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The continual strain on operators since the pandemic has unmistakably kickstarted the cumulative erosion of operational excellence in hospitality. Our industry has been dealing with a seemingly endless staffing crisis, the cost-of-living has skyrocketed, energy prices are soaring, supplies have become increasingly inaccessible, and then there are of course the drastic changes in customer expectations.
Operational excellence can be defined as running your hospitality business as efficiently, effectively, and profitably as possible. According to research, achieving a state of operational excellence can lead to “25% faster annual growth, and 75% higher productivity”.
Strategic operational excellence in hospitality is about equipping your business to tackle obstacles that limit growth and productivity. Through monitoring operational excellence regularly businesses can benchmark and improve performance, enhance efficiency, grow profit, reduce losses, tackle fraud, and cut costs.
The hospitality industry is a resilient one, but after taking hit after hit, operational excellence can’t help but slip. Compliance is the practical solution to ease these pressures for hospitality and is the ultimate way to guide one’s business into a state of operational excellence.
The term ‘compliance’ is universally misunderstood. It is commonly perceived to be beneficial only to determine whether rules and regulations are being adhered to. This has stifled meaningful progress in the development of operational excellence in hospitality businesses.
Compliance as a business support tool is much more effective when it comes as a panoptic approach. By covering topics such as brand image, profit, legalities and training, compliance can guarantee operational excellence. It is vital for solving pre-existing problems and prohibiting issues from escalating; pinpointing underlying obstacles that hinder operational excellence. It is also an essential process for monitoring the health and success of a hospitality business and for driving positive change.
As businesses operate under maximum stress levels, now really is the best time to employ compliance-centric strategies. Hospitality establishments need to ensure that they have a business model in place that offers bulletproof protection and fool proof directives. The determining factor between those who survive over the next 18 months and those who don’t, will be the effective use of compliance services that maintain optimal operational excellence.
Operators need to ensure that operational excellence becomes a key priority as we head into 2023. For maximum success they will need to:
- 1
Establish a strategy that targets persistent operational weaknesses and outlines best practice standards
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Revise current policies, processes and procedures and introduce new ones where needed
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Formulate a compliance auditing plan to collect relevant data and benchmark success internally in their business and across the wider industry
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Monitor progress and implement corrective actions whenever required
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Analyse common trends in findings to determine training needs and develop relevant programmes to address them
In the long run, improving operational excellence removes the need for management involvement in day-to-day activities and permits leaders and managers to spend their time innovating and working on activities that generate top-line growth. When it comes to genuine business needs in a stringent market, most decision makers place compliance on the ‘nice-to-have’ pile. The reality is, however, that compliance is not a luxury, it is a necessity. It is high time that the industry seriously looked at redefining the purpose of compliance and its crucial role in operational excellence.