Onboarding, training, and coaching are critical to creating successful team members and a commercial dream team. The commercial manager is responsible for creating the content in these three steps to ensure success in every step. The reward is more successful team members that stay longer in the company.
Hotels are looking for all commercial roles, marketing, sales, and revenue. Unfortunately, there are more available jobs in all these positions than ever before, and since hospitality people left the industry during the pandemic, these positions are tough to fill. Many talents are no longer around, so hotels need to start looking for a new generation for commercial functions.
Onboarding a new generation
Research shows that onboarding is key to how long people will stay in the company. For example, one study found that it was 58 % more likely that a person that had completed a structured onboarding process was still in the company three years later. Another study said that 86 % of new hires decide whether to stay long-term with the company within the first six months. The proper onboarding will increase the adoption of company culture, shorten the time to become productive, and increase employee engagement. Unfortunately, the hotel industry struggles with high employee turnover rates. One reason for this is the absence of proper onboarding processes. A hotel cannot simply afford a high turnover rate for employees in any commercial role.
The starting point for onboarding is the job description. The commercial manager needs to onboard each team member to every single job listed in the job description. If the new hire is new to the hotel industry, it might take quite some time.
Training the new hire
Training is one of the keys to success both for the individual employee and for the hotel. Training is the primary way to make the new employee productive. During the first couple of years, the employee needs training in each one of the jobs listed in the job description. In some jobs, the employee requires more training than others. If the new hire does not have any previous experience from commercial roles, the training needs to start on a fundamental level and then evolve to more advanced training. The employee will most likely need to attend special courses to gain the expertise essential for the role. Ongoing training will be necessary for many years. Again, the basis for the training is the content of the job description.
Coaching the team members
Onboarding is to get the new hire aligned with the company culture and to make the new hire reasonably productive as soon as possible. Training is to fill knowledge gaps, so the employee has an excellent chance to excel in their jobs. Finally, coaching is to continuously help the team member reach individual goals and contribute to team and company goals. The commercial manager is the commercial team leader and therefore needs to coach every team member when a team member needs support or help. Coaching is giving clear advice or even instructions to lead the team member towards the goals. Some employees will need more coaching than others, but every team member will grow as an individual and in their job roles when coached. Without regular coaching, a team member will feel abandoned, productivity will decrease, and the team member might start to think about finding a new job.
Leadership is about finding the right people, onboarding them, training them, and coaching them. Following this process makes it more likely that the team member will succeed and stay in the company much longer. In addition, this process ensures that the commercial manager will create a dream team and reach the team and company goals faster.
