At Four Seasons, the management style encourages employees to “just do it” – improvise and innovate the guest experience whenever they spot an opportunity. Sayess says it is “imperative to be surrounded by people who can make decisions and can be trusted to use their common sense”.
However, empowerment can only be achieved with a clearly outlined ‘framework’ and ‘non-negotiables’ from the outset.
“At Purple Cubed we call this freedom in a framework where our people, at every level, are empowered to make decisions that will benefit the business,” Bellinger asserts.
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The framework provides the guidance for these decisions and is aligned to culture, values and expected behaviours.
Dodds puts it succinctly when he says “empowering our associates is a corner stone within Marriott’s culture”.
“When associates are empowered, they are engaged within the business, which directly relates to our financial performance,” he adds.
Schreiber believes one of the core elements in a luxury hotel environment is for colleagues to be empowered to anticipate and deliver the kind of service guests have come to expect.
“Empowerment doesn’t happen by osmosis, but it is carefully embedded in the ways in which we train and coach our managers,” he continues.
Of course part of the empowerment process is a manager’s or leader’s ability to delegate.
Katherine De Fontaine, vice president people training & education, Kempinski Hotels S.A. says the art of delegation really centres on being able to decide what can and should be delegated and then finding the right person to delegate to.
“To do that, it’s important to understand how much guidance and follow-up is needed,” she advises. “Delegation is a fantastic training and development tool. And a ‘thank you’ should always be part of the formula.”
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