What makes a great GM?

By HMA Staff 03 September 2010

tags: general manager GM HR recruitment

Being at the helm of a hotel is no easy task. General managers need to be not just qualified and experienced, but also to possess a genuine desire to serve, to be versatile and quick thinking, have good numeracy skills, and to be able to keep a clear head in a stressful situation. They need excellent communication and interpersonal skills, especially when dealing with speakers of other languages, and to have the energy levels to cope with the long hours that go hand in hand with the job.
In a bid to identify which qualities really make a general manager stand out, we asked several regional industry representatives for their views. Here are their thoughts.

Mark Keith, managing director, HVS Executive Search
For a GM, or any hotelier’s job, performance is determined by three components: First, what they do, their choice of actions and their areas of competencies; second, how they do it, this is the quality issue, the area where impeccability versus sloppiness shows up; and third, how they are being, their nature. This is the Holy Grail of distinguishing talent. For a hotelier, this means being empowering, inspired, accountable and self-generating. The opposing way of being - and the tennis elbow or fatigue response for burn out in a service industry – is cynicism, apathy, resignation, making others responsible for things going wrong, hiding things, and people only doing what they are told.
This third area is what we assess for. It’s easy to find out what people do and how they do it, but the whole impact is altered dramatically by how people are being. The instant clues are body language, the words people use and their reaction to stimuli.

Kuno Fasel, chief operating officer, Como Hotels & Resorts
A good general manager has to have the right attitude. They have to have worked at a certain level and have been a GM before. They have to be able to multi-task, and to know operationally how things should be. A general manager has to be knowledgeable about many, many aspects. They should have had a base of being in all the different departments, and then when an employee comes to them with a problem, they understand it. Finally, you have to be an all-rounder and to know how to manage people.

Ray Bigger, people architect, Think 8
My list would include: someone who is whole brain thinking, an innovative thinker, has great people skills and demonstrates that ability constantly, is decisive, someone who lets others lead, who has the ability to listen, who knows his strengths and weaknesses, challenges assumptions, is regularly visible to guests at check-in and check-out, and finally someone who really understands what ‘people alignment’ means across the business and walks the talk.

Andrew Hirst, operations director Asia, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group
Somebody who is happy, somebody who is self-confident, somebody who is not egotistical, someone who genuinely likes people and when I say people I mean his customers, the people who work for him, his suppliers, as well as the public. [A general manager should be] somebody who feels good about what he does, somebody who is genuinely passionate, as well as somebody who is open to change, and moving to different ways.

Eric Levy, senior vice president development, Pan Pacific Hotels Group
A couple of things stand out. First, a general manager should be someone who is a good leader. Hotels are a personnel intensive business and need a good leader to keep everyone energized and focused on product delivery and to do the basics. Second, a general manager should be someone who has the ability to think strategically and not just be process orientated.

ADD YOUR VIEWS

What qualities do you perceive as making a general manager great as opposed to merely good?

Some interesting

Submitted by Michele Howe on 3 September 2010 - 4:58pm

Some interesting observations here on what makes a great GM from hotel marketing coach Neil Salerno.
http://www.hotelmarketingcoach.com/best_hotel_general_manager_i.htm

Michele Howe, Editor, Hotel Management Asia

A light hearted comment on

Submitted by Heribert Gaksch on 2 September 2010 - 10:17am

A light hearted comment on "What nakes a great GM?"

A hotelier must be a diplomat, a democrat, an autocrat, an acrobat, and a doormat.

He must have the facility to entertain prime ministers, princes of industry, pickpockets, gamblers, bookmakers, pirates, philanthropists, and prudes. He must be on both sides of the political fence and be able to jump that fence.

He should be, or has been a footballer, golfer, bowler, tennis player, cricketer, dart player, sailor, and pigeon fancier, must know about motor sports, games involving dice, cards, horses and pool cues.

As he, sometimes, has to settle arguments and squabbles; he must be a qualified boxer, wrestler, weight-lifter, sprinter and peacemaker

He must always look immaculate when drinking with ladies and gentlemen-as well as with bankers, swankers, theatricals, commercial travelers, and company representatives, even though he may have just made the peace between two, four, six or more of the aforementioned patrons.

To be successful he must keep the bar full, the house full, the storeroom full, the wine cellar full and the customers full but not get full, himself. He must have staff who are clean, honest, quick workers, quick thinkers, non-drinkers, mathematicians, technicians, and at all times on the boss’s side, the customer’s side, and the outside of the bar.

To sum up – he must be outside, inside, offside, glorified, sanctified, crucified, cross-eyed, and, if he’s not the strong silent type, there’s always suicide!