TAKE 1

Commentary by Alan De Back

Alan De Back is a career counselor and learning consultant with more than 20 years of experience. He has served as director of global learning for an Internet consulting firm and manager of leadership development for a major aerospace corporation.

Traditional, family-run organizations often run into issues around being too casual in their management and not adapting to a changing marketplace. Ben’s challenges reflect what so often happens in these types of organizations.

The major problems in this scenario are very much related to resistance to change and change management.

Ben is struggling with the values and culture of a long family history in managing the business. With little competition in the hotel’s earlier years, the family had the luxury of a very casual management style with limited structure. In addition, his father and aunt still have a major influence on the business, and although they mean well, they are resistant to making changes to the hotel’s roots. Ben seems to see some need for change, but is somewhat handcuffed by the other family members in the business.

Because the hotel has traditionally been a family-run business, another major issue is the family trying to do everything themselves. Although the case study mentions that there’s no local applicant pool to hire staff members, there is little evidence that the family has really tried to find the staff they need. Customer service is definitely suffering as the family tries to fill all the roles themselves.

The hotel would benefit from some new and different approaches to running the business. First and foremost, communication needs to improve between Ben, his father, and his aunt. Although they seem to have a good personal relationship, communication seems limited when it comes to discussing the operation of the business. Grant and Shirley seem reluctant to make any changes, either major or minor, and Ben appears to be acquiescing to their wishes. He does seem to understand the need for change, but is either unwilling or unable to challenge his family.

Ben should view the performance consultant as an ally rather than an adversary. Jamie clearly understands the business and the challenges that exist. If Ben were less resistant, she could be valuable in helping him to turn the business around.

I would recommend that Ben have an open and honest conversation with his family members about the issues they are facing and what their course of action needs to be. He should carefully prepare for this conversation, and a book like Crucial Conversations (Patterson et al. 2012) would probably be helpful. Involving the performance consultant in the conversation might have some merit, but he should carefully prepare for a conversation with her as well.

After the conversation, Ben and his family must adopt a more businesslike approach to running the hotel. Although they have historically viewed their guests as “family,” that approach no longer works in the 21st century. They can still strive to provide exceptional customer service, but they must realize that their guests are business clients.

There is no evidence that Ben has any kind of business plan or vision for the hotel, and the operation seems to just be running on a day-to-day basis. Developing a business plan with a vision and goals is an important part of this more businesslike approach.

Related to all of this, customer service must become a priority. The hotel’s customer service ratings have slipped because of issues such as no one working the front desk. Ben needs to hire staff members immediately to take over some of these responsibilities. Working with a recruiting agency might be worth the cost. If the labor pool is indeed very tight, an alternative might be to at least partially staff with interns or co-op students from a university that has a hospitality program.

Finally, it’s not clear what kind of advertising the family has been using to promote the hotel. In the past, they apparently relied on returning guests to fill their rooms. With added competition, however, Ben needs to develop a publicity strategy. For example, an ad campaign can still relate to the family warmth that was the franchise’s trademark in the past, but with a modern approach to running the business.

As for recommended resources, the performance consultant is one resource that Ben should take advantage of. She clearly understands the hospitality business and could be a great help. Rather than avoiding her and dreading her visits, I would suggest that Ben regularly reach out to her. If there is a nearby university, there could be opportunities for a group of students to come in, particularly at the graduate level, to do an analysis and make recommendations. Because the students would provide a fresh perspective not clouded by history, their recommendations could be very creative and useful as Ben develops his business plan.