A group of people in suits from “corporate” stood in the luggage room, one holding a clipboard. A bellman stood across the room, watching them. Something felt off, so I asked what was going on.
“We’re being told to rearrange the luggage room,” one of them said.
“Did anyone ask you about it first?” I asked. “You know, before they came up with the plan?”
Silence. Sheepish looks. The answer was obvious.
Nobody had asked. The hospitality employees who used this space every day, who knew what worked and what didn’t, hadn’t been part of the conversation. They were just being told what to do and not a part of the decisions.
This happens all the time. It’s situations like this that are part of the reason retention is such a huge issue in hospitality. It says you don’t value the knowledge of your people.
The System That Isn’t in Any Manual
When we talk about broken systems, we usually mean the obvious ones. Technology that crashes. Software that adds steps instead of removing them. Policies that prevent simple solutions.
Those all matter. But there’s another broken system: how decisions flow through your organization.
When changes land on your team without anyone asking what they think, something shuts down internally. It’s not always dramatic. But a small piece of investment quietly disappears.
Multiply that by dozens of decisions over months and years, and you can end up with a team that stops offering ideas. Stops caring beyond the minimum. Stops believing their input matters.
The Message Behind the Method
Every decision carries two messages. There’s the decision itself, and then there’s what the process communicates about how you see your people.
When you rearrange the luggage room without asking the bellmen: the message is “your experience doesn’t matter.”
When you implement a new check-in procedure without input from the front desk: the message is “just do what you’re told.”
Rolling out a policy that makes someone’s job harder without giving them a voice in it sends a clear message: “you’re here to execute, not to think.
Most of this isn’t intentional. Leaders are busy. Decisions need to be made quickly. It feels more efficient to figure things out and then communicate the plan.
But efficiency in the short term can cost you energy in the long term.
The Invisible Drain
Your team members want to do good work. They want to solve problems and serve guests well. But when systems constantly get in their way, something starts to erode.
The front desk agent who knows exactly what a frustrated guest needs but has to say “let me check with my manager” for the third time.
The server who sees a simple solution but knows the policy won’t allow it.
The housekeeper who’s been asking for a supply closet fix for months and has stopped asking.
Each of these moments is small. But they accumulate. And over time, people can stop searching for solutions. They learn the system won’t let them win, so they stop fighting it.
Initiative fades, disengagement sets in, and leaders are left wondering why.
It’s Not About Big Changes
Sometimes the broken system isn’t a policy or a technology.
Sometimes the broken system is how a Monday morning meeting is run. Whether questions are welcomed or merely tolerated. The difference between “here’s what we’re doing” and “here’s what we’re thinking, what are we missing?”
The bellmen in that luggage room weren’t necessarily upset about rearranging suitcases. They were experiencing, once again, that their perspective didn’t factor into decisions that affected their daily work.
Questions Worth Asking
If you’re sensing disengagement on your team, consider:
- When was the last time you asked for input before making a decision that affects their work?
- What systems or processes do your people complain about most? Have you really listened?
- Are there places where your team has stopped offering suggestions? What might that tell you?
- Do your people feel like partners in the work, or pawns being moved around?
The Difference Is Leadership
This isn’t about making every decision by committee. Some things need to move fast. Some calls are yours to make.
But there’s a difference between leadership that says “I need to make this call, and here’s why” and leadership that doesn’t think to ask in the first place.
Your team knows the difference. And it shapes how much of themselves they bring to work.
Building Cultures Where People Stay Invested
The organizations that keep their best people aren’t necessarily the ones with the best technology or the highest pay. They’re often the ones where people feel like their voice matters.
WORTH@WORK partners with hospitality organizations to build cultures where systems support your people instead of draining them. Where decisions are made with input, not just announced. Where leadership understands that how you arrive at a change matters as much as the change itself.
If you’re curious about what becomes possible when your team believes their voice matters, let’s talk
