Effective Change Strategy Practices Across Industries

We are 7 months into hosting two short term rentals remotely. Within 3 months, we earned Guest favorite status and within 5 months, we earned Superhost status.

This was no small feat. Implementing change management practices played a significant role in our success. As you might know and as any consultant would recognize, the aim of change management is to optimize benefits, while minimizing risk during any change implementation. Key to any successful change plan are robust communication strategies and active stakeholder engagement.

In this post, I will share how those two factors enabled us to achieve high ratings at such an early stage of hosting.

Firstly, let us review our initial objectives.

What we set out to do was,

• Acquire a property in St. Louis to start our journey of living closer to family.

• Execute renovations with a commitment to minimizing landfill waste to less than 10%.

• Prioritize purchasing reused materials and furnishings to lesson our environmental impact and stay under budget.

• Design with disassembly in mind, so materials can be refurbished, remanufactured, and reused.

• Implement daily operations based on zero-waste principles. Yes, we have compost bins!

From our experience thus far, we have learned invaluable insights into effective change management such as.

• Bring our project partners in early so they can give feedback throughout the design process to ensure we stay on budget and on schedule.

• Communicate early, often, and in many different ways with all project team members, this included our contractors.

• Invite our local host team to be co-hosts ensuring they receive all communications and facilitating internal connections as necessary for full team alignment.

• Engage with our guests before they check-in to start opening the door to communication.

• Share instructions through multiple methods has been helpful in ensuring clarity during our guests stay.

• Ask for feedback. This has allowed us to improve the guest experience before, during, and after their stay.

For example:

Whenever a guest reserves a stay with us, they receive an automated initial message. Following their response, I engage in further communication with 1-2 additional messages before their arrival, one during their stay, and one post-departure. While the time invested in crafting and sending these messages fluctuates between 30 minutes to an hour, the efficacy of this approach justifies the effort. This proactive communication strategy serves as a gateway to fostering meaningful guest engagement and opens the door to communication.

Here is what this looks like:

1. Initial automated message: Upon booking, guests receive an automated message expressing gratitude for choosing our accommodations, coupled with an inquiry regarding the purpose of their visit.

2. Response and offer of assistance: Upon receiving their response, we extend an invitation for further inquiries or recommendations, ensuring their needs are addressed.

3. Pre-Arrival message: Just prior to their arrival, we provide additional check-in details, including key instructions and insights about the apartment.

4. Mid-stay check-in: During their stay, we reach out for a brief check-in to ensure their experience is satisfactory.

5. Post-Departure Communication: After they check out, we express gratitude for their stay and encourage them to share any feedback that could aid in our continuous improvement efforts.

Here is why I think this works:

We are providing the right information, to the right people, at the right time, even though it may feel like a lot of hand holding. Because despite all the information we have on our listing page, instructions around the home, and a house manual with further instructions and recommendations, some of our guests miss them completely. One could say, they need to take responsibility to read the listing details, information about the space and neighborhood, and our rules. We have set them up for success, so why do we still do all the communication? Because we are human, and I will even reflect on myself sometimes, it is easy to miss certain details.

How does this align with workplace dynamics?

Just as in our hospitality endeavor, the workplace can benefit from adopting a human-centric approach to communication, particularly during times of change. It is easy to fall back on employee handbooks, office manuals, company portals, or printed signage to name a few examples, but if we take the human approach to it, we can see that sometimes we all just need a bit of hand holding. Whether it is onboarding new employees, undergoing office renovations or moves, or embarking on new ways of working, proactive and empathetic communication can mitigate apprehension and foster engagement.

But it must start with us, owners, leaders, managers, to open the doors and start the dialogue.

The biggest challenge we face with any change, is the fear of the unknown.

In closing, perhaps viewing employees as guests could prompt a shift in perspective, leading to increased engagement and successful change outcomes.