How to nurture talent and improve employee retention

Responding to this, Roberts tells the story of Lauren King, a personal travel expert with Kuoni, whose grasp of social media was recognised at a time when the retail team were not given much freedom to post on social media. Recognising her passion for it, she was given a new opportunity to train other members of Kuoni’s retail team to become social media ambassadors.

“Lauren started out in a store, she moved into the training team and she used her skills to develop others,” Roberts explains.

HUMAN CONNECTIONS

Tonian Simpson, training and development manager at Good Hotel London, says identifying talent starts with an open mind: “It starts with a human connection – the handshake,” she says.

She explains the ethos of Good Hotel, a social business that provides long-term unemployed people the opportunity to build a career in hotels.

“We teach the basics,” she says. “How the importance of human connection is a core value in hospitality.”

She says that Paul, a graduate from Good Hotel’s bespoke training course, best exemplifies this, describing how he was a people person but none of his former managers had appreciated that in him, and he felt belittled and devalued.

After enrolling on the programme, he started to believe in himself, then little by little his confidence grew and he secured a customer-facing role.

“We needed to encourage Paul, to reassure him and to motivate him to build on his strengths,” Simpson explains.

So far, Good Hotel has retrained more than 300 employees in Guatemala, Amsterdam and London, and the success rate (people with a job 12 months after graduating) is over 70%.

Monique Dekker, senior vice-president human resources at Hyatt in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, shares the story of Peter, who works in room service in a property in Germany. She explains how the rules for uniform and appearance used to be very rigid, and inside of work, Peter did not feel like he could be his authentic self.

With the support of the Hyatt Pride programme, Peter started carrying out his duties dressed in drag when he wanted to do so.

“It’s been completely accepted by colleagues, management and guests,” says Dekker.

“That shows how far we’ve come,” comments Edwards. “You just can’t imagine that happening [at Hyatt] 10 years ago.”

LEADERSHIP QUALITIES

The experts discuss how spotting hidden talents in people is a leadership strength. Edwards notes how easy it is to be institutionalised with careers, sticking with decisions made as a teenager about what you want to do in life.

“The ability to take a step back and have somebody help you find what you are good at is massively important,” he says.

“All our leaders are trained to understand values, and to bring out in individuals what they don’t know about themselves,” Dekker says, explaining that within the Hyatt family, there is a general manager who started out in finance, doing accounts: “He’s now one of the most successful GMs we have.”

Roberts says leadership needs to be very visible. At Kuoni, she used to visit retail stores regularly, and off the back of a store visit she changed how the top sellers incentive scheme worked. “You’ve got to be open and approachable to your team,” she advises.

She also encourages creating a culture of feedback: “Give feedback, ask for feedback, and act on it. If you can’t follow something up, always try to give a reason why.”

REGULAR CONTACT

Roberts notes that the first thing to be dropped when businesses go through a busy period are one-to-ones, but she cautions against making that mistake. They are also incredibly important for keeping remote workers motivated, she says.

“I’m a big fan of one-to-ones, and not waiting for the year-end review to give feedback. They’re not just about going through a task list, but about personal development. Managers need to ask questions in an empowering way.”

How often one-to-ones needed to happen depends on the business, the manager and ultimately the individual concerned, she advises.

Team meetings are just as vital, she says, where they provide an open forum where colleagues can learn from one another.

She also places importance on giving rewards and recognition. “When a team member does something brilliant, recognise it,” she says. “Post on internal communications and give them a voucher. Sometimes a little reward or treat can go a long way.”

*These tips were originally delivered as part of a panel session at World Travel Market London in November 2023.