KNOWLEDGE SHARING

by 

CHIC Hospitality Consulting Services

Practical Solutions for People Management

Do you know people (acquaintances, friends or even relatives) who fail to inform you when something joyous occurs, such as a wedding or the birth of a child or a sudden financial gain, but who do not fail to call you when misfortune strikes, expecting you to wallow in their grief and offer support? This is a bit what happens between Managers and the people they manager (department heads, supervisors, rank-and-file employees).

During these holidays, it would serve managers well to dedicate 2-4 hours for some deep thought about what they share with employees and how they are perceived by employees ("employees" here also stands for their Department Heads or Supervisors).

When owners and managers do not share information with their employees, they let imaginations run wild, lead to frustration, lack of motivation and involvement, and even pave the way to employee theft and fraud.

Information leads to understanding and understanding leads to a sharing of goals. Forget fears of losing supervisors and employees through education, training and information. You GAIN employees' long-standing loyalty when you treat them as trustful adults. Even the lowest ranking employees, such as dishwashers or floor sweepers, have a thirst for knowledge and for being involved in the company's success.

Employee turnover occurs because many managers fail to discover and show their appreciation of the value of employees. The biggest acknowledgment of their value is when you treat them as intelligent adults, share information with them and listen to their input.

On my very first day at Jerusalem Hilton as Training Manager we organized a "communications meeting" (training session) in the Stewards Department (kitchen cleaners and dishwashers). Their Department Head was concerned about the big cost of broken chinaware and glassware, damaged and lost silverware, and the cost of additional labor hours due to improper use of detergents. He totally embraced the concept of sharing information with his employees and scheduled a general meeting for the same night (11:30pm) so we could also cover the night shift.

He prepared data on a flip chart, showing them the department's yearly budget, with itemized figures for payroll, purchases and replacement purchases for items, comparing with actual expenses incurred due to negligence. It was presented as a lesson. They asked questions, which he answered. It was the first time ever that they learned what a burden their department was on the entire hotel operation. He offered them an incentive right there and then "If we succeed in cutting down these losses by 50% in six months, each employee will receive a bonus of $X"; and "If we succeed in totally eliminating loss and breakage, we will be in a position to increase the salaries of employees in this department by $Y or would not have to lay off employees". They got excited.

He offered some more general figures. It was the first time they realized that the operation's gross income got drained along the way leading to a low net income. They saw how all details added up to expenses. They began understanding the reasons for dismissals and layoffs. Their mindset was being changed. They now wanted to learn more. They wanted to hear how they could improve performance. Actually, from a totally robotic group they were turning into an involved team in one meeting around midnight and none of them seemed anxious to go home.

He used the opportunity to go over some correct work procedures with them, explaining why certain detergents had to be used in certain ways and in certain quantities, why floors should be kept clean and safe from hazards. How electric equipment should be maintained.

At the end of the meeting they asked: "When is our next lesson?"

We both saw at this meeting how involved you could get even the almost illiterate people when you treat them as equals. We also heard intelligent questions and suggestions. They made suggestions which could definitely improve departmental performance.

Following this meeting, breakage, theft, and accidents decreased sharply. We also gained a motivated team who started asking if they could train in other departments such as the Service Department (Waiters) or the Culinary Department (Chefs). The possibility for career improvement enhanced motivation still further.

WE WON THE GOODWILL AND EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE OF EMPLOYEES THROUGH THE SHARING OF KNOWLEDGE AND KNOW-HOW.

No company "secrets" were revealed - nothing that would benefit competitors, nothing that would lead employees to seek employment elsewhere. There were no negatives. Only positives. 

The above style and results repeated themselves in different departments. Each department required its custom-tailored "communications meeting". Since I began with past examples, I will give one more: When I selected a Supervisor or Department Head to attend a paid course or seminar, that person was expected to share the information and knowledge gained with others in the organization: upper management ( verbally or through a written report), peers, and employees of his (or her) department. The knowledge spread throughout the organization. We did not pay good money for a person to be able to draw only personal benefit - it was a strategic plan. The person who attended the course or seminar was expected to improve his (or her) management style accordingly (if the lesson was found valuable).

Department Heads and employees began viewing the Hotel as their "University" and wouldn't leave it for any offer by competitors. They would also never dream of "cheating the employer" or arousing discontent among others. Their focus was elsewhere: it was towards the acquisition of added knowledge and know-how. They wanted to prove to themselves and to their employer that they could make the company succeed and that they themselves could reach new heights.

Since everyone got so motivated and didn't leave we had to create some opportunities. We created quite a large number of "in-house" Management Trainee positions to allow for a slight turnover in positions. Investing in the salaries of promising Management Trainees was far less costly than having uncontrollable costs in turnover, theft, breakage, accidents, lawsuits, loss of customers and business.

At a Quality trade show, I met with the person in charge of the ISO 9000 program (Internal ISO Auditor) of IBM in Canada. He told me that they shared ALL company information with employees: they put immobile computer terminals with no "outgoing mail" or manipulation possibility in certain areas. Any employee could access any company information he wanted by calling it up on the monitor. Some companies can do likewise while others cannot. Some companies do not want to give exact financial data but they can definitely give averages, explaining what these averages represent. Despite the help of technology, personal face-to-face meetings, exchange of information and feedback are vital for the effective management of people.

The internet has enabled many people who have computers to access sources of knowledge. Again, I remind you to urge your people to share with others in your organization what they discover and learn. Many do so during work hours and seem to forget that the employer has a reason for allowing them to spend paid time researching the net.

Remind them to respect copyright. In a nutshell, copyright of "content" (such as articles) means: Unless otherwise stated, the information obtained is for single use only, i.e. you can read, enjoy and learn but not reproduce, re-sell, reprint or use for your own income (you cannot give seminars and courses with material written by others unless you sign an agreement with them and compensate them accordingly). If the author says "you may reprint this as is to distribute within your organization" then you must reprint it and distribute it "as is" and not delete any portion of it, keeping the name and address of the author or organization intact. The comparison which comes to mind is: a recipe created by an Executive Chef. He may allow you to use it at home but not to sell it or sell a course based on it.

Another note regarding the internet: Some people in organizations still do not know minimal ethics in internet communications. They still contact professionals with unidentifiable e-mail addresses (e.g.@hotmail) or with false identities. Make them understand that this puts your company in bad light. Such people just cause us waste of time to try and find out who they really are. In business communications one should be upfront (after checking whether the owner of the web site assures confidentiality and privacy). 

Home Page http://www.easytraining.com

ISSN 1496-3361 Easytraining Insights,
CHIC Hospitality Consulting, Vol. 1 #2