My Column for Sun Star Baguio tomorrow....:) WTF By Anthony R. de Leon Innovate or Perish: Fostering a Culture of Innovation in your property As the world becomes more complex, the tourism and hospitality industries are incessantly submitted to change and to new global challenges, compelling properties to adapt and evolve as competition becomes cutthroat. The traditional approaches and solutions, which granted success for a long time, are no longer suitable. Service and Product quality is in the eye of the beholder, and success is not final. Hence, new and innovative ways of doing business are imperative. Organizations need flexibility, to face the unexpected changes, in addition to efficiency, to maintain successful activities (Basadur 1997). Further, organizations should be able to analyze and reflect upon their activities and routines, in order to anticipate environmental changes and adapt by creating new products, services, or processes. Leaders, at different organizational levels, are privileged actors in the way they have power to influence change and foster innovation within their teams. Hospitality industry is a human intensive activity and innovation in hotels is essentially depending on the employee commitment and continuous improvement. Managers have, therefore, the responsibility of identifying talent within their teams. As Hartel, Schmidt & Keyes (2003) stated, talented people are more committed and therefore more capable of producing creative solutions to improve their work continuously. Innovation can be defined as “anything new (to the innovator) put to use”. This definition implies a creation/development component and a commercialization component (execution). The marriage of these two components is what makes innovation happen. Many of the theories regarding innovation are based in industrial and technological contexts. They relate to tangible products and hard business and operating processes and tend to be geared towards large enterprises and mass manufacturers. Innovation in tourism however, demands its own special treatment as it is primarily a service industry with particular characteristics. It is highly fragmented, diverse, seasonal, and intangible and comprised primarily of Small –scale and Medium Scale Enterprise (SMEs). According to Trott (1998) innovation is social as “not a single action but a total process of interrelated sub processes. It is not just the conception of a new idea, nor the invention of a new device, nor the development of a new market‟. What some classify as innovation, others may dismiss as imitation or adaptation of existing knowledge or ideas. True innovation in tourism businesses is nebulous and often inspired by external forces such as changing customer needs, demographics, technology, government policy, environmental conditions or social imperatives. It can take the form of product, process, management, logistics or institutional innovations (Hjalager, 1996) and may be disruptive or an incremental process (Schaper and Volery, 2007). How do we create a culture of innovation in our property? First, lets talk about culture. Organizational culture is one of those intangible aspects of corporate life. In the hospitality industry, most often, the general manager sets the tone. If s/he understands the value of people, they will create an environment within which people want to work. Here are some Ideas for creating a culture of innovation―for institutionalizing continuous improvement―at your property. 1. Provide an area for conversation or brainstorming. People are more creative when they are in a relaxed environment. 2. Reward people for their best ideas. In several companies, ideas that increase revenue or reduce company expenses are given incentives or rewards. Service excellence is likewise given recognition. Let’s face it: a behavior that is rewarded is often repeated. It is a must to provide incentives for the workable and realistic ideas that make sense no matter how unconventional. 3. Create Opportunities for People to Share in a Non-judgmental Environment. Many General Managers provide opportunities for their people to share ideas in different ways. Most have discovered that it is best to meet with their employees in small groups. Many general managers go out of their way to share breakfast or lunch with their people. They find these opportunities to break bread with their employees to be valuable in keeping their pulse on whats happening on the front line; however, the added benefit is a chance to ask people for their best suggestions. 4. Schedule meetings that are designed to mine peoples best ideas. There is always someone with the better idea who thinks outside the box, or thinks like there is no box. Idea fairs are one of the best practices to obtain ideas. 5. Teach people what really contributes to the bottom line. When people understand the rationale for the innovation, they are inclined to participate especially when they will benefit from it in the long term. 6. Consider generational differences when asking for ideas. No one person can have a monopoly of ideas. Expertise from a veteran or fresh ideas from a new entrant in the team or those coming from different cultures or generation can be a great source of ideas. Innovation in high quality properties are manifested in changes made in the daily operations, within the teams leaded by managers that encourage a permanent focus in the guests’ satisfaction, reflection on the continuous improvement of organizational processes and appeal to co-workers suggestions and participation. It is worth noting that Innovation occurs in the interaction process, i.e., in the formal and informal processes of communication, the increase of knowledge and the improvement of manager / co-workers relations may help all the team to pay attention to the small details and engage them in reflections that lead to continuous quality improvement and innovation. *** “Innovation is an evolutionary process, so its not necessary to be radical all the time.” ― Marc Jacobs “Keep in mind that imagination is at the heart of all innovation. Crush or constrain it and the fun will vanish.” ― Albert-László Barabási, Bursts: The Hidden Pattern Behind Everything We Do
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 03:14:43 +0000
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