Photo by Dylan Gillis on Unsplash
You don’t need reminding that the holiday park industry as a whole is facing an extremely difficult time right now –but for every company that’s struggling to make the numbers work, there are numerous sales managers and general managers that are still tasked with keeping the ship moving in the right direction.
For many of us, we’re still faced with the prospect of generating business – either right now, or in the not-to-distant future.
The trouble is, for most of us, it’s not pandemic management that’s put us where we are today. Generally, if you’re occupying a senior seat on a holiday park, it’s because you know the business inside-out – not because you’ve got battle-proven disaster management skills.
So, what happens when we need to snap into disaster management mode? How do we help our teams navigate these incredible stormy waters?
Fortunately, if you’ve worked anywhere near a caravan sales operation over the last couple of decades, you’ll know all about the word ‘empathy’.
In sales terms, it’s the skill of putting ourselves in our customer’s shoes and considering what’s important to them. Now though, we need to put on our empathy hats again and consider what life is like from our team member’s points of view. All the while, we need to balance this empathic approach with just enough grit to keep the wheels moving as we weather these difficult times ourselves.
Covid-19’s made most – if not all – of us feel vulnerable on some level. Even if you’re the toughest sales manager in the industry, it’s okay to admit that.
The thing is, you don’t just need to admit it – you need to communicate it.
If we want to get the most out of our teams through what’s hopefully the back-end of this pandemic, we need to be the people who are making it okay to be vulnerable and worried. We have to talk about what we’re facing – because, like it or not, those feelings are coming into your sales office every day – no matter how much your teams put on a tough face and rally round.
Pretending everything is okay isn’t the way forward right now. Sadly, the ‘new normal’ we need to adjust to is one where anxiety and fear are at the front of people’s minds.
When I caught Covid-19 at the beginning of 2021, I was scared. Rationally, I knew that millions of people around the country had it worse than I did – but it didn’t stop my brain wandering about a million different ‘what ifs’.
Frankly, the amount of life insurance adverts on TV did little to help my anxiety either.
The thing is, we all live our lives with our experience as our only real reference point. So, what might feel like a disaster to you will be something some other people shrug off as a daily event. Likewise, what might be a major pandemic issue for someone else might not even appear on your radar.
Covid-19’s been an incredibly unsettling time, and if we want to get the most from our teams, we need to be comfortable with the fact that everyone’s waking up each day and fighting to get on with things as best they can. Sometimes, it’ll mean people genuinely panic about not being able to get their favourite teabags – at other times, people might be worrying about poorly family members. It isn’t useful to grade these worries as legitimate or otherwise – it’s just important to understand that there’s an underlying feeling of worry running through almost everyone.
So, what can we do to support people?
There’s unlikely to be one single answer. Everyone’s different – so it’s time to sit down and put your discovery head on.
Do you need to offer flexible working hours to support some home-schooling or additional learning? Maybe some weekend time off would allow people to reconnect with families or travel to see loved ones when the rules allow? Maybe just letting people keep their phone on in the office or on park means they can work without worrying that people are trying to get hold of them. You might even want to set up WhatsApp groups or Slack channels that let the team communicate as they normally would – to maintain some sense of normality in a world that often feels crazy.
There’s no real right or wrong. Instead, it’s a good idea to just talk to people – ask them what would help. No one expects miracles – we all know there’s a hell of a job to be done when parks are open and people are booking holidays again – but a little leeway now will buy you a lot of goodwill going forward.
Whether you’re reading this as a park owner, a general manager, a sales manager, or any other senior position on your park – you’re blessed with a set of skills not many people have.
We all know the holiday park industry is hard work. Remember the last bank holiday (pre-pandemic) that you had off? No, not many of you will. Remember the last summer weekend you had with your family without facemasks? Nope.
You’ve got the drive and grit you’ve needed to make it to where you are and manage a team. You’ve got the resolve you’ve needed to work longer, harder, or generally put up with more pressure than others that have fallen by the wayside. Remember though, these skills you have a rare – and most people don’t have them. You might be able to grit your teeth and fight on through these tough times – but millions of people are struggling with that.
Look after your team; talk to them about what they’re going through; share the business goals, and make them feel part of what’s going to happen when parks reopen.
Covid-19 has given us an opportunity to shine as great leaders – and how you lead your team through these difficult times could be the difference between the businesses and parks that make it, and those that struggle to get back on their feet.
