Page 126 - Hospitality Horizon - February-March 2021

GUEST COLUMN

BY CHRIS K. FRANZEN

ooking back to the middle of the
COVID-19 crisis, say around
August of 2020, it was already
clear to everyone that this Emerging
Lsituation had hit our industry not
only very hard but that the crisis would drag
out for far, far longer than any of us could even
imagine just a few weeks earlier. leaders during
By mid-2020, we had already done our
second round of crisis planning, cost
reductions, put expenses on hold, asked for
reduced charges in contracted services and a crisis
accepted the reality of reduced salaries if not
redundancies for many of us. Those who still
had a job probably accepted a pay cut gladly CURRENT LEADERS NEED TO CHANGE
just to sustain some form of income.
Depending on where in the world you lived, no AND MODIFY THEIR APPROACH TO
job meant no salary and really ‘no income’! TEACHING AND BEING GUIDES.
The somewhat lucky ones could expect a WE ALSO NEED TO ADJUST OUR LENS
massively reduced income through
government subsidies. ON HOW WE LOOK FOR TALENT
Having gone through a cycle of borderline
panic, facing a situation that none of us in the
industry ever faced in living memory, we were
now gearing up and crystalball-gazing to contribution in the overall picture, or new revenue generating avenues
predict what the future would hold. There were found. With the new year firmly upon us, we also went through the
were, by and large, no trends emerging, and year-end cycle of looking at our teams and doing performance
the data was anything but reliable and clear. It assessments in one form or another.
was impossible to make any form of prediction This is the point where I really started to take a hard look back and
or sensible forecast in our business. did some self-reflection, letting the scenarios and the worldwide
The teams and hotels moved heaven and situation pass through my mind again, reflecting on them. I was lucky
earth and came up with some brilliant ideas. enough to work with engaged and professional teams when the
Revenue streams were tapped that were pandemic hit – but at the same time when looking back it raised two
previously of little importance due to the low questions centered around talent we identified as leaders of the future.

126 FEBRUARY-MARCH 2021 hospitality horizon