How to find the most appropriate tools for leadership development?
Our mission is to inspire happiness and deliver a world-class guest experience through creativity, great leadership and passionate cast members (staff). Leadership development is a continuing commitment. We have organised initiatives for different levels of leaders, one of which was the 'Leadership excellence for guest service managers' (GSM) course. GSMs are frontline leaders who have direct contact with guests and supervise more than 4,000 cast members. The initiative aims to enhance their leadership, guest service skills and operational competencies. As Disney values storytelling, during the training, senior management shares its own stories about how to apply 'day-to-day leadership practices' which emphasise respect, expectation sharing, communication and role-modelling.
Christine Wong, vice-president of human resources, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
Apart from sponsoring leaders to attend external seminars or courses on sharpening leadership skills, we organise in-house leadership enhancement programmes, such as internal focus meetings, training workshops and seminars, that create platforms for participants to share new knowledge and experience. Participants can understand more about real business through handling different tasks and running projects during the leadership development programme. The training can be supported by coaching and mentoring, which assists staff to learn soft skills to develop a strong relationship with their working teams. We believe leadership takes vision, passion, knowledge and skills for negotiation, problem solving and decision making. Above all, it needs execution and practice. Experience is the cornerstone of leadership development.
Brian Liu Ka-sing, group director of human resources, Regal Hotels International
