Coffee Talks – Great Opportunity for Hotel Managers to Boost Employee Relations

Managers should not let go of opportunities to have friendly chats with their employees during the day, specially in casual settings. For example the manage could be walking around the hotel lobby and happens to meet one of the workers. The manager should try to utilize this chance meeting by having a friendly, short talk like asking the person how is the day going etc.

Chatting casually with the employees can have numerous benefits. It can break the ice between the management and the workers. The employees will perceive their managers as friendly, jovial people and this can have a good effect on their morale. Let’s call these casual encounters and chats as coffee talks.

Informal coffee talks can be a great way for managers to develop trust with their employees and understand them better. It can give managers a chance to help employees open up and express themselves.

The managers can also find out what issues or challenges are troubling the employees. Knowledge and understanding of the employee concerns can be helpful in helping them in a timely fashion before the problems become too big for the employee. Timely resolution of problems can lead to better employee productivity and work output.

Coffee talks should be casual and fun, but the managers have to have a keen eye, looking for clues and tell-tale signs that there could be something wrong with a particular employee. The manager has to observe and be alert for such signs, without it being obvious to the workers.

The benefit of casual coffee talks is that the employees will not have their guards up. So the manager can get to know them better.

The interactions between the management and the staff should not always be tense encounters. During meetings and at other times when the manager is asking for some report, the employees may usually feel tense, worried and reserved.

On the other hand, during the coffee talks, while you joke and have fun with them, enquire a little about their personal life, you might discover a lot more of their hidden talents, unrecognized strengths and their interests. Once armed with this knowledge, you can think of ways to utilize the various strengths and potential of different staff members for the benefit and growth of the company.

Managers can also casually ask the workers about their opinion about some decision, and ask them for suggestions and ideas. The employees may come up with and share some brilliant ideas that they may not be comfortable to share during an official meeting, because they perceive these coffee table interactions as non-official and less threatening.

If you want to truly get lot of benefit from coffee talks, keep the following points in mind:

– Try to keep the conversations as casual, friendly as possible.
– Don’t make these encounters too long
– Don’t grill the employees with questions as if you are taking an interview or something, let the conversation flow naturally and be subtle in your questioning
– Crack jokes, share funny stories, ask about their matters in a non-intrusive way
– Act normally and not like a boss
– Keep doing this over a long period of time, don’t expect magical results in a single day or week.
– The employees should get an idea that you can be friendly with them when you want and can also be tough and strict when required.