Leadership in Motion: What Managing a Hotel Taught Me About Leading People

In the fast-paced world of hospitality, leadership isn’t born behind a desk- it’s forged in the chaos of check-ins, service failures, and late-night problem-solving. My journey from front desk agent to supervisory leadership revealed that the skills honed in hotel operations- strategic thinking, emotional intelligence, and real-time decision-making- are just as vital in the halls of public administration. Like city managers coordinating departments to keep a community running, hospitality leaders juggle people, resources, and priorities to deliver seamless service. In bridging these two worlds, I discovered that effective leadership is less about hierarchy and more about presence- listening, mentoring, and acting with purpose, shift after shift.

Developing Leadership Through Operational Responsibility

Transitioning from a front desk agent to a supervisory role required me to quickly adapt to the broader operational responsibilities that came with leadership. I found that leadership in a fast-paced hospitality environment, much like in local government operations, involves a constant balancing of strategic priorities and day-to-day problem-solving. Each weekend shift as Manager on Duty provided a live environment to practice decision-making, time management, and personnel coordination under pressure. These moments built my confidence in managing diverse teams and resolving issues in real-time, which are critical competencies for leaders in any service-oriented organization.

Coordinating across departments such as housekeeping, maintenance, and front desk taught me the importance of interdepartmental communication. In many ways, this mirrors the inter-agency coordination required in city management, where departments must align to deliver consistent public services. I adopted a proactive communication style, using shift briefings and follow-up reports to ensure continuity between shifts. This fostered accountability and reduced service disruptions. Studies in public administration stress that such horizontal integration of teams leads to more efficient service delivery and enhanced staff morale¹.

Mentoring as a Leadership Practice

One of the most impactful leadership responsibilities I undertook was mentoring new hires and junior staff. Leading a team of over 20 front-desk professionals, I emphasized consistent onboarding practices and ongoing feedback. I introduced weekly check-ins and shadowing sessions, which helped team members gain confidence and reduced turnover. This experience reinforced the value of coaching-based leadership, which research shows leads to higher employee engagement and improved performance in both private and public sector organizations².

Mentoring also allowed me to develop my own leadership voice. By guiding others, I became more reflective about my own strengths and areas for growth. This dynamic is supported by leadership development literature, which identifies mentorship as a two-way growth opportunity³. In municipal environments, where leaders often rise through internal promotion, creating a culture of mentorship can lead to more effective succession planning and institutional knowledge retention.

Leading Through Service Recovery and Conflict Resolution

Handling escalated guest issues became a defining aspect of my leadership approach. With over 10 service recovery situations per week, I learned to remain composed under pressure, assess the root cause quickly, and offer tailored solutions. These experiences translated into a deeper understanding of conflict resolution and emotional intelligence. According to the International City/County Management Association, these are essential leadership attributes for those managing community relations and citizen engagement⁴.

I developed a system for documenting incidents and following up with staff to identify training gaps or procedural breakdowns. This practice not only improved our service outcomes but also created a feedback loop for continuous improvement. Leaders in public institutions can apply this same technique by creating formal debriefing and reporting mechanisms after service failures or public complaints, thus strengthening accountability and building public trust⁵.

Strategic Thinking in Frontline Leadership

Although my position was operational, I began to recognize the importance of thinking strategically about staff deployment, resource use, and service standards. During high-occupancy weekends, I implemented shift rotations and break schedules that maximized coverage without exhausting team members. This tactical planning helped maintain service quality and team morale. Leadership studies in public management emphasize that strategic thinking is not reserved for executives but is a key skill at every level of leadership⁶.

I also initiated a monthly review of guest feedback data, identifying patterns and recommending adjustments to our check-in protocols. By analyzing feedback, I was able to suggest changes that improved efficiency and guest satisfaction. This data-informed approach is aligned with performance management principles used in local government, where leaders use metrics to guide service enhancements⁷.

Translating Private Sector Leadership to Public Administration

The leadership skills I cultivated in the hospitality sector are directly applicable to public administration. Skills such as rapid decision-making, stakeholder communication, and team motivation are critical in both settings. In particular, the ability to lead during crises, such as guest evacuations or system outages, mirrors the competencies required for emergency response and continuity planning in municipal contexts. Practitioners transitioning from the private sector should be encouraged to leverage their operational experience to contribute to public service innovation⁸.

Furthermore, my experience illustrated the significance of frontline leadership in shaping organizational culture. Public administrators often lead teams that are the first point of contact for residents, and their influence on public perception is substantial. By modeling professionalism, responsiveness, and empathy, frontline leaders can elevate both internal morale and external satisfaction. Leadership development programs in municipal agencies should therefore include practical modules on customer service, conflict resolution, and cross-functional collaboration⁹.

Conclusion: Leadership as a Daily Practice

Leadership is not confined to formal authority or executive titles. It is practiced daily through actions, decisions, and interactions. My progression from front desk agent to supervisory roles allowed me to experience leadership as service - supporting my team, resolving issues, and maintaining operational integrity. These lessons are directly applicable to public service, where leadership is often exercised in decentralized settings and under complex constraints.

For students and practitioners in public administration, the key takeaway is that leadership can be cultivated in every role. Whether managing a desk or a department, the principles of clear communication, strategic use of data, mentoring, and resilience apply. By recognizing and nurturing these skills early, individuals can build a leadership foundation that supports a lifetime of effective public service.

Bibliography

1. O’Leary, Rosemary, David M. Van Slyke, and Soonhee Kim. The Future of Public Administration around the World: The Minnowbrook Perspective. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2010.

2. Goleman, Daniel. “What Makes a Leader?” Harvard Business Review, January 2004.

3. Lester, Richard, and AchieveGlobal. “Developing Leaders at Every Level.” Public Manager 36, no. 4 (Winter 2007): 17-21.

4. International City/County Management Association. Leadership Matters: Building Leadership Capacity in Local Government. Washington, DC: ICMA Press, 2016.

5. Behn, Robert D. The PerformanceStat Potential: A Leadership Strategy for Producing Results. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2014.

6. Bryson, John M., Barbara C. Crosby, and Laura Bloomberg. Public Value Governance: Moving Beyond Traditional Public Administration and the New Public Management. New York: Routledge, 2015.

7. Moynihan, Donald P., and Sanjay K. Pandey. “The Big Question for Performance Management: Why Do Managers Use Performance Information?” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 20, no. 4 (2010): 849-866.

8. Light, Paul C. Driving Social Change: How to Solve the World's Toughest Problems. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2011.

9. Denhardt, Robert B., Janet V. Denhardt, and Maria P. Aristigueta. Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations. 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2018.