Page 106 - The New Gold Standard

PRINCIPLE 2: EMPOWER THROUGH TRUST
a manager’s orientation. The first two days cover the typical Ritz-
Carlton orientation, but day 3 involves the expectations of lead-
ership. Part of the session concerns respecting their Ladies and
Gentlemen, a portion is about letting the manager know the im-
portance of facilitating ongoing career discussions, and another
significant part is about being a mentor.
From the onset, managers are given the message that if they
don’t align with these expectations, they may not be a good fit for
the position. New managers are essentially told that if they are not
driven by and passionate about respect, developing talent, and
training, they probably will not be successful at Ritz-Carlton.
New-manager orientation addresses a significant problem iden-
tified by leadership transition expert Michael Watkins, author
of the international business bestseller The First 90 Days: Critical
Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels. “The main reason
newly hired outside executives have such an abysmal failure rate
(40 percent, according to one study) is poor acculturation,” says
Michael. “They don’t adapt well to the new company’s ways of
doing things. In fact some three-quarters of 53 senior HR man-
agers I surveyed cited poor cultural fit as the driver for onboard-
ing failures.” By clearly communicating cultural standards early
on, new leaders at Ritz-Carlton can and do experience more suc-
cessful transitions.
The benefits of placing expectations on management to de-
velop talent can be found in examples such as the career path of
Adam Hassan. “I started at Ritz-Carlton 12 years ago as a ban-
quet houseman, setting up meeting rooms and vacuuming car-
pets. I worked as a houseman for three years, but my boss knew I
wanted to work in the engineering department some day. In fact,
my boss at the time encouraged me to pursue my career dreams
by letting me work with engineering to repair vacuums and
paint hallways. The director of engineering saw that coming
from me, so when a job in the engineering department opened
up, I was selected. Since then, Ritz-Carlton sent me to school to
get my boiler operator license. I just got my certification two

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