“When I arrived into the Director of Human Resources role, I realised there was a huge change management initiative to be undertaken and that special expertise would be needed to support the objectives of both the hotel and the group. I therefore turned to Jane and Jo to assist us in this journey. They supported us in making the complex change clear and simple and took a very practical approach to helping us deliver our vision.”
Jon Dawson, Head of People
Mandarin Oriental London
The Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park London is an iconic, five-star, luxury hotel comprising 181 beautiful guest rooms and suites, two outstanding restaurants, two Michelin stars, a magnificent bar and a renowned spa.
As a result of significant investment in the most extensive restoration in its 117-year history to redefine, reinvent and reposition the hotel as London’s stand-out luxury property, our project brief was to support the transformation of the entire guest experience in line with the requirements of modern luxury guests. This commenced with the exploration of a pre-determined new vision, current beliefs and delivery norms to establish clarity, determine the level of change required to deliver this on time and to the right standards and, crucially, ensure the executive team were united in their approach to leading the teams into this new era.
Information was obtained via a comprehensive on-line survey, a programme of externally moderated group workshops designed to facilitate open, safe and honest in-depth dialogue, a series of one-to-one interviews with the executive team and observations from a senior leader’s team away-day.
The outcomes of our diagnostic work were used to drill down into the detail of the new vision and establish a pragmatic approach to how this could be delivered, including localised values and a behavioural framework that were sympathetic to the international Mandarin Oriental group culture.
As a result, new ways of delivering the kind and generous service the hotel is now known for were established. Despite a serious setback when part of the newly refurbished hotel was destroyed by fire days before the hotel was due to relaunch, the team pulled together and the property now operates at the highest level of luxury service.