Business
Performance under pressure
Delegates at Iconic Luxury Hotels’ leadership conference learned from those at the top of their game, from sports psychologists to Royal Marines. Jungmin Seo took a seat
ury Hotels’ fifth leadership conference. The 72-bedroom, five-red-AA-star Chewton Glen hotel and spa in New Milton, Hampshire, an Iconic Luxury Hotel, hosted 36 hours of inter- active workshops, keynote speeches and fine dining for the hotel group’s 60 heads of depart- ment, ranging from front of house to facilities. Two new London properties, the Mayfair
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Townhouse and the recently opened Chel- sea Townhouse, have been added to the Iconic portfolio since the first conference took place in 2019. With six hotels in total, including Chewton Glen, Cliveden House in Taplow, the Lygon Arms in the Cotswolds, and 11 Cadogan Gardens in London, executive director Andrew Stembridge felt it was only right that managers from across the business have the opportunity to talk to each other, espe- cially considering they face similar challenges. “Maybe next time they’ve got a problem,
they can phone that guy [they met at the con- ference] because they’re friendly with him,” he says. “I was very conscious that, year-on -year, we ask more from all of our managers and their jobs are becoming more complicated by the day. As a head of department, you’ve clearly got your area but you need to have an under- standing of what needs to be done [across the whole business]. The great example now is chefs with their own social media accounts. They’re now part of the marketing team; they promote themselves.” Although Iconic Luxury Hotels runs an internal leadership programme that has resulted in 20% of its existing staff becoming heads of department and actively encourages individuals to take on management courses, Stembridge wanted to offer even more oppor- tunities for growth. He needed “something to inspire them, reward them and motivate them”, and that was how the annual leader- ship conference began. Here are some key takeaways from the event.
20 | The Caterer | 24 November 2023
beach litter pick and a lesson in the art of improvisation were just some of the activities on offer during Iconic Lux-
“The route to greater success is to do something a little bit more” Jamil Qureshi
Jamil Qureshi: “Act as if” The first-ever official golf psychologist to the European Ryder Cup team spoke to delegates about the power of “acting as if”. He had intro- duced this technique to a golfer who was ranked 50th in the world and wanted to become world number one. Qureshi explains: “[You think] what would I be doing if I was the best at doing this job? Then you act how you can see your- self become it.” He suggests this thinking can also be used
Delegate feedback
Ruby Bailey Knight, head of people and culture at Cliveden House, describes her third conference as “inspiring”, particularly in terms of its focus on sustainability, wellbeing, leadership and goal-setting. “One of the biggest takeaways is the
networking opportunity. I know more people every time I come to these events. It’s great that Iconic puts it on for us. It makes you feel really valued as a leader in the business and teaches you skills and I’ve loved it.” Craige Liquorish, front of house manager at 11 Cadogan Gardens and the Chelsea Townhouse, was pleased to see consolidation of certain topics between the two conferences he has attended. “One thing that’s good is the continued focus on sustainability. [General
manager of Whatley Manor in Malmesbury,] Sue Williams did a big piece on sustainability last year so it’s good to see that Iconic have kept that up with this year’s talk from the Sustainability Group. It’s not just a one- off thing for us; it’s clearly an objective for the company. Through these leadership conferences, it gives us the confidence to implement it in our hotels.” Terrance Nicholas Denis, bar and lounge
manager at Chewton Glen, adds: “It’s my first conference since I started in November last year. I’ve been in hospitality quite a while – 17 or 18 years – but this conference was nice to get a few more ideas on how things actually work and how you can help develop yourself and your team.”
www.thecaterer.com Simon Maguire
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