Talent Development Key As Recovery Takes Hold

　　SAN FRANCISCO—As hotel companies cut the fat during the downturn, one of the first areas to go was talent development. But now that profits and prosperity have returned to much of the industry, human resource professionals must learn to rebuild the bench to improve the skill sets of their workforce, panelists at the 6th Annual HR in Hospitality Conference & Expo said this week.

　　“There’s clearly a need … as we continue to expand and as the economy starts to recover, are you going to have people in the queue for those next jobs?” asked JoAnne Kruse, founder of HCpartners and moderator of a breakout panel titled “Rebuilding the Bench: Strategies for Improving Your Organization’s Talent Depth.”

　　It’s not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. At Hilton Worldwide, for example, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Matthew Schuyler must juggle approximately 3,800 properties in 88 countries.

　　“For us, talent development in emerging markets is obviously critical and a little bit of an every-man-for-himself type endeavor,” he said.

　　In emerging countries such as China, the company struggles just to fill each box with enough bodies, whereas the process of finding and developing talent in more mature markets such as the United States is more sophisticated, Schuyler said.

　　With 55 hotels, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurant Group LLC can take a more personal approach, said Leslie Lerude, the company’s VP of people and culture. Such tactics include mentoring programs with top executives and committees for hourly employees.

　　The HR team at Denihan Hospitality Group, with 13 properties, has taken an even further step back, said Greg Smith, executive VP of HR.

　　“We think it is important to really think about what talent is,” he said. “Whom is talented, and what makes up that, and how does that fit into our organization?”

　　Assessing talent

　　One of the biggest challenges is simply identifying talent for each hotel. Often that “talent profile” is tied directly into the brand identity at respective properties.

　　Denihan’s James brand, for example, is trendy and cutting-edge. As such, Smith and his HR teams look for employees who have those same characteristics. “We tend to hire young, aspiring artists,” he said.

　　Whereas at the company’s Surrey hotel, the company seeks talent that is more traditional and buttoned-up.

　　Hilton’s HR team takes the same approach, Schuyler said. “The personality of the brand is defined mostly by the brand standards and grounded in the customer service promise. … We take into account the personality of the brand to define the capabilities of the work force.”

　　At Kimpton, however, the company is more concerned about universal characteristics that transcend brand identities.

　　“We hire for care,” Lerude said. “We hire for integrity.”

　　Developing talent

　　The only way to develop talent is to truly understand what an employee needs, the panelists agreed.

　　“You start with first making sure you understand what it is they want and what it is they want to do. We often don’t really know that much about the people who work with us,” Smith said. “Really understanding what the individual needs. … what makes them happy. … If you can tap into that, you can find out where they want to go, they’ll do whatever you ask them to.”

　　That process can be incredibly frustrating, however, Schuyler said. A company can spend time and resources trying to get into the heads of its employees, only to find they don’t really want what they said they did. He cited one particular employee who kept clamoring for an opportunity to move overseas, but when the opportunity was presented, that same employee declined and said he’d rather stay at the same hotel after all.

　　Another challenge is overprotective GMs who guard their talent like inmates in a prison, the panelists agreed.

　　One way to overcome that hurdle is by making talent development a key part of GM performance benchmarking, Lerude said. There exist tools that help measure talent across a company, and Kimpton makes its GMs keep track of their talent and who they are developing.

　　It’s become a metric as important as revenue-per-available-room index or occupancy, she said.

　　Smith has found certain GMs are particularly adept at finding and developing talent, Smith said. “You have to reward them. You have to make it worth their while to take on new people and train them,” he said.

　　At Hilton, talent development is part of GMs’ “bonus-able” objectives, Schuyler said.

　　Key takeaways

　　Moderator Kruse ended the session by asking each panelist for the most important piece of advice they could share regarding talent development.

　　“The No. 1 thing is when your employees feel that they’re personally invested in,” Lerude said.

　　“I would tell them that it is really important if you’re the HR business leader to understand the culture of your organization,” Smith said. “We do a very good job of identifying the people with the technical skills, the education, the background to really establish a core group of people to grow and move the business. But sometimes we don’t understand the culture of our business. … It’s not just about the skills … it’s understanding what you stand for.”

　　Schuyler has found most hotel leaders are short-term focused in nature. They create checklists for themselves and tackle those problems that are immediately pressing.

　　Therefore, it helps to create check lists as it relates to the people aspect of the business, too, he said. “If you can get all the noise stripped away and turn the actions that you want your leaders to demonstrate in terms of actionable lists, you get more traction in this industry.”