This newsletter is brought to you by Sojern. If you want to engage (and delight) your guests at every stage of the travel process, check out their new playbook.
Culture can accelerate growth and build longevity for an organization. But while culture is easy to talk about, it’s hard to lead well.
I've been on a mission to go beyond the press releases and marketing speak to figure out who really leads great cultures. When I've asked the people I respect most in hospitality about this, Steve Palmer's name has come up again and again for his work at The Indigo Road Hospitality Group. That’s why I'm thrilled to have him join us to share his thoughts on culture and what he's learned along the way. Read on for more…
TOGETHER WITH SOJERN
The “funnel” offers a roadmap for understanding a guest's journey from dreaming about travel to booking a stay at your hotel. It is broken down into four key stages: Discovery, Planning, Booking, and the Guest Experience. Learn how this framework can guide you in effectively attracting, engaging, and delighting guests at each stage.
How We Cultivate A Thriving Culture
Steve Palmer // Credit: The Indigo Road Hospitality Group
Steve Palmer is the founder and chief vision officer of The Indigo Road Hospitality Group, and this week joins us to share what he’s learned about creating and leading a thriving organizational culture. You can listen to us here on the podcast, and I’ve summarized a few of my top takeaways below.
Culture Drives Financial Performance
Steve sees such a strong connection between a positive culture and increased profitability that he calls it “culture as a business model.”
Our most profitable businesses are the ones where we have the best culture.
Takeaway: Investing in a positive culture will lead to returns in profitability and employee satisfaction.
Challenge: What improvements can you make that would enhance both employee satisfaction and, as a result, business profitability?
What a Strong Culture Feels Like
According to Steve, employees in a strong culture are engaged, relaxed, and passionate about their work.
I can walk into the lobby of one of our hotels... I can tell you instantly if our culture is right or not.
Takeaway: Observing employee behavior on the ground is an important, quick indicator of the health of your organizational culture.
Challenge: How can you cultivate an environment where employees feel passionate and engaged in their roles?
The Importance of Internal Hospitality
Steve emphasized the importance of what he calls “internal hospitality” within The Indigo Road Hospitality Group, highlighting how it fundamentally impacts the business.
It is our job to come to work with empathy, kindness, leadership, direction, and accountability.
The Family Meal
Many restaurants have a team meal, but Steve is bringing the concept to his hotels as a way to build team unity—something especially important given how many departments a hotel has.
Everyone in the hotel gets a hot meal from us every single day.
Takeaway: Sharing meals can strengthen teams and create a sense of community within the workplace.
Challenge: How can you implement a daily shared meal or similar activity to enhance team cohesion and morale?
Go Above And Beyond To Support Your People
I was really impressed by the breadth of support Steve offers his teams, from mental health resources to an interest-free home loan buying program (!!) to structural support:
We have a support team that just roams the country... covering shifts, and making sure people are getting days off.
Takeaway: Offering comprehensive support and ensuring adequate rest for employees helps maintain a positive work environment and high morale.
Challenge: How can you implement a support system that ensures your employees are well-rested and supported?
Measure The Strength of Your Culture
Steve does this in multiple ways, including surveys:
We do anonymous employee satisfaction surveys. It's profound what you learn when people aren’t afraid they’ll get into trouble by saying “the wrong thing.”
Takeaway: Honest feedback from employees, gathered through anonymous surveys, provides valuable insights into the health of the company culture.
Challenge: How can you ensure that your employee feedback mechanisms effectively capture honest and constructive input?
Follow-up Actions:
Implement anonymous suggestion boxes or digital feedback forms.
Hold regular town hall meetings where employees can voice their opinions without fear of reprisal.
Act on the feedback received and communicate changes to staff.
How Mentorship Fuels Indigo Road’s Culture
Credit: The Indigo Road Hospitality Group
Steve followed up on our conversation on culture with another episode today on one area of culture development - mentorship - that’s vital for building and scaling a thriving organization. I encourage you to listen now to learn about:
Steve’s Approach to Mentorship - his views on the responsibility and privilege of mentoring, and how mentorship can turn a job into a lifelong, satisfying career in hospitality.
Creating Roadmaps for Growth - the benefits of a growing company and the opportunities it creates for employees.
Mentorship Programs at Indigo Road - details on the mentorship program for new leaders, and the importance of keeping employees inspired and aligned with core values.
Promoting from Within - the strategy of promoting from within to sustain and nurture company culture, and the advantages of moving experienced employees to new locations.
Real-life Examples of Promotion and Growth - specific examples of employees being promoted and relocated to new cities, and the excitement and growth opportunities for young, ambitious employees.
In case you missed it…
Listen to my other episodes with Steve:
And that’s a wrap! This email was handmade for you—it took me 58 minutes to write this. If you found it helpful, I’d be very grateful if you could forward it to a friend or colleague who might also enjoy it.
Click here to forward this email.
(Or, if it’s your first time reading this, you can subscribe here.)
A few final things:
If you have any thoughts, ideas, questions, or suggestions for Hospitality Daily, please reply to this email. I’d love to hear from you.
If you’d like a private community where you can discuss things like this and ask other hotel operators and investors questions that you can’t just Google or ask ChatGPT, the Hospitality Daily Huddle might be a good fit.
If you have a product or service that would benefit the hospitality professionals who read, listen to, and watch Hospitality Daily, let’s work together to help you help more people.
Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you here tomorrow.
-Josiah
