There’s a delicious old Chinese proverb that goes something like – ‘If you’re treading water in dark, shark infested waters, don’t necessarily think the thing to touch your foot was a shark, it could actually be the shore and your way to safety’.
This is an interesting saying that goes a long way to describe aspects of the life of a Hotel General Manager.
Hotel General Managers are hired because somehow they have an innate skill of trading water with six hands and seven feet! By this I mean GM’s are generally paid handsomely to have the answer to the hundred curve balls and questions thrown at them every day. Apart from the common sense stuff the GM needs to know how to run every department in detail if needed and know the operational playbook for every detail of everything that goes on – whilst continually smiling with guests. Not many industries have comparative roles.
Given that the role of a GM needs to cover a lot of bases at various altitudes with flawless energy and within results driven ethos, the GM is also the standard bearer of quality, and an impeccable ambassador for the brand. And herein lies a potential problem. When you have a GM who is paid well to create (or is expected to create) a perpetual solution machine there is a broad and global expectation that he can answer every question and solve every problem. Not only is this impossible but the GM who believes they can solve everything alone could be highly stressed, probably exhausted, and never, ever switches off. This isn’t good.–
The owner of a business (quite often the GM’s boss) plays a role in monitoring this situation and if a GM isn’t supported sufficiently, or if requests for help by the GM are not heeded then other options need to be explored. In this situation the the GM should not be wary of bringing in external advice but should instead insist on it. That said, the anti-solution bias is a trait that exists with unsupported GM’s who are quite happy to plough on. In this situation the ceiling of the GM’s capabilities will also become a cap on the company’s growth and profit generation.
So that tap on your foot isn’t likely to be a shark, it might just be a way out of your current stress and the opening of fast track solution channels. If you always think it’s a shark, then keep treading water.
