Welcome to episode 166 of our podcast, The Executive Edge with Stephanie Coradin

Stephanie has two degrees, one in counselling and another in business development and she merged the two when she went to work in hospitality. Known for being a tough sector to work in because it’s very demanding, she became a learning and development trainer. She worked her way up through supervisor level to management and developed a brilliant rapport with people as she went.

Stephanie talks passionately in this episode about being able to connect with employees – at all levels, and that with effort, that connection pays off. She founded Dembo Inc which she explains was a name her husband came up with and its stuck ever since.

Hospitality is tough because the hours are demanding, the profit margins are often small, and the industry must achieve very high standards. When she started she was 17 and she’s been through that journey herself. So, she learnt a lot! But she also learnt that leaders can sometimes be quite removed from people who are customer facing and that needs a ‘bridge’.

Stephanie also saw that as people are promoted, they don’t necessarily get trained as leaders. They might be very well intentioned but it’s also tough for their peers who once knew them as friends. Situations like this can create friction. It’s a difficult environment and reflects the difficulties other industries have, especially where the point of entry is often a relatively low paid job

So how did Stephanie start to work on helping people?

That way she began listening to people. Taking a step back and listening to employees and team members taught her what matters to them. If they can feel you ‘have their back’ they begin to trust you and know a lot more about how to please customers. Interviewing people at all levels of the business also revealed different issues. The things that really bothered them were often lack of respect or appreciation.

They also needed time with their families, their children and to feel trusted. So, if their leaders stood up for them that was a ‘big’ emotional shift. She began to teach leaders a better style and to help them how to delegate well and understand people.

In her experience, this created a compassionate and caring environment which meant profitability and productivity went up. This is what she means when she talks about ‘emotional leadership’.

This was a great chat and I hope you find it a great learning tool