GMs have a passion for building and leading a team; prioritizing responsibility is a skill that can be learned by reevaluating or monitoring the effectiveness of decision making. Be a leader of influence and make deliberate choices with your time.
Answered by Michael Tighe, general manager at The Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village in Cape Coral, Fla.
