What does a hotel company have to do to connect with the younger generation? AccorHotels is giving them a seat in the boardroom.
To integrate younger managers’ perspectives into strategic objectives, a shadow board comprising 13 managers was formed, explained Arantxa Balson, director of talent and culture.
“Extremely young and digital natives,” they are all under age 35 and diverse in background, geography and expertise: half men, half women, including a GM in Paris, a CFO in the Middle East, an F&B director in Bangkok, a legal coordinator in Latin America and a corporate director in North America, among others, serving 18-month stints (their names are not publicized, to minimize distraction and poaching).
Required to collaborate, they are assigned disruptive and innovative projects, including some work on the new, blended co-living Jo&Joe brand.
Soon, they were comfortable enough to change the rules. One project’s revenue goals were thrown out to focus instead on customer wants, based on the team’s own perspective. “We knew that the way they would approach the issues that we work on every day is going to be different from us,” Balson said, referring to the executive committee, of which she is a member.
The shadow board meets regularly in person and with the executive committee. “In the beginning they were a bit impressed, a bit shy,” Balson said. Now, “they express their disagreement.” And, she added, “It’s really pushing the current (executive committee), the big guys, us, to learn how to question and how to challenge.”
And they are dislodging traditional approaches. “The problem is that the market is not traditional anymore. We cannot just stay behind the wall just because there is still potential in the traditional business.”
“You need to empower people to take the best solution in front of a customer,” Balson added. “And for that you need to transform your culture deeply.”