“Anywhere and everywhere you go, people need hospitality people. So it’s kind of like a ticket to ride, it gives you a fantastic experience to not only travel through different cities or countries for that matter, but along the way, you get the skills, you gather experiences, you gather knowledge,” says Gary Johnson, National Food Manager for Spirit Hotels. From his first job working at the back of the house, he is now an internationally recognised and award-winning chef. With over 40 years of culinary experience and leadership in restaurants, pubs and hotels, he is a force to be reckoned with in hospitality management.

Managing Chefs, delivering hospitality

“Hospitality is as diverse as it is a potpourri not only of different dishes, skills, nationalities,” Gary shares, “but any country, anywhere you go, everybody loves great food and everybody loves hospitality.” Drawing on his vast experience, this 2011 Australian Hotel Association (AHA) “National Chef of the Year” currently manages 88 hotels nationally. With thousands of staff, 5 million meals, and $80 million of food sales annually, how does he keep up? Below are Gary Johnson’s five tips for success in managing chefs and making the most out of the hospitality industry.

1. “Trust always comes back to you”

“I believe that if you give people the respect that they deserve, it always comes back to you,” he begins. Gary’s collaborative management style is hinged on honest communication with his teams. He wants them to understand how important their roles are and trust them to get the job done. “Some of the chefs can misbehave [but] they’re the ones that don’t last very long in our industry. They probably don’t get the best out of their people in the long term anyway. And if it’s only a short-term thing, well you’ve wasted your time and money so that can only end in sadness,” he quips.

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Chef Gary Johnson (middle) with Chef Kenneth Bryce (left) and Sam Burke (right) at Red Meat 2018 in Canberra. Source: Farm Online

2. “Understand what people want from the leadership team”

A 2017 survey from hospitality software provider Impos found that more than half of Australian businesses had difficulty hiring and retaining staff. Gary had the same experience when he first joined the Spirit Hotels group. “We had a turnover of around 150%. Katrina Gill in the HR department and I put plans together instead of wasting time and money from both sides of the fence. We really got down to being in touch with our people and learning how to understand what they wanted from us as a leadership team and what the business could give back to them long-term for their careers,” he says. Now their turnover rate is hovering at 40%, a huge improvement from what it used to be.

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“In the seven and a half years that I’ve been with the [Spirit Hotels] group we still have the same people who started as kitchen hands who are now head chefs,” he adds. Gary also employed staff who started casually waiting on tables while they were in university who have now diversified. Some have even done a hospitality degree and ended up running the hotels. “There was a really great career path and a trajectory from the beginning. If you’re a people person if you love hospitality, then it will be very good to you.”

3. “Find out what works best with which people”

Gary has worked in both small restaurants and big hotels in several different countries. The secret, according to him, is blending in and learning along the way. “You have to be somewhat like a chameleon: draw on those managerial experiences and your own resources to be able to find out what works best with which people.”

The key to having people stay is having genuine conversations about where they see themselves going and adapting your management style to deliver that.  He continues, “Generally, I also find that people don’t necessarily work for a particular company. Although that definitely has a bearing but they’ll work for leaders that they respect, appreciate, and trust. That’s the big key.”

4. “Back up your intuition with deep data analytics”

“Culture is integral and I believe very much so in any service industry, especially in the hospitality business, if you have a progressive, dynamic, cohesive culture then you generally have a pretty healthy business,” he reflects. But spreadsheets and numbers can only tell you so much. “I also believe that from time to time deep data analytics is no substitute for intuition. You can back up your intuition with some deep data analytics and it’ll give you a pretty good indication of how the business is traveling.” According to Gary, having both data and intuition honed by being on the frontline will give you a much better grasp of business culture and progress.

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5. “It’s better to train people regardless of their length of stay”

“Training is not cheap but it’s better to have better to train people and have them not stay for a long time, rather than not train them and have them stay for a long time,” Gary says. “The most important part is definitely having somebody there that can that can mentor that new person coming,” he continues. “We’ve all been there. We’ve all started the new job and it could be a pretty nervous time. If you’ve got somebody that can look after that person at least for the first three weeks, and then follow it up yourself. And in the first quarter, make sure that you actually sit down with them. There might only be 15 minutes but it is a valuable piece of time and investment that you’ll make for that person.”

He believes the best and most efficient way is to identify the people who can deliver culture, skills, and competencies that you need in a role and buddy them up with new hires. This is part of an effective onboarding process that any company should invest in. Good employee onboarding helps them perform better and determines whether or not they will stay with the company. “I generally find if you get those people through and they enjoy the first three months, you have them for three years or even longer. So that to me would be the best advice I give anybody if they’re having a high turnover [rate].”

Free download: In this Tanda eBook, we discuss why onboarding matters and present a complete onboarding checklist for employers, including a way to measure success!

Mentoring the next generation is success

Gary Johnson’s decades of international experience in the hospitality industry is instrumental to managing hotels and training new industry leaders. At the heart of it is his people-centered vision of management. The culture of taking care of clients starts with taking care of your own employees. “You can tell people what to do and you’ll get workers. But if you show people what to do, if you mentor them, develop them, and get to know them even better and then trust them, you get leaders,” he concludes.

“I think the mark of success of any good leader should be in developing other leaders, and that’s what we’re all about.”

Want to manage your hospitality business better? Looking for ways to change the game in your industry? Learn from Gary Johnson and other topnotch speakers at the Workforce Success Conference on 26 July 2019. Get your tickets now!