Best Practice: Management training

Apr 28, 2014

Do you believe a leader's natural talent shines out, or can leadership skills be taught?

CASE STUDY 2

The company: Marriott International
The training initiative: Defining the company's original leadership values
Objective
Define the company’s leadership values.

Strategy
'Guideposts to Management' are the principles that J. Willard Marriott put in a letter to J. W. Marriott, Jr. in 1964. Here is an edited version.
1. Keep physically fit, mentally and spiritually strong.
2. Guard your habits — bad ones will destroy you.
3. Pray about every difficult problem.
4. Study professional management principles.
5. People are No. 1.
6. Men grow making decisions and assuming responsibility for them.
7. Don’t criticize people but make a fair appraisal of their qualifications with their supervisor.
8. See the good in people and try to develop those qualities.
9. If an employee is incapable of the job, find a job he can do or terminate now.
10. Manage your time.
11. Delegate and hold accountable for results.
12. Let your staff take care of the details.
13. Ideas and competition:
a. Ideas keep the business alive.
b. Know what your competitors are doing and planning.
14. Don’t try to do an employee’s job for him – counsel and suggest.
15. Think objectively and keep a sense of humour.

Results
Recognised as one of the top companies in the world to work for. Recent awards from Fortune include being ranked number 57 in the ‘100 Best Companies to Work For 2014’ and being named the ‘Most Admired Lodging Company in the list of World's Most Admired Companies’.