Saturday 28 November 2015

Neil Castaldi of Nottoway Plantation - Effective Management in the Hospitality Industry

Neil Castaldi of Nottoway Plantation has come to understand that management in the hospitality industry is a delicate balance of agility and empathy. Maintaining agility to respond to dynamic customer and operations related issues are essential skills to the effective manager. In addition, empathy must also be practiced every day as it allows one to connect with team members in a deep and genuine way.

Customer service and in effect, the hospitality industry can often be a reactive profession. Responding to customer dilemmas or resolving operational issues are a daily challenge as a manager in the hospitality industry. As a result it is of vital importance that a manager be agile, responsive and dynamic in the way they create solutions throughout the organization.

Correspondingly, empathy is another essential skill to possess as an effective hospitality industry manager. One must possess tremendous empathy to understand team processes as if they were standing the same shoes of their Front Desk Agents. Having a deep understanding of a hospitality organizations processes is key to developing this empathy, however where experience is lacking, one can approach their team with confidence and compassion to create an empathetic approach to managing the organization.

The values of agility and empathy are key to success as a manager in the hospitality industry. By practicing these skills, a manager will be able to multitask, project manage and grow their team to create an outstanding organization of people. Neil Castaldi of Nottoway Plantation has done this first hand at his various hospitality ventures over the last 35 years.