Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to attend the Haufe Talent Event at the Hotel Sacher. It was an fascinating event in a unique setting.
We received a warm welcome from Thomas Kronsteiner, the Haufe Group’s Sales Manager for Austria, after which we moved seamlessly into the presentations.
Matthias Winkler, CEO of the Sacher Group, began the event with a keynote speech, providing open and honest insights into the Sacher Group’s human resources work.
Keynote by Matthias Winkler, CEO of the Sacher Group
The hotel industry has undergone a number of changes as a result of the pandemic, including thos affecting traditional target audience of the renowned and historic Hotel am Ring. Competition has increased dramatically and the classic „Sacher guest“ is no longer so easy to define.
Younger demographics, such as influencers and start-up founders, are currently in high demand as guests . This is why the traditional hotel has had to adapt to the new needs of this target group. Digitalisation was the magic word here, with new customer loyalty is already being established via digital communication before arrival. Meeting customer needs and expectations remains the top priority.
The hotel’s high standards are also maintained through the new channels, too. This applies not only to customers, but also to employees, whose work processes have changed due to digitalisation.
Work is now project-based, with 90% of communication taking place via a digital employee app. Recruitment processes have been overhauled, placing equal value on personality and experience. Sacher’s path to the future is clear for Sacher: moving away from „one size fits all“ and towards maximum individualisation for customers and employees.
An example
Rather than management, duty roster are drawn up by employees in order to better respond to individual needs. The leadership style, whereby managers act as a service providers for their teams, has not been well received by everyone, resulting in high management turnover. However, the company believes that employees are an investment in the future.
Teams are the driving force behind high-performing organisations
This was followed by a technical presentation from Jens Noll from Haufe Talent on the study: „Teams are the power cells for high-performing organisations“.
In cooperation with the University of St. Gallen and the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences, Haufe Talent investigated the significance of teamwork within companies and their departments, including HR. They discovered a shocking fact: on average, only 21% of employees know what strategy their company is pursuing.
The implications for the company’s success and employee cohesion are clear. There is clearly a need for action here, such as targeted communication of the company’s the vision and mission and the organisation of activites to keep employees informed and engaged. Target agreements and employee appraisals are certainly one of the most important aspects in this regards, as they help to create clarity.
Shaping the future together with Lego
Then came the grand finale – Lego®SeriousPlay® – accompanied by Markus Stoisser. The motto was shaping the future by building with Lego together. We were divided into small groups and tasked with building a vision for the future using a large number of Lego® bricks. What does that look like?
First, each team built a model of themselves and then used a wide variety of building blocks to create symbols representing their path into the future. Some built bridges, others towers and some built completely creative structures that left plenty of room for interpretation.
The number of bricks available for the final project was limited, so the teams had to find a way to say a lot with few building blocks. What made this experience + really special was that the image that was created needed to be explained. It turned out that people are too quick to „judge“ and jump to conclusions. So it was therefore a very interesting learning experience for the groups as a whole!
My conclusion
It was an evening full of input, inspiration and networking that stayed with me for days afterwards.
I was impressed that Sacher had the courage to implement employee rosters and take on a pioneering role in digitalisation.
The Haufe Talent presentation reaffirmed my belief that all employees must work together. It is important to keep the common goal in mind.
The importance of clarity in communication was also demonstrated once again at Lego®SeriousPlay® Workshop. Adopting a different point of view and questioning perspectives were the most valuable lessons I learned in this workshop.
It was rewarding to collaborate to work with industry colleagues from the industry to forge a shared path for the future.
