What Does it Take to be a Top Front Office Hotel Manager Today?

By:  Jennifer C. Zamecki, CPBA, CPVA, CAIA, TriMetrix

It always has been a little confusing to figure out what exactly makes a top-notch Front Office Hotel Manager.  Well-Run Concepts has been conducting research to quantify what is needed in the position of Front Office Manager today by defining these key areas:

• Attributes:  personal skills or competencies
• Values:  rewards and culture
• Behaviors:  how they do the job

We used a comprehensive, validated, step-by-step process called the Trimetrix™ system to determine what is needed for top performance.  This article will summarize our findings to date and here is what we found.

Attributes tells us if an individual can do the job by looking at what personal skills or competencies are needed in the job of Front Office Manager

The Top Seven Attributes are:

1.  SELF MANAGEMENT:  The ability to prioritize and complete tasks in order to deliver desired outcomes within allotted time frames.

• Independently pursues business objectives in an organized and efficient manner
• Prioritizes activities as necessary to meet job responsibilities
• Maintains required level of activity toward achieving goals without direct supervision
• Minimizes work flow disruptions and time wasters to complete high quality work within a specified time frame

2.  RESULTS ORIENTATION:  The ability to identify actions necessary to complete tasks and obtain results.

• Maintains focus on goals
• Identifies and acts on removing potential obstacles to successful goal attainment
• Implements thorough and effective plans and applies appropriate resources to produce desired results
• Follows through on all commitments to achieve results

3.  CUSTOMER FOCUS:  A commitment to customer satisfaction.

• Consistently places a high value on customers and all issues related to customers
• Objectively listens to, understands and represents customer feedback
• Anticipates customer needs and develops appropriate solutions
• Meets all promises and commitments made to customers

4.  PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY:  A measure of the capacity to be answerable for personal actions.

• Accepts personal responsibility for the consequences of personal actions
• Avoids placing unnecessary blame on others
• Maintains personal commitment to objectives regardless of the success or failure of personal decisions
• Applies personal lessons learned from past failures to moving forward in achieving future successes

5.  RESILIENCY:  The ability to quickly recover from adversity.

• Continues toward goals in the face of difficulty and adversity
• Handles criticism and rejection from others with objectivity
• Recovers quickly from personal setbacks
• Moves past unforeseen obstacles without unnecessary delay

6.  TEAMWORK:  The ability to cooperate with others to meet objectives.

• Discards personal agenda to cooperate with other team members in meeting objectives
• Contributes positively and productively to team projects
• Builds and sustains a trust relationship with each member of a team
• Supports other team members and team decisions

7.  SELF STARTING:  The ability to initiate and sustain momentum without external stimulation.

• Initiates relevant activities toward achieving business goals
• Independently completes projects and produces desired results
• Requires little or no supervision to stay focused on necessary activities

Values make up the next critical success factor needed, which tells us why an individual will do the job or, in other words, what rewards & cultures are they seeking on the job.

The Top Three Values are:

1.  UTILITARIAN/ECONOMIC

Rewards those who value practical accomplishments, results and rewards for their investments of time, resources and energy.

2.  INDIVIDUALISTIC/POLITICAL

Rewards those who value personal recognition, freedom, and control over their own destiny and others.

3.  TRADITIONAL/REGULATORY

Rewards those who value traditions inherent in social structure, rules, regulations and principles.

Behaviors tell us how an individual will perform the job.  We analyzed which of the behaviors an individual should possess to perform well in the job of Front Office Hotel Manager.  This is very important information to know in understanding communication styles.

The Top Three Behaviors are:

1.  FREQUENT INTERACTION WITH OTHERS

The job requires a strong “people orientation”, versus a task orientation.  The job will comfortably deal with multiple interruptions on a continual basis, always maintaining a friendly interface with others.

2.  CUSTOMER ORIENTATION

The job demands a positive and constructive view of working with others. There will be a high percentage of time spent in listening to, understanding and successfully working with a wide range of people from diverse backgrounds to achieve “win-win” outcomes.

3.  VERSATILITY

The job calls for a high level of optimism and a “can do” orientation.  It will require multiple talents and a willingness to adapt them to changing assignments as required.

Now that we have a clear picture of what the Front Office Manager Job looks like, I would like to ask you this…

• If you are a Front Office Manager, do you have these critical success factors mastered?  If not, what’s your plan to develop them?
• If you are a Hotel, how are you currently measuring the talent in your Front Office Team today?
• Do they have the above named attributes, values and behaviors?
• If so, great!  You are ahead of the competition!
• If not, how will you develop them or better yet, select talent that already has it?

Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

If you want to know for sure, then run a Personal Talent Profile on yourself or your staff.  Then match the results to the benchmark of the Front Office Manager Job in this article.

If you have a unique culture in your company, you may want to be more specific and run a Trimetrix™ job benchmark with your own stakeholders.  Then you can match your talent to your unique culture.

Either way, if you are not assessing your talent now, how can you meet the challenges of your evolving clients needs?

Well-Run Concepts would like to work with you to develop a scientifically validated system for defining, selecting and developing top talent for your company.

If you would like more information on how the Trimetrix™ system works, or more details of our research, please visit us on the web at www.well-run.com, or email us at success@well-run.com.

Your comments are encouraged and welcomed.

For more information on sales skill training and assessments, visit our website at www.well-run.com or call (877) 566-2900.

I look forward to hearing from you.

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Thank you~
Jennifer C. Zamecki

WELL-RUN Concepts Inc.
Helping Organizations Define and Develop Top Talent
Ph: (352) 624-2684 Toll Free: (877) 566-2900
Fax: (352) 624-2689
303 S.E. 17th St. Suite 309-170
Ocala, FL 34471
Web Address: www.well-run.com
email: Jennifer@well-run.com

About the Author Jennifer Zamecki

Jennifer Zamecki is the Founder and President of Well-Run Concepts Inc., a Human Resources consulting firm that specializes in the TriMetrix Process for analyzing the unique configuration of personal skills, behaviors, and motivators required for a specific job.  Her specialties include:

• Assessments
• Hiring top talent
• Management training
• Employee selection and coaching systems
• Executive Management and Leadership Coaching
• Job benchmarking
• Leadership
• Profiles
• Talent and performance management
• Talent development and coaching
• Talent selection and recruitment
• Teamwork, team building, and communication
• Validated assessment tools