Dr Max’s Maldivian secret about motivating management

"People who want milk should not seat themselves in the middle of a field in the hope that a cow will back up to them." So said American author and publisher Elbert Hubbard. Tom McLoughlan is not waiting for a cow to back up to him. Neither is Selina Hicks. Tom is the Island Chief and General Manager of the Hilton Hotel Resort on Rangali Island in the Maldives. (In the Indian Ocean – South West of India and West of Sri Lanka.) http://www.maldives.hilton.com Selina is the Islander in Charge of HR and Training. Recently Tom and his team were ranked first overall in the Asia Pacific region in a Hilton Hotel guest satisfaction survey. Yet Tom and Selina understand the necessity of striving for constant and never ending improvement.

Yesterday Tom said to me “Max, our Island is regarded as one of the most beautiful resorts in the world. Yet I believe it is a mistake to simply rely on beauty to get you to and keep you at the top. We must continually motivate our team to want to give service that makes our guests say WOW! What a place.”

Management is about motivation, Max” Tom continued. “Which is why we have brought you here to share your message with our management team. Sure, we are doing well. But we must not stop. I want our managers to be the best motivators in the world. I want them to be able to impart the message to our 350 staff that every single cog is essential if the wheel if is to turn effortlessly. It matters not how big or small your job is here. It is essential to want to be the best you can possibly be. You write about that in your book The Hospitality Jungle under the heading of the Lion Principle” said Tom.

Before yesterday’s session I recalled the words of one of my mentors in motivation. Strange how Martin Luther King Jr’s words continually ring in my ears “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well!”

Until next week, I wish you good luck, good life and good fun.

Max Hitchins

The Hospitality Doctor

Marketing, motivation and management magician

http://www.HospitalityDoctor.com