The current pandemic has thrown into sharp relief the importance of both leadership and employee commitment. Where in the past the work of key workers has increasingly been defined in productive and quantitative terms the nation is not (literally) applauding their commitment. For small companies the commitment that can flow out of the relationship between leadership and engagement is key.
Management writer Daniel Pink has argued for some time that real performance flows out of intrinsic motivation and not material rewards and fear of sanctions. He argues that the key drivers of motivation are autonomy, mastery and purpose. Well, working from home has provided far more autonomy for most people. Remote working, to be successful, has required employees to assume a far greater mastery of their own work than previously when there were managers and processes to ensure visible compliance. The uncertainty of the crisis has exposed the fragility of economics and life, which has caused many people to think about the purpose of the work that they do and the lives that they lead. Organisations that have been able to align and re-purpose their businesses towards supporting others have gained much respect with employees and customers.
Key to surviving disruptive times is to start by shifting the organisational culture from what Argyris calls single loop learning; where people ask ‘how do we do things right?’ to the far more challenging double loop learning question of ‘what are the right things?’. This means to question fundamental assumptions about what we do and how we do it. In disruptive times, simply leaning harder upon established best practices may well prove disastrous. Evidence of this taking place often appears through people working harder but organisational performance continues to decline. When this happens its time to stop and apply double loop learning.
Some employees find adapting to new working practices deeply unsettling and this requires leadership that is not just visionary, but also caring. One of the great discoveries of this crisis has been that many people that were on very low wages with poor career prospects have seized this moment to step up and show, through their actions, that they can and will do more, if provided the opportunity and encouragement. Think about care workers, farm labourers and delivery drivers. My experience suggests that very often the most innovative and profitable ideas to improve performance are found within the company. If managers can create an environment where it is okay to question assumptions and speak up, rather than simply told to get on with their work, the results can be surprising. Whatever you have done before this crisis is a defining moment. Would you like to learn how to leverage your businesses core competence in new ways and build employee commitment? What kind of leader will you be? Let us help you be the best that you can be.
Develop and master core competencies in support of your management and leadership ambitions. The Staffordshire University MBA is designed to accelerate your professional and personal development and to contribute to the journey of being the best you can be. You can also study the MBA via our Level 7 Senior Leader Apprenticeshipwhere you will also gain a Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Level 7 Diploma.
Angela Lawrence, Associate Dean, Staffordshire Business School
As the summer draws to a close and we pack away our well-worn flip flops, it’s good to reflect on the long, warm days that we have enjoyed outdoors, before the shorter days of Autumn set in. I recently spent some time browsing through photographs taken this year, to remind myself of the best of 2020. I came across two pictures that led me to ponder on how each one of us approaches life so differently.
Both pictures taken on the same day, within the same 10 minutes. Both taken at the same location. Both my grandsons, yet both with such different approaches to life. One a risk-taker who throws himself headfirst into everything, giving 100% and constantly on the lookout for the next challenge. The other a thinker, a complicated little soul who weighs the options up very carefully before making any decision and even then, approaches life cautiously, sometimes with some anxiety and trepidation. Can you tell which is which?
What this means for me is that I have learned to speak to them differently, to explore different activities that each may enjoy, to play different games with them and read them different stories before tucking them up into bed at night. I accept that they are very different and embrace and enjoy their unique personalities. I celebrate their individuality, encouraging them to be true to themselves and to live their life the way that they, and only they want to.
Don’t be a sheep
We are all unique, all different – let’s face it we are all made up of different DNA! As I welcome new students to the university this week for the start of their journey as independent learners, I’m at pains to remind them of this. I have spent many years welcoming freshers, excited to be beginning a new chapter in their life. Amongst the information and advice that I share to prepare them for the student journey ahead, is the video of a social experiment that I call Don’t be a Sheep.
The
video never fails to make students smile and laugh. It depicts a young lady
behaving the way that others around her do, just because she feels that she must.
My advice to students is to be true to themselves and not to feel intimidated or
pressurised by anyone else’s behaviour. I’m acutely aware that in today’s
society there is a great deal of pressure from the media and social media, to
be someone or something that you are not. Many have written about the phenomenon
of social comparison and the ensuing mental health related issues
and lack of self-esteem.
Generation
Z
Generation Z in particular seems to be challenged by continual obstacles in the path of individuality. This uber-connected cohort has spent a lifetime inundated with messages telling them how they should look, how they should behave and whom they should aspire to. The 2020 documentary film The Social Dilemma has gone further to heighten fears around the controlling influences of social media and the divide deepens between those who readily fall under the influence of social pressure and those who have the strength to follow their true self.
Something
for everyone
The first few weeks at university provide an opportunity for students to get to know their housemates, their lecturers, their surroundings and their studies. Whoever you are and however you like to approach life, there will be something for you. A full range of societies to join and different teaching methods to accommodate different learning preferences – diversity is recognised and embraced in a way that many have never before experienced.
This is
one of the reasons why I love working in higher education so much. I love to
see confidence build, personalities develop, independence grow and life
ambitions accomplished.
Live
your own life
Steve Jobs famously told us “your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life”. I fly the flag for being yourself but I appreciate that not everyone has the confidence to do so. The beauty of university life is that support is always available for those who struggle with mental health issues or anxiety. We know that some find this new environment harder to adjust to than others. Don’t be afraid to reach out and be reassured that you are absolutely not alone in feeling this way.
I hope that my grandsons will continue to follow their own individual, unique paths through life – that people will accept them for who they are and that they will be confident to do things their own unique way. My message to students beginning their university journey is live your own life and follow your own path – you don’t have to look that way, you don’t have to dress that way, you don’t have to behave that way, you are unique, you are yourself and that’s okay! Be kind to yourself and be kind to others.
At Staffordshire Business School, we understand that business evolves with time and technology, so we are constantly adapting our learning strategies and courses to give you the best chance to get ahead of the competition when you graduate.
For 2021, we have developed four brand-new courses that follow contemporary themes such as sustainability, entrepreneurship and digital marketing:
Tuesday 6th October 3.00 – 3.30 Onboarding for those registered for the course – we will send you a meeting invite
Weds 7th October 4.00 – 4.30 – this is a back up event for anyone unable to make the event on Tuesday
Tuesday 13th October 3.00 – 4.30 Start of the course – we will send you a meeting invite
About the programme
The Small Business Leadership Programme supports senior leaders to enhance their business’s resilience and recovery from the impact of COVID-19. It helps small and medium-sized businesses to develop their potential for future growth and productivity.
Participants will develop strategic leadership skills and the confidence to make informed decisions to boost business performance.
The fully-funded 10 week programme will be delivered online by small business and enterprise experts from world-leading business schools.
The Small Business Leadership Programme is being delivered by a consortium of business schools accredited by the Small Business Charter (SBC), and supported by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.
Dr Andrew Taylor, Senior Lecturer, staffordshire business school
During disruptive times small scale can
be a key advantage. The management
writer Mintzberg (1989) describes most small companies as either simple
structures or adhocracies. My research
(Taylor 2013, 2019) indicates that in both cases innovation is central to their
mission and survival. The strength and
the weakness of simple structures is that they are driven by one or two key
individuals. This both makes
decision-making fast and flexible.
Adhocracies are project based, mission driven places, with little
respect for traditional idea’s of good management practice, where
inefficiencies are the price of high growth.
There is often a tendency, in both cases, as they grow, to define
becoming professional as having more formal and robust processes. The trouble is that as they seek order and
stability, innovation and commitment often crashes as resent a perceived loss of purpose or human
commitment.
During disruptive times it is often
better to leverage the flexibility and commitment of peoples in smaller scale
organisations to adapt, rather than seek to optimise. Small companies, like speedboats, are fast
and nimble compared to the large oil tankers of corporate business,. Asking what are the right things, rather than
how do I do things right Argyris (1991) is easier where best practices are less
defined bureaucratically.
Small companies can most effectively do
this through identifying their core competencies (Prahalad & Hamel 1990)
. Core
competencies are the source of how you create value – those things that you do
for your customers better than your competitors. They:
Provide
access to a wide variety of markets
Should make a significant contribution to
the perceived customer benefits of the end product
Should be difficult for competitors to
imitate.
Knowing these allows
you to ask yourselves how they could, using what Gavetti (2011) calls
associative thinking, be transferred into new, more distant, marketplaces.
Managers are good at identifying opportunities that are cognitively close to
their business, but need to learn to recognise similar underlying patterns in
distant markets and make the cognitive leap.
Organisations, that
we are familiar with, successfully doing this include Fuji-Film, Honda, Danone,
Dyson and Virgin.
Often leaders of small companies familiar
with doing this as anyway as a matter of survival. Learning to use such knowledge to leverage
the strength of organisation and its people, in a joined-up way, can, however,
both transform the effectiveness and legitimise existing practices, such that
small companies can harness their scale and people to flourish.
References
Argyris
C. (1991), ‘Teaching Smart People to Learn’, Harvard
Business Review, May –
June.
Gavetti, G. (2011), ‘The New Psychology of Strategic Leadership’, Harvard
Business Review, July -Aug.
Mintzberg, H. (1989), Mintzberg on Management:
Inside Our Strange World of Organizations, New York, The Free Press.
Prahalad, C. K. &
Hamel, G. (1990), ‘The Core Competence of the Corporation’, Harvard
Business Review, May-June.
Taylor, A. & Krouwel W. (2013), Taking
Care of Business: Innovation, Ethics & Sustainability, Cluj-Napoca (Romania), Risoprint.
Taylor A. & Bronstone A. (2019), People, Place & Global
Order: Foundations of a Networked Political Economy. London, Routledge.
The MSc in Digital Marketing Management was developed to deliver the technical, strategic and organisation skills for this industry. As such the course includes a substantial project with an external client and this work is credited as part of the award. Carrying out a project at the height of the pandemic was even more challenging than usual with everything needing to be done remotely and ongoing changes to adapt to the new situation – so Congratulations to the students below for these excellent projects.
Eerik Beeton carried out a project for The Waterfront Gallery, in Milford Haven, West Wales. This has involved developing the ecommerce offer on the website, creating social media channels Facebook, Instagram and helping to recruit volunteers for the gallery.
Eerik Beeton who carried out a project at the Waterfront Gallery in Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire
Charlotte has a new marketing job with the Aston Care group in Stone
Craig Holdcroft carried out a project for the Donna Louise Trust developing the website and social media. He has also started his own marketing business, Holdcroft Digital Marketing while at Staffordshire University, completing projects for a number of Micro and SME’s.
Craig Holdcroft is running his own agency and part-time lecturing for business and marketing.
Grace Thomson started a student peer blog for the Staffordshire University Careers Studio and this has now been incorporated into the main careers website for the University. The project included providing guidance and training for students across the different faculties in blog writing and social media. The blog has already achieved 23,000 reads in the short time it has been up.
The book explores how entrepreneruship education can be embedded throughout the learner’s lifetime.
Silver workers (entrepreneurs over 50) represent between 26 – 34% of new start ups in developed countries. This chapter discusses the specific barriers they face when considering or setting up a new business venture. The chapter also identifies policy interventions that may help to reduce some of these barriers.
Chapter reference – Squire H (2020) Understanding the barriers faced by older entrepreneurs: A case study of a ‘Silver Workers’ project pp 123 – 144 in Entrepreneurship Education: A lifelong Learning Approach (ed Sawang). Springer
The Ostrava Declaration was signed by governments and commits them to a series of actions including:
“to consider equity, social inclusion and gender equality in our policies on the environment and health, also with respect to access to natural resources and to the benefits of ecosystems”;
“improving indoor and outdoor air quality for all, as one of the most important environmental risk factors in the Region, through actions to meet the values of the WHO air quality guidelines in a continuous process of improvement”;
“to actively support open, transparent and relevant research on established and emerging environment and health risks in order to strengthen the evidence-base to guide policy-making and preventative action.”
As such the WHO has co-ordinated a range of experts to meet and support the above commitments.
Environmental Health Inequalities in Europe: Second Assessment Report
Systematic Reviews
Teams of international experts were asked to carry out systematic reviews on a number of themes. Working with a team of colleagues in Germany we looked at air quality and social inequalities in the region.
Main findings of the systematic review into air quality
There is good evidence from ecological studies that higher deprivation indices and low economic position are usually linked with higher levels of pollutants such as particulate matter (particulate matter under 2.5 and 10 microns in diameter, PM2.5, PM10) and oxides of nitrogen (e.g., NO2, and NOx). There is also evidence that ethnic minorities experience a mixed exposure in comparison to the majority population being sometimes higher and sometimes lower depending on the ethnic minority under consideration. The studies using data at the individual level in this review are mainly focused on pregnant women or new mothers, in these studies deprivation and ethnicity are more likely to be linked to higher exposures of poor air quality. Therefore, there is evidence in this review that the burden of higher pollutants falls disproportionally on different social groups.
Here is a short film about the paper
References – open access and free
Fairburn, J.; Schüle, S.A.; Dreger, S.; Karla Hilz, L.; Bolte, G. Social Inequalities in Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution: A Systematic Review in the WHO European Region. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health2019, 16, 3127. htt://mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/17/3127
Other systematic reviews in the series
The other four systematic reviews in the series are available open access:
The resource package explains key concepts and terms associated with the concept of environmental health inequalities and aims to support actions against disparities in exposure to environmental risk at the national and subnational level. The document presents methods for monitoring and assessment and suggests ways to use this evidence for action. It also provides information on a range of tools and guidance documents for those tackling environmental inequalities and striving to improve health and health equity.
About the author
I have been working in the area of environmental inequalities/environmental justice for over 20 years. If you are interested in this subject you can also follow me on twitter @ProfJonFairburn where I also maintain a specific air quality list. You can find my other publications in this area on our eprints system and on my google scholar profile.
Paul Dobson, Senior Lecturer, Staffordshire Business School
At Staffordshire Business School we support businesses as part of our courses and I’m aware that some takeaways are doing really well, especially as their customers do not want to go to the shops, queue up, be too close to other people, etc. But we’ve been told to expect a recession, possible depression, plus we have Brexit and there are concerned about the environment, so the way ahead is going to be tough. My last blog to help hotels and bed & breakfasts post lockdown received a lot of positive feedback but the restaurants and takeaways I support requested that I could do a blog for them so, I’ve written some top tips.
1.Reduce costs
Look throughout your organisation where you can reduce running costs, for example I’ve helped takeaways reduce their online ordering costs by over 50% by looking around for better and cheaper systems, enabling ordering direct and not through other platforms, Facebook now has a free online ordering system, other e-commerce systems including a website has substantially reduce their cost and are now just a small one-off price. See if you can reduce your supply costs for example: a local restaurant and takeaway to me has reduced their electricity costs by 15%.
2. Watch and learn what’s happening abroad and in retail
Keep an eye on what is happening with restaurants in countries ahead of the curve and how they are adapting. Retail shops are opening but in a post-Covid-19 more spaced and structured way. There are some good learning points being shown but also what issues/blockages they have and how they’ve got over it. Look at how the best are using their social media such as YouTube to raise their profile and showing how they’re safe. Trust is becoming a key area of importance in many areas ahead of this pandemic curve, use your social media to help gain this trust.
If you haven’t already; go online properly. Don’t rely on third-party platforms who take a percentage of your money and don’t think that a PDF document showing your menu is enough. It’s going to get even more competitive. There are some I’ve already seen that are burying their head in the sand…don’t do this or you could be one of those closing.
4. Do not suddenly re-appear post lockdown
There are great examples out there how restaurants and takeaways are continuing to market their restaurant on social media in areas that are important to customers, for example takeaways showing disinfecting their insulated food delivery bags, extensive cleaning in their kitchens, personal protection equipment, how they’re developing their customer protection and so on. Social media videos are working really well at the moment so you need to enhance your marketing.
5. Mobile is king
One of the takeaways I support has over 70% of their orders via smartphones. It is no longer the case their customers look on their mobile and order via a laptop or computer, they do the whole lot on their mobile. If your website isn’t mobile friendly, you can lose at least 53% of your online clients and your website needs to load in less than 3 seconds because around an additional 27% drop off if it’s too slow. Your website speed can be easily tested at http://testmysite.withgoogle.com/
6. Try and develop your entrepreneurial spirit
Look to
develop other products and services. Some
restaurants I work with have:
setup subscription boxes where they include cooking instructions or paid membership sites with videos and food deliveries
some have developed frozen versions to be cooked at home
a pizza takeaway has developed a separate salad takeaway business
some have developed drop off points for their meals
I’m working with one restaurant to develop and sell aprons, baseball caps and t-shirts with their brand on. What can you do?
7. Learn from the best
Domino’s marketing is really good, they know my last order, they email me a prompt at the same day and time as my ordering time from the previous week offering me an easy click option to re-order plus they have what looks like great offers for my customer type (family with adult kids). They don’t make the best pizzas in my area, but they do a good prompt at the right time and make it very easy to order. Other local takeaways know my details and order preferences as I’ve signed into their website giving my contact details…and yet they don’t prompt me. I don’t even get emails or offers from most of them. Have a look around at what others are doing and learn from the best. As a minimum you should be capturing your customer contact details and keeping in touch.
In addition, look to develop and improve your marketing in all areas not just online, the graphics, the text, the menus, what your offering, and so on. Look for what the best organisations are doing, for example in the US and how can you adapt this to improve your marketing.
Your customers are concerned about hygiene and avoiding contact, use technology to be better and cheaper. Your customers should not have to touch a pen or receipts or have their card taken away to be put in a card machine. Everything should be contact free. They should be able to go totally contactless using their mobile phone and their receipts should be emailed to them.
9. Look at the numbers
If you have
a website, you should be getting weekly statistics including what your
customers are doing and where the blockages are. This is important information, in just 10
minutes I enabled a 100% increase in takeaway orders just by pointing out where
the barriers are for customers and how to get over them.
Do a user
test, find someone who’s not seen your website before, give them a task, for
example buy a vegetarian or meat feast pizza for delivery, and watch how they
use your site. Do not prompt or guide
them and see if you can learn from this to improve the customer journey to
increase sales.
The websites analytics should also give you the keywords customers are using to find your website. Are they looking for meals or services that you don’t currently provide, and you could? – If customers are looking for these meals you know your onto a winner.
10. Create a Wow factor
As a family of four we take turns to order one takeaway per week so we like to try different meals. In our town the pizzerias all offer the same types of pizzas, there’s virtually no difference between them and none of them have tried to educate and sell Roman, Sicilian or Detroit style pizzas. None have talked about milling their own flour onsite or getting their flour from a local stone mill and therefore they have a low carbon footprint. I’m not aware of any of them demonstrating their special techniques or trying to raise their personal brand. Have a look around and see what you can use to develop a wow factor in your restaurant and takeaway.
Angela Lawrence, Associate Dean, Staffordshire Business School
There
are lots of things that make me happy, but not many of them are material
things. My “thing” is more profound, more enduring and gives me a far greater
sense of purpose and contentment. Over the years, my thing has changed, adapted
and moved in different directions, but it comes down to this – seeing things
grow and develop into beautiful entities that I appreciate and am proud of yields
more happiness than anything tactile you could gift to me.
So, watching my children grow into independent, hard-working adults that I am so proud of makes me happy. Seeing them enjoy the delights of parenthood themselves brings me great delight. Watching their children, my grandchildren, blossom and thrive in a world full of confusion and mixed messages, knowing that they love me unconditionally, is priceless.
Greeting students on their first day at university, nurturing them through the highs and lows of academic life, watching them mature and grow over years of study, applauding proudly at their graduation and then following the development of their careers on LinkedIn or Twitter gives me a huge sense of pride and hope for the future. Over my career, few jobs have ever made me as happy as I feel on graduation day.
I must make mention of the gift of nature and the delights of watching seedlings emerge from warm soil in the springtime, cultivating and raising those seedlings at my allotment to be strong independent plants that delight me and provide sustenance, both for my dinner table and to share with others – never forget the delights of sharing. The pleasures I gain from growing at the allotment are more profound and not only make me happy but provide head space for me to escape from the complications of modern life. I am in my absolute element when rummaging in the soil and watering my crops. Thinking time is so good and fresh air so invigorating.
I never would have thought 40 years ago that I would say studying makes me happy, but it does. Who would have known that I would still be studying? Yet here I am, halfway through my Doctorate in Education and thriving on it. Pondering why this should be so, I believe it is about being able to express myself, able to share with others what fascinates and challenges me, in the knowledge that I will bring something fresh and new to my field of study. At times I forget how much this matters to me, when deadlines are looming and time is precious, but it is always worth the effort and undoubtedly will be so when I cross that platform to receive the title of Doctor.
In all
of this there is a theme of nurturing, be it people, plants, thoughts or words.
Incredibly we don’t need money or objects to nurture, we just need to be
ourselves and to learn to derive happiness from the small things that we can
control in our lives. It’s true what they say – all the money in the world
cannot buy you happiness. Find your “thing” and create your own – smile and be
happy!
Paul Dobson, Senior LEcturer,Staffordshire Business School
It’s been a challenging, confusing and worrying time for
most industries during this current Coronavirus Crisis. But the hospitality
sector in particular stands to be one of the hardest hit as it struggles to
contemplate how it can continue to trade successfully keeping social distancing
in mind, coupled with a rapidly shrinking economy. As part of Staffordshire Business School’s
support to organisations I’ve been supporting the local and international hospitality
sector and as the French businesses are ahead of us in coming out of lockdown
I’ve noted some points to help prepare UK organisations.
After 2 months enduring some of the strictest lockdown
controls in Europe, France is slowly opening up its economy and society. And
the vast, hugely varied accommodation sector, which historically welcomes
visitors across the world, is undergoing a rapid and radical revolution to
ensure it can continue to attract customers in these unprecedented times.
The newly forced need to keep distance and natural sense of
personal safety has fallen well into the hands of some of the self-catering
sector. Private homes and villas, especially those that can offer generous
outside space as well as little or no contact with others, have seen a huge
demand since the 11th of May when the French Prime Minister
officially declared that travel up to 100km was now permitted. The public, who
have been largely “imprisoned” with massively limited scope to be outside their
own homes since the middle of March inevitably have an overwhelming desire for
a change of scenery. However, this is not a universal permission and policy,
and restricted zones still exist across France, and indeed many local
governments, even in the less-infected “green regions” are enforcing the
continuation of heavy trading restrictions and forced closures of accommodation
providers. But where these rules do not apply, the flood gates have opened and
demand, all from customers within the 100km radius, has been significant. Also
worthy of note is that the average length of stay has seen a dramatic increase
for this time of year.
That’s not to say that this is return to normal times for these accommodation owners. French hospitality organisations have had a massive increase in questions about sanitation, personal responsibility and uniform industry standards on cleanliness and contact that the UK accommodation businesses will need to be prepared for when lockdown restrictions are relaxed. As of today, these restrictions haven’t been totally clarified in France, and only “best practice” guides from local tourism authorities exist online. Some of the leading booking platforms and websites for this sub sector are advising “safety gaps” between customers of, for example, 24 hours to allow any surfaces to become less likely to cross contaminate in the future. What is apparent from discussions with French hospitality businesses is that there is an increased desire for customers to have “direct online contact” with the service rather than through online booking platforms. This could be a welcome shift in attitude as this not only allows peace of mind for the customer, but also less commissions for the business owner to pay to the booking platforms which have come under much public criticism and scrutiny of late because of their high charges. One of the French businesses I’ve talked to has had an 800% increase in Facebook messages, their analytics has shown an increase in both mobile and desktop visitors to their website and the number of emails has increased by over 200% compared to last year.
The B&B (Chambres d’hote) and Hotel sector have reported
an uphill challenge. With a mix of different guests under their roofs, all with
potentially varying attitudes to respecting the new government guidelines, this
poses a significant threat to their short- and medium-term existence. However, those
that can offer genuine space, especially outside, have a clear advantage over
those that cannot. Going from one restrictive box to another isn’t likely to be
a great draw for the new discerning needs of the Covid-19 era traveller. Forced confinement has brought about a new
desire to be out and about in nature, and burn off all those excessive calories
consumed since March.
But with the high season fast approaching during which these
businesses would traditionally run at maximum occupancy, the reality is that
these organisations will be forced to not only give “buffers” in between guests
checking out and the next ones checking in, but also run at a lower occupancy
to ensure that interaction between different customers is minimized. Therefore
“Making Hay whilst the sun shines” will this year inevitably bring about a
lower yield, and reduce the vital cashflow which sustains many of these
businesses during the quieter months.
An example of changes implemented is the hotelier Tim Bell and Ingrid Boyer in the Auvergne region of Central France. Tim has developed their website to include a link to their Covid-19 guidance on their home page (see https://chabanettes.com/). This is updated on a regular basis and outlines their commitment to client’s safety. He implements rapid alterations to its usual offerings and has created the foundations for business continuity and customer confidence. He has also set up a Facebook forum for like minded accommodation owners in Europe seeking support and advice. Tim collates industry data, statistics and best practice ideas from all over the accommodation sector and share his opinions and advice with the group.
The sector in which he operates is having to rethink more
radically about its traditional services to ensure competitivity and customer
confidence. This ranges from the provision of catering which is leaning
initially more towards a “Room Service” culture to a complete overhaul of the
check-in/check-out customer touch points, looking to technology and globally
recognised physical safety barriers to reduce risk of viral spread. For an
industry which relies heavily on close, personal contact for their reputation
and overall experience, keeping a balance between customer satisfaction and
safety is proving challenging, but not impossible. Clients now expect a more
sterile and distanced world, with supermarkets leading the way in some innovation
and rethinking of the customer journey that the hotels are learning from, such
as one-way corridors.
Until the world is safely vaccinated against the virus, the accommodation industry will have to adapt quickly and radically to guidelines, legislation and customer fears. History has told us that businesses that do this will have the best chance of survival, and those that don’t not only fear a downturn in business, but also a very visible online reputation for ignoring what is now the number one priority for the 2020 traveller – Safety.
