How to Explain Difficult Decisions to Your Hospitality Team

Part of Talking Hospitality’s transparency series, produced in partnership with TiPJAR.

The message has gone out. The app shows that people have read it. Yet at the next briefing, somebody asks a question that makes it clear the team has taken away a different meaning.

It is frustrating, especially when you thought you had explained it clearly. But a “read” receipt tells you very little about what somebody understood, or what they are now worried about.

In our episode, What does “Transparency” mean in Hospitality?, Joe McDonnell describes seeing a lengthy memo marked as read within seconds. His phrase for the balance is: “Digital first but not digital last.”[1]

That matters when the message affects someone’s working life. If their hours or income could change, they are likely to have questions that a notification on their phone will not answer.

Start with what it means for them

Say bookings have been quiet for a while and you are thinking about changing weekday opening hours.

Your team will want to know which services you are considering changing and what that could mean for their shifts. Tell them what is still open for discussion, so they know where their ideas could help.

“Challenging trading conditions” does not tell them much. Explain what has been happening and what options you are looking at. Give them a date for the next update, too, so they are not left trying to work out what the silence means.

If working arrangements or contractual terms may change, involve the appropriate HR or legal adviser before presenting the change as settled. Acas notes that changes to a tipping policy can themselves affect contracts and require a fair process.[2] A well-delivered announcement cannot replace a required consultation.

You can say “I don’t know yet”

Dan Hawkie makes the point in the episode that leaders cannot tell everyone everything.[3] There will be things you cannot share. The important part is explaining what you can, especially where it affects someone’s own position.

You might need to protect another employee’s circumstances or commercially sensitive information. Explain the boundary and still share what people need to understand about their own position.

If you do not know the answer yet, say so. Tell people when you will come back to them, then do it. Even “we are still working through this” is better than letting an agreed update disappear.

Avoid reassurance you cannot support. “Nothing will change” may calm a room today and create a much harder conversation next week.

Leave room for the quieter questions

Not everyone will challenge a senior manager in a room full of colleagues. Silence can mean agreement, uncertainty or a wish to get back to work without attracting attention.

Make time after the briefing for anyone who would rather speak privately. You may hear about a consequence for their working day that nobody had considered in the meeting.

When someone raises a concern, summarise it back before answering. You may discover that the problem is different from the one you were preparing to defend.

Molly Davis discusses the value of making time for these conversations, especially with people who are reluctant to ask for it.[4] Leaders can make that easier by being specific about why they want to talk, rather than sending an unexplained “Have you got a minute?”

Help your managers before they face the questions

Adena Cahill raises another issue in the episode: promoting someone because they are good at their current job without preparing them to manage people.[5]

Before an important announcement, give line managers time to work through the likely questions. Check that they understand the reasoning and know which answers they can give. Tell them who to speak to when a question is beyond what they can answer.

Afterwards, compare what teams have asked across different shifts. If the same misunderstanding keeps appearing, revise the explanation. Do not simply resend the original message in a larger font.

Our blog, October Tipping Changes: Why Worker Involvement Matters, applies this principle to policy consultation. The same care helps with plenty of other decisions: give people time to take it in, then listen to what comes back.

For tipping arrangements specifically, find out how TiPJAR could support clearer information for your team. Ask how its approach would fit the conversations your managers need to have.

Listen to the full episode, particularly the discussion from around seven minutes on difficult decisions and from 28 minutes on communication. Before your next important message goes out, talk it through with the managers who will be answering questions about it.

References

[1] Talking Hospitality, episode transcript, Joe McDonnell, 30:58–31:55: https://www.talkinghospitality.com/transparency/

[2] Acas, Policies and records, changing employment contracts: https://www.acas.org.uk/tips-and-service-charges/policies-and-records

[3] Talking Hospitality, episode transcript, Dan Hawkie, 05:32–06:01: https://www.talkinghospitality.com/transparency/

[4] Talking Hospitality, episode transcript, Molly Davis, 23:26–24:53 and 33:12–33:43: https://www.talkinghospitality.com/transparency/

[5] Talking Hospitality, episode transcript, Adena Cahill, 21:55–22:46: https://www.talkinghospitality.com/transparency/