Sunday, April 7 2024
Finding the right management styles for hospitality businesses and venues leads to greater guest and staff satisfaction. In this Culinary Staffing blog, we’ll walk you through the importance of hospitality management styles, the range of styles, and which one is right for you and your staff.
The importance of different management styles for hospitality businesses and venues has a tight focus on the needs of guests and employees. For guests, different management styles mean different levels and layers of attention and service. Different venues and types of guest experiences require different things from management.
As for your staff, your management style should always be supportive. Beyond that, staff needs will vary depending on their tasks and the goal of the venue. Do they need hands-on training for new processes? Does it serve you well to be more laissez-faire and let them do their work with limited supervision? Discover these answers to find your best management style.
When you hear about management styles often there are three or four that come to mind. Those are some of the basics, such as transformational, laissez-faire, democratic, or coaching leadership styles. In this list, we’ll take on a wider view of the types of management styles for hospitality businesses and venues.
You might be asking yourself “How can there be 13 different types of management styles?” The answer lies in the specificity of these management styles. On this list, you’ll find broken down styles piece by piece, with different emphases for a variety of hospitality needs. Some of these styles work for all hospitality businesses. Others work for niche events and venues.
Read on to learn how your management style can change depending on the situation and guest needs.
Transformational leadership is based on inspiring and motivating staff to help them reach their full potential. It’s all about giving staff the tools and training to grow in their own roles and areas of expertise.
Transactional leadership may sound scary, but at its root, it’s all about having clear roles, tasks, and rewards. Hiring staff is a transactional relationship, and it can be helpful in certain tasks and roles to lean on that relationship.
Servant leadership is another option that sounds less than friendly but is in reality quite lovely. This management style is all about leaders who serve the needs of their staff. They place themselves at the use of their staff to provide support and keep the team running smoothly.
A laissez-faire leadership style is the most hands-off approach on this list. It’s focused on allowing staff to exercise their autonomy, make decisions, and ask for help as needed. How useful this management style is depends on who you have on your team.
Autocratic leadership focuses on the leader with limited team input. This type of leadership is best used at venues with a tight turnaround time on service. In these situations, a leader who takes control and gives direct instructions is the most effective.
Democratic leadership centers on input from the team to involve everyone in the decision-making process. It’s a group effort, which works best for venues that have ample time to set up and make plans.
A coaching leadership style pulls from many other styles. It’s all about developing a long-term relationship with staff, for managers to act as a coach in all aspects of the job. A coaching leadership style is one of the most interpersonal of the styles.
A collaborative leadership and management style heavily encourages teamwork and collective efforts. This group-led leadership style empowers your staff to raise their voices and contribute to the growth of the business.
Situational leadership is one of the most adaptable options on this list. As situations change, so does situational leadership, with styles and needs changing based on the situation and task at hand.
A charismatic leadership style is its own style on a personal level. It’s also well-suited to match with many others on this list. This style relies on the leader’s charm and personality as influential traits. If you’re charismatic let those personal strengths guide your management style.
Strategic leadership has a strong grasp of future plans and success goals. It’s more designed in minute ways than other leadership styles. This works best for mid-sized, contained restaurants and hospitality businesses. When you have a clear goal of what you want to mark your success, strategic leadership is the way to go.
Crisis leadership is one of the most niche management styles. It’s designed specifically for leading during crisis situations. Frankly, it’s the kind of leadership you hope you never need to use, but when you need it, it’s oh-so handy. It revolves around delegation and fast action and works best when nothing goes to plan.
Over half the general population prefers to learn in a hands-on way. In students, the stats rest at 70% of people who prefer to do than listen. Experiential leadership is the management style made for people who want to learn by doing something themselves. It’s the task of this manager to explain and give staff the quick opportunity to do the work for themselves with supervision and backup as needed.
Management styles for hospitality businesses and venues walk a fine line between consistency and changing with expectations and needs. There is typically one basic management style that will work for you on a daily basis. On top of that, you’ll need to be adaptable for different events, venues, and staff requirements.
You’ll find yourself using a variety of these management styles for hospitality businesses and venues. You’ll mix, match, and seek out what works best for you and your staff. The key to successful hospitality management lies in finding a basic style and adding to and subtracting from it as needs shift and grow.
What’s your personal management style? What do your staff need from you in order to succeed daily and for long-term goals? Which management styles best suit your industry and location? Does your style need to change on a regular basis? All these questions and more come up as you’re defining management styles for hospitality businesses and venues. Read through our answers to these FAQs to keep learning.
The four main styles of management are:
These styles show up on our list above and are imbued with many traits from other leadership styles. Management styles and business management have been evolving through the years to be more inclusive and more thoughtful. These days we have many more management styles for hospitality businesses and venues. These key four can be traced through the multitude of styles.
Transformational leadership is often praised as one of the most effective leadership and management styles for the hospitality industry. With its focus on inspiring staff to reach their full potential through continuous improvement, transformational leadership leads to long-lasting business success.
This leadership style carries with it many other management styles. The end goal of long-term success is the key to the importance of transformational leadership.
In hospitality management, the word and concept of controlling represents a comprehensive, coordinated management plan. It’s all about creating a management plan so neat and tidy that nothing gets swept under the rug and forgotten. A controlling management plan saves costs, streamlines efficiency in all areas of work, and increases productivity.
Quality control in the hospitality industry is the process of systematically ensuring services and amenities are meeting established standards in the business and industry. Quality control has a role in every facet of hospitality.
In the kitchen, QC focuses on food and meal quality and safety. For room service, it’s all about ensuring bedwear and rooms are clean and ready for guests. All around, quality control in hospitality is focused on keeping guests comfortable and happy.
Internal control in the hospitality industry refers to the policies and procedures leadership and management implement to safeguard the business and keep it running smoothly. Internal control relates to monetary transactions, crisis management, and business KPI reports. A major part of management’s job is to keep the business running the way it’s meant to. Internal control supports those efforts.
These management styles for hospitality businesses and venues showcase the myriad of ways you can be successful in hospitality management. The foundations of hospitality management rest on doing right by your staff and doing the right thing.
Culinary Staffing can help you there! When you hire from our pool of qualified candidates you’re bringing in the best of the best to support your team and business. Reach out and connect with our hiring experts today!
