Sophie's Choice?

When we’re selecting the “right” people for the “right” team, in addition to XY different criteria, I use a simple tool.

We can mentally divide our teammates into four groups: the so-called “capable and incapable” (whatever that means to you) and the “willing and unwilling” (here, you know exactly what that means).

We cross out the “unqualified and unwilling” combination right away, because such a person wouldn’t even make it past the first round of interviews. On the other hand, we all want to hire people who are both qualified and willing. That’s kind of the holy grail of the hotel industry, isn’t it?

That leaves us with two interesting combinations. The “incompetent but willing” type consists of people who thrive primarily on routine tasks. At the beginning, you need to devote time to them, explain things thoroughly, set precise rules, and avoid changing them drastically. These people prefer “well-established routines,” but on the other hand, they’ll reward you with loyalty. They also have a greater degree of patience, will help you train other newcomers, and you can rely on them in the long term. Don’t expect creativity or initiative from them, but unless something fundamental changes in their lives that would prompt them to change, nothing will change for you either.

The situation is a bit different with the group of people who are “capable but unwilling.” Be a little careful here—these people lack motivation, or have lost it over time for various reasons. I’m not even talking about external motivation; that’s usually purely financial and short-lived, typically lasting no more than 3 months. The first step is to talk to this person, gauge their attitude, and if change is truly no longer possible and motivation is irretrievably lost, the rule “hire fast, fire faster” applies. I’m sorry, but you can’t afford to surround yourself only with so-called “followers”; above all, we need “leaders” on the team—that’s just how it is. You’re probably all familiar with the “rotten apple” theory. One unmotivated person can actually bring down the entire team.

Okay, so we’ve put together a team—what’s next? Of course, a hotelier’s decision-making doesn’t end there.

It’s similar with hotel technology—whether to purchase X or not, whether to change the hotel system or keep it as is. To help you a little with these decisions, we’ve decided to shoot a new series of videos for the Profit Hotel Concept YouTube channel.

Today, I’d like to focus on a slightly different phenomenon that’s emerged in recent years.

What if we’re faced with the question of whether to invest in people or in technology?
What options do we have?

“The wrong person combined with the wrong technology”? Obviously, we’re not going down that path. After all, that won’t lead to any extra revenue, will it?

What about “the wrong person combined with the right technology”? The truth is, this combination isn’t exactly what we’re looking for, but better technology can still bring us a little extra profit, even though human operators of these systems often have gaps in their knowledge due to ignorance, lack of training, laziness, or unwillingness. The sad fact is that, paradoxically, this option is often enough for many operators, because they may have forgotten that technology is a tool—and you need to understand it and know how to use it!

And what about the combination of “the right person and suboptimal technology”? This combination is definitely a better choice than the previous one. Why? Because a smart person knows how to handle such a situation and can work around technical imperfections. It may cost them some extra time and thought, but your revenue will still be higher than in the previous scenario.

And here we have the hotelier’s holy grail! If you’ve managed to pair the “right” person with the “right” technology, you’ve hit the jackpot! It’s still true that this winning combination gives you the best chance of achieving the best results over the long term.