While the Asian hotel industry bemoans a lack of GMs, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) in AMEA is producing them faster than it has properties in the pipeline.
A GM Express program will have produced seven young GMs by the end of the year working in Southeast Asia and India, with another two graduating in early 2018. All except one are local Asian talent; all except one are female GMs.
The 18-month program, a builder of GMs for the chain’s select-service Holiday Inn Express brand, is so effective that IHG AMEA is now trialing another called ICON to develop young GMs for its more complex luxury brand InterContinental.
The notion that owners in the region prefer experienced expat GMs to young, local and Ð heavens, female Ð GMs is changing, although IHG’s Vice President of Human Resources for AMEA, Deborah Woollard, in an interview admits it still involves a lot of persuasion and effort by IHG to show cause why owners should go for the next generation.
GM Express
Abhishek Verma, GM of Holiday Inn Express Chennai, India, was the first to be appointed, followed by others in Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.
All four were working in an IHG hotel and were noticed by someone in management as having GM potential Ð Ògreat leadership, customer service-oriented, problem-solver, self-directed, attention to details,Ó said Ms Woollard.
They were put through a series of assessments and, when passed, were matched with an existing Holiday Inn Express GM, need not be in the country where they are from. They moved into that hotel, spending 18 months in effect shadowing the GM and rotating through the various departments. They also underwent formal training on P&L management, forecasting, budgeting, etc., provided in-house by IHG.
On top of having a GM supporting them, the program also includes another mentor/coach outside the hotel as an additional layer of support. For instance, a candidate from India who is currently relocated to the Holiday Inn Express in Singapore for her 18-month attachment not only has the hotel’s GM as her formal mentor/coach but another leader back home whom she could call on for support, perhaps on issues such as cultural differences, working abroad and so on.
ÒWe build more insights and intelligence into the briefing process, so we can show the owner tangible metrics such as the candidate’s achievements, track record, our own investment in training and assessing the individual as finance-savvy, having great numeracy and problem-solving skills,” saidÊMsÊWoollard.
ÒIt’s important that someone back home knows what and how she’s doing and keeps that connection with her, as she will be transferred back to run a Holiday Inn Express in India.”
Identifying talent
But how does IHG in AMEA cultivate a culture where existing GMs and heads of departments are passionate about identifying talent that exists in-house and willing to put their hands up for the young person?
Ms Woollard said in the last two years, IHG has also been investing in existing GMs, instilling in them a mindset that learning is life long, and that it needs to be shared. ÒLast year was our first real learning event where we brought together over 250 of our GMs in AMEA, even the most seasoned ones, and provided them with structured learning in key areas,Ó said Ms Woollard. ÒWe wanted them to recognize that they can continue to grow and develop themselves, but also to ignite theirÊpassion that while we invest in them, they too need to create a similar investment in their hotel and look for opportunities to identify talent. We communicate a lot to them on the sort of calibre we are looking for.
ÒWe now have so many great talent that we can put through this pathway that the biggest challenge is we need more hotels. So we say to the development guys, hey, we need more Holiday Inn Express hotels.”
IHG has 35 Holiday Inn Express hotels and 27 InterContinental hotels and resorts in the pipeline across AMEA.
According to Ms Woollard, the individuals that are coming through are Òextremely capableÓ. One of them, a young Thai female GM, sat next to Richard Solomons at lunch and the former IHG CEO came up to Ms Woollard afterwards and said, ÒWowÓ.
ÒThe biggest issue was convincing the owner that she was old enough to run the hotel. She was probably 26 years old, looked young and gorgeous. He (the owner) said no way she could do it, so we had to use a lot of our trust bucket and convinced him,Ó said Ms Woollard.
Gone are the days when you could tell an owner Òit’s our gut feel this GM is right for you,Ó said Ms Woollard. As a result, IHG packs in objective data.
ÒWe build more insights and intelligence into the briefing process, so we can show the owner tangible metrics such as the candidate’s achievements, track record, our own investment in training and assessing the individual as finance-savvy, having great numeracy and problem-solving skills. We try and build a much more data-led profile of the individual, because that takes away the emotion (from the discussion),ÓÊsaidÊMsÊWoollard.
The select-service nature of Holiday Inn Express also helps. Invariably it welcomes a lot of domestic travellers and having a local GM who can relate to these guests, speaks their language and is likely more stable being in his/her home country, are other plus points for owners, not to mention the lower costs of hiring a young local GM.
ÒSo far, fingers crossed, we’ve had nothing but success with the GMs who have been appointed to-date,Ó said Ms Woollard.
ICON
While select-service may be the logical entry for a young GM and opens up a career path for him/her to manage other properties higher in the hierarchy, IHG believes a luxury brand like InterContinental requires a different talent and has launched ICON to groom young GMs for the brand.
Its research shows that there are specific characteristics of a true luxury operator. ÒOf course you need to be finance-savvy, a great leader and all that, but the person needs to have that extra magic, the luxury DNA so to speak, of having an eye for beauty and perfection, being charming and worldly in order to connect with all sorts of guests, and having the ability to ignite the passion for luxury into every single colleague Ð imagine if the room attendant does not have the same passion for everything to be perfect,Ó said Ms Woollard.
Under ICON, talents undergo a one-year rotation in a different InterContinental hotel for three years, with a real role carved for them in each rotation and the GM mentoring their development.
The pilot begins with two young talents from Singapore and Japan. The Singapore lady, Joyce Chua, for instance, is 29-year-old and began her career with IHG through its Future Leaders Program. After graduating from the program, she worked in revenue management, guest services and as front office manager. Chua’s first rotation will be at the InterContinental ANA Tokyo, which has some 900 rooms and seven or eight F&B outlets.
ÒThe goal is to have them as GM by their early 30s,” said Ms Woollard.Ê”That will be industry leading. The luxury sector is the worst when it comes to the time taken for someone to be appointed a GM, in some cases 20 years even. The up-and-coming generation will not take to that, besides the industry needs a more modern articulation of luxury, which the younger generation can bring. The days of pocket squares, middle age men are well over. How fabulous it will be to come to InterContinental Hotel Singapore and meet a young Singaporean who is the GM Ð I’d be so proud when I see that happens.Ó
