Are Hotels Falling Short When Bringing Up New Managers?  

Steve Shern, an area managing director for Thompson Hotels, shares two areas he finds lacking when it comes to bringing up the next generation of hotel managers.

Hotel career development

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What do you think is lacking when it comes to bringing up new and young managers?   

When it comes to bringing up the next generation of managers, hotels are lacking in two areas.

1An emphasis on patience

Young managers often aren’t willing to spend enough time in one position before moving onto something different. Hotel leaders need experiences in places they never anticipated to get to where they want to end up. Just because you’re coming out of school with a hospitality degree doesn’t mean you’re on the fast track to upper management. I always look for people who have the right mindset, are eager to learn and honest, and are not afraid to make mistakes.

2Support of curiosity and learning through discovery

We need to look for and develop managers who have a healthy dose of curiosity and are interested in learning through discovery. First-time managers are often promoted from a line-level position where their success is based on what they do as an individual, but when you’re a leader, your success is based on your team’s performance. By developing young managers’ abilities to analyze a situation and be proactive about finding solutions—rather than just rewarding people for checking off things on the “to-do” list—we will build better leaders.

 

Answered by Steve Shern, Area Managing Director, Thompson Hotels

 


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Steve Shern, area managing director for Thompson Hotels, is a hospitality veteran with more than 25 years of experience. He was the GM of the year for Two Roads Hospitality in 2014, and his former property, Thompson Chicago, earned such recognition as “best places to work” by the Chicago Tribune, Travel + Leisure “IT list”, Conde Nast Traveler “Readers Choice Awards” and “Top Hotels” by U.S. News and World Report. Steve is currently at Gild Hall, a luxury Thompson property in New York City that was named one of the best hotels in the Financial District by U.S. News & World Report in February 2019.