The Hotel CEO Who Initiated a Dialogue Rather than an Instruction
This story is about how curiosity transforms performance management into organisational learning.
The organisation had asked for performance management.
At least that is what everyone believed.
The mandate sounded straightforward.
Improve performance. Increase profitability.
Strengthen accountability. Introduce structure. Measure outcomes.
The objectives were sensible. The implementation began.
Managers learned. Reports improved.
Discussions became more disciplined.
Departments became increasingly aligned. People started asking better questions.
At first, the questions were operational.
Then commercial. Then strategic.
Then something unexpected happened.
The questions started travelling upwards.
Department Heads wanted clarity. The General Managers wanted clarity.
The senior leadership team wanted clarity.
Eventually, the same questions began appearing repeatedly.
What are our objectives? What assumptions are they based upon?
What are we trying to become? What are we optimising for?
The questions were not rebellious. They were logical.
The organisation was learning.
And learning organisations tend to become curious.
When budgeting time arrived, the CEO was asking the organisation to improve profitability.
A reasonable request in any organisation.
The response from the management team was equally reasonable:
- What is our Highest and Best Use?
- What market positioning are we pursuing?
- Which customer are we targeting?
- What brand strategy supports that choice?
- How much capital are we prepared to invest?
- When will that investment occur?
- What return are we expecting?
- What organisational structure is required to deliver it?
The fascinating part was that nobody had instructed the organisation to ask these questions.
The organisation had taught itself.
Performance management had created curiosity.
And curiosity has a remarkable quality.
Once it takes hold, it becomes difficult to reverse.
There was no hostility in these questions.
No resistance. No politics.
Simply a request for clarity in order to plan and execute effectively.
What followed was a growing realisation that important assumptions about who the organisation was, where it wanted to go, and what it ultimately wanted to become had never been fully articulated.
Eventually, the discussion returned to management itself: Tell us what you believe we can achieve. Tell us what you need to achieve it.
What had started as a project about measurement gradually became a conversation about direction.
Many people believe performance management is about measurement.
I have gradually come to a different conclusion.
Performance management is fundamentally about setting expectations.
Measurement simply reveals whether those expectations have been achieved.
The difficult part is rarely the measurement.
The difficult part is defining the expectations first.
Once people understand how a business works, they naturally begin asking why it works the way it does.
What started as a discussion about performance eventually became a discussion about purpose, positioning, capital, structure, and strategy.
Governance begins with that clarity, because expectations define decision rights, accountability, information flows, and ultimately the basis upon which performance can be assessed.
And not merely the financial expectations.
Looking back, I believe this was the real success of the project.
Not the reports. Not the systems.
Not the numbers. Not the measurement.
The organisation had learned how to think and had begun discovering what it was and what it wanted to achieve.
Thank you for reading my story.
This story is part of a series—”The Banana Republic Hotel and What It Taught Me About Myself”—in which I share lessons learned throughout my professional and personal journey and how those experiences have shaped my thinking and led me to develop my own principles.
If you enjoyed reading the story and have the appetite to read another one, you are invited to visit G&A’s website, in particular its INSIGHTS page, where you can find all stories.
Alternatively, click here to be taken to the next story.
I hope it has provided some food for thought, encouraged curiosity, and inspired you to keep learning.
Curiosity, humility, and continuous learning remain among the most valuable tools we possess.
Terminology for non-hoteliers:
- SOP: Standard Operating Procedure – a documented process describing how a task should be performed to ensure consistency, quality, and compliance.
- KPIs: Key Performance Indicators – measurable indicators used to monitor performance and progress against objectives.
- ADR: Average Daily Rate – the average room rate paid by guests.
- RevPAR: Revenue per Available Room – a measure combining occupancy and room rate to assess hotel revenue performance.
- Occupancy: The percentage of available rooms that are occupied.
- DOF: Double Occupancy Factor – the average number of guests staying in each occupied room. A DOF of 1.0 means every occupied room has one guest; 2.0 means every occupied room has two guests.
- AGC: Average Guest Check – the average amount spent by each guest in a restaurant, bar, or other food and beverage outlet.
- CRS: Central Reservation System – the central booking system that manages a hotel’s room inventory, rates, and reservations across all sales channels.
- PMS: Property Management System – the software used to manage reservations, guest accounts, and hotel operations.
- OTA: Online Travel Agency – websites such as Booking.com or Expedia that sell hotel rooms on behalf of hotels.
- GDS: Global Distribution System – a worldwide booking network used by travel agents and corporate travel departments to reserve hotel rooms, flights, and other travel services.
- CRM: Customer Relationship Management – systems and processes used to manage guest relationships and marketing.
- F&B: Food & Beverage Department – all restaurant, bar, banquet, room service, and catering operations within a hotel.
- Half-Board: A hotel meal plan that includes breakfast and one additional meal each day, usually dinner. Drinks other than those specifically included are generally charged separately.
- MICE: Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events – the hotel business related to corporate meetings, conferences, exhibitions, and incentive travel.
- ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning – an integrated software system that connects key business functions such as finance, procurement, inventory, human resources, sales, and reporting into a single platform.
- USALI: Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry – the internationally recognised accounting standard used by hotels to measure and compare financial performance.
- GOP: Gross Operating Profit – the operating profit generated by the hotel before management fees, rent, financing costs, depreciation, taxes, and other non-operating expenses.
- EBITDA: Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation – a widely used measure of an organisation’s operating profitability.
- COS: Cost of Sales – the direct cost of producing the goods sold, such as food, beverages, or merchandise, expressed as an amount or percentage of revenue.
- FTE: Full-Time Equivalent – a standard measure of staffing that converts part-time and seasonal employees into the equivalent number of full-time employees.
About the Author
Raoul Gransier is a Senior International Adviser and owner-focused hotelier with more than 30 years of operational and advisory experience in hospitality, tourism, governance, and performance improvement.
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