How can you achieve this yourself?
In this blog you will learn more about David in the form of an interview. Since he started working at We Are Key he has grown into a reception manager. What was that growth process like? And more importantly… How can you grow within your company or perhaps within We Are Key in the future?
Read the interview with David (28 years) below.
#01 – How did you get to know We Are Key?
“I saw an ad for We Are Key on Facebook. Then I contacted them via the contact form on the website.”
#02 – How long have you been working through We Are Key?
“I’ve been working at We Are Key for over a year now.”
#03 – Where exactly do you work?
“I have worked in many different hotels, namely eight different ones. But at the moment I work in one hotel, hotel Delphi in the South of Amsterdam.”
#04 – What job did you start with when you started working through We Are Key?
“I started nine months ago as a night receptionist. I liked the position because I didn’t sleep much at night anyway, so I could perfectly combine this with a job during the night.”
#05 – Have you grown within the company yet? If so, what position do you have now?
“I have grown within We Are Key. I went from night receptionist to day receptionist. Now I am the reception manager.”
#06 – What does the growth process look like?
“I got a more social life in the Netherlands that’s why I indicated to We Are Key that I no longer wanted to work at night. I got the position of day receptionist instead of night receptionist. In the meantime I have just completed all the training courses that I have followed through Key to become a reception manager. This was a total of eight training sessions that I followed for eight weeks in a row. I already had a lot of knowledge about the reception tasks because I completed the hotel school in the Netherlands and my parents run a hotel in Africa where I come from. So I grew up in the hotel life.”
#07 – What else do you want to achieve in the future?
“Besides my job as a reception manager I have other companies in the place where I come from in Africa. I am currently working with a friend to start another new business, namely mobile supermarkets such as Zapp and Gorillas, but in this case in Africa. I hope it will work and go well.”
#08 – What motivates you to do this work?
“I grew up in hospitality so I feel completely at home in this position. I love it when people feel at home and when people go home with a nice and safe feeling. It makes me super happy when good reviews are posted and guests actually recommend their stay to acquaintances and/or friends.”
And now more about how you can grow!
Effective leadership is essential if you want to grow for any higher position. Effective leadership comes with traits. If you have the following seven characteristics, you certainly have potential to grow and to be an effective leader!
#01 – Be proactive
Being proactive is more than taking initiatives. It means that you are responsible for your own life. Our behavior depends on our decisions, not on our circumstances. We can subordinate feelings to values. We can bring about something and we are responsible for it.
Reactive people like to absolve themselves of any responsibility. The thought that a problem does not lie with ourselves, that is the problem. If you think that, then you let something that you have no influence on (something outside of you) get a grip on you. The proactive approach represents a change from within.
So what is the difference between reactive language and proactive language?
| Reactive: 😞 | Proactive: 😃 |
| I can’t help it.That’s just the way I am. I need this or that.If only I… | I can also do it differently.Let me see if there are alternatives. I decide my feelings myself. I can choose. |
#02 – Start with the end in mind
Just as you want people to look back on you at the end of your life, you have to start living now. Live with a clear end goal so that you better understand where you are now and you can take steps in the right direction.
Being active is different from being effective. You can work hard to get higher up the social ladder and then discover at the end of your life that the ladder is against the wrong wall.
Writing a personal mission is one of the most effective ways to get started. In it you write who you want to be and what you want to do. It is about the values and principles that go with it.
“You can work hard to get higher up the ladder only to find at the end of your life that the ladder is against the wrong wall.”
#03 – Important things first
This property is the practical result of properties 1 and 2. You could see it this way:
- Trait 1 says, “You are the creator, you are in charge.”
- Trait 2 is the first creation, in your head.
- Trait 3 is the second creation, the material effect of properties 1 and 2.
Setting priorities is not easy. Every day, leaders are confronted with a multitude of information and events that they have to process. It is not possible to pay attention to everything, or to pay equal attention to everything. To be effective, choices must be made. You always ask yourself two questions:
- Is it important?
- Is it urgent?
#04 – Think in terms of win-win
This trait is about win-win thinking. For this you must appeal to the unique human qualities of self-awareness, imagination, conscience and independent will. You have to be willing to learn from each other, influence each other and have something for each other. Therefore, you can only acquire this trait based on the principles of interpersonal leadership. This requires vision, initiative, certainty, guidance, wisdom and strength.
#05 – First understand, then be understood
Normally, we try to be understood first. Most people don’t listen to understand, but to be able to answer. They are speaking themselves or preparing for it. They filter everything through their own paradigms and read their autobiography in someone else’s story.
With empathic listening Covey does not mean active or reflective listening. He writes about this: “In practice, that comes down to repeating.” By empathic listening he means listening with the intention of understanding the other person. You put yourself in the other person’s shoes, you look at the world like the other person and you understand what the other person feels.
#06 – Synergy
If you as a leader master all the characteristics/competencies and the people you work with, then a higher form of cooperation arises. With just working together you have one person and one more person, that is 2 parts together. In synergy, the interaction between the people is also a part in itself; 1+1=3. By not negotiating until a compromise has been found, new insights arise with new and better solutions. ‘Rising above yourself’, which makes the team innovate through collaboration. This prevents one leader in a team from determining the route. That road is never effective.
#07 – Hold the saw screen
Covey uses an anecdote for this:
“In the forest a ranger is sawing. He saws himself drowsy. “How long have you been working?” you ask. “More than five hours,” he replies. “And I’m devastated. This is super heavy!’. “But… why don’t you stop to sharpen the saw again?”, you ask. ‘Then it goes a lot faster.’ The ranger replies: ‘I don’t have time for that, I still have to saw way too much…’
Keeping the saw sharp relates to the maintenance and improvement of the best instrument you have: yourself. This involves maintenance on 4 dimensions:
- Physical: exercise, nutrition, stress management.
- Spiritual: striving for clear values, commitment, study, meditation.
- Mental: reading, visualizing, planning, writing.
- Social-emotional: service, empathy, synergy, inner security.
Are the above traits the definition of who you are? Then you certainly have potential!
Good luck!