Thursday 8 December 2011

Leader and Manager

When I think of me as a manager, I want to have a very clear vision of what the business itself should be. That is why I joined college, I asked my manager for trainings and read books about Hospitality. The purpose of training is to improve knowledge and skills and to change attitudes, being a most important motivator for me.
Besides technical knowledge, understanding and experience, I have to have trust, respect and discipline between the employees.
I would bestow considerable trust upon the employees, and in return I would ask that they trust my judgement. I would respect them as individuals and encourage them to respect each other, having a quick and consistent approach to discipline. When someone makes a mistake I would point out what they have done, explain why it caused a problem and tell them what to do to remedy the situation. After that it would be over and forgotten, as far as I would be concerned.

I also interviewed my manager regarding a honest feedback about my performance and my leadership skills and how would he rate my ability to:
-understand roles and responsabilities of colleagues and stakeholders (8);
-behave in a professional and respectful manner to all colleagues and stakeholders (9);
-take pride in delivering high quality work and identify ways of improving the team performance (10);
-monitor and review own personal development (9);
-communicate effectivly with colleagues,using appropriate techniques and methods (9);
-provide support and advice to team members (10);
-monitor and evaluate individual and team activities (8).
Rates:
10 - Exceptional performance - consistently well above what would be expected;
  9 - Excellent performance - above what would be expected;
  8 - Performs to the standard that is expected for his role and level of seniority.

Leadership Skills and Personal Develpment

           Throughout my year and a half spent in my actual place of work (One-O-One Restaurant), I have climbed up the hierarchy of Marlow, from basic needs like, money to buy food and drinks, rent an apartment, to the next stage of security and stability of place of work. After I start knowing better the organisation I was working for, I start feeling the need for be a part of the big family, to be loved by those I worked with. Now I find myself at the stage where I am looking to satisfy my self-esteem, I want recognition and promotion. For this I have spoken with my manager, assistant manager and head waiter to see how is my work  performance, how satisfied are they with what I do, what are my strengths and weaknesses from a management point of view and what skills  I need to develop to be part of the management team. I took Adair's list of leadership qualities and asked them to rate me against it.
  I was very pleasantly surprised to see that what I thought about myself, knowledge and skills I poses or I need to improve were almost the same with what they said about me. The conclusion was:

  •  I am very confident when I am asked to do things which I know and I am sure of (taking food orders, making food recommendations, matching wine with food orders, etc.), but once I am given the chance to do  stand up and do something the rest of my team wouldn't do (take care of VIP table in the private salon ), I hesitate to take responsibility.
  • I am enthusiastic, I love what I do and I show it to my colleagues and guests
  • I behave in a professional and respectful  manner towards all my colleagues and managers
  • I provide support and advice to my team members
  • I have integrity and judge conflicts with fairness

   My model was one of my first managers that I worked with in USA. He knew how to be friendly in situations and how to put a limit to it; he knew how to motivated all the team members to give the best at work, he had always a positive attitude, was enthusiastic about his work and had the sense of integrity and fairness that gave us confidence to talk with him any problem arise at work.  I worked for him because I loved the place and also because I had great respect for him. From him I learned how to handle difficult situations at work, with the customers or colleagues, how to be passionate about everything I do, I learned to be a team worker and give the best of me, to push my limits for achieving guest satisfaction.
  To summarise, everything I achieved until now, professionally, I owe it to him. He showed me how good management can encourage personal achievements as well as business success.