359: Dave Willner: Maintaining an Employee First Culture in Difficult Times

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How do you put your employees first, even when times get tough and layoffs are eminent?

Dave Willner

Dave Willner served as the Chief Operating Officer for Skyport North America, one of the nation’s premiere airport hospitality groups for almost 5 years. As the strategic leader of Skyport, Dave directed all systems and operations for 70 distinct retail and restaurant entities across multiple states, including spearheading rapid expansion and escalating gross revenues to over $200M.

After being forced to shut down all but one of their 70 restaurants and lay off 1250 employees due to the COVID pandemic, Dave also left in search of new opportunities where he could utilize his experience and passion for hospitality and employee engagement. As such, Dave is now the newly appointed National Director of Food and Beverage at Sun Communities & Sun RV Resorts.

He also proudly serves on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Restaurant Association and frequently serves as a Guest Lecturer for the Hospitality programs at Johnson & Wales University, University of Denver, and Metro State University.

What We Discuss With Dave Willner In This Episode

Transitioning from a starving NYC actor to COO in a premiere hospitality group
Building an employee first culture
Navigating through the uncertainty of Covid-19
Leadership skills needed to be a great leader in difficult times
A secret to leadership success
The importance of customer service and growing guest experiences
Pivot – the word of 2020

Transcript Highlights

Transitioning from a starving NYC actor to COO in a premiere hospitality group

Dave started off waiting tables in NYC to survive as an actor but soon came across the iconic Danny Myers of the hospitality industry. Danny taught him the importance of building an employee first culture as the most important part of an organization. This inspired him to give the hospitality industry a chance or get back to Broadway after a year if things don’t work out. It was the Danny Myers spirit that him to value an employee first culture.

Building an Employee First Culture and Why it’s so Crucial

The Employee first culture is about putting the employees first as the most important part of an organization. Dave’s professional growth in the hospitality industry gave him a wide range of experiences starting from small entrepreneurial ventures in New York to large corporate giants and multi-million dollar organizations. But it was always about using the baseline of keeping the employees first. The employee first culture is about taking care of the people that are taking care of the organization to make it a success. This has been the key to his success and the foundation to all the choices that he has made, strategies he has formulated and has been the building block of his career.

Navigating through the uncertainty of COVID-19

Dave had spent the past 5 years in building the organization and reinventing it from the inside out. A steady, slow and successful build now had to be dismantled. But he was still committed to being true to the employees first. His company was reduced from 70 restaurants to one and 1300 employees to 50, but he made sure that they held their head high even during departure. Transparency, open communication, integrity and being true to the employee first culture were the pillars of strength during these times of uncertainty. Dave did not shy away from practicing the power of vulnerability and accepted that even as a leader it was okay to not have all the answers.

Leadership Skills Needed to be a Great Leader in Difficult Times

In the customer service business, one should be able to read the neon signs on people’s forehead. Every customer that walks in has a sign, sometimes it’s very easy to read, sometimes it’s not, but there’s always a sign. A great customer service advocate needs to read those signs from the customer stand point and a great leader needs to have the ability to read the signs from their employees. A successful leader is one that is able to read those signs and respond accordingly even on days when there isn’t a pandemic.

How to Make Someone Feel Safe Even During a Layoff

The Covid-19 situation was one of those rare cases where both the customers and the employees had the same sign – “Make me Feel Safe”. With the employees that Dave had to let go, he made sure that even when they lost the job, they didn’t lose the relationship. The company provided the employees with all the necessary resources, tools and information that would help them feel less afraid on their way out.

Dave also delivered the layoff announcement himself to most of the employees so they understood how heartbreaking it was for him to let them go. Even in the face of fear and uncertainty, he made sure everyone knew that the Corporation wasn’t the big bad wolf and that there was loss on both ends.

Exercising Self Care as a Leader

The first rule of self-care is to remember we are humans first. The next is having a routine even after losing the job. For Dave it was about not letting the moment be bigger than the movement. He had his fair share of bad days but still got up and put things into perspective without always feeling sorry for himself. Some days it felt like looking at a long difficult way ahead but now he’s grateful to be on the other side.

A Secret to Leadership Success

One of the major keys to Dave’s success is to always keep the vision of being the leader he wanted to work and learn from. And the next is to be able to adapt, move forward and know when to pivot. Success comes when a person starts valuing their skills more than their role and figures out how they can use those skills in a different arena to move forward instead of being stuck.

The Importance of Customer Service and Growing Guest Experiences

Hospitality should be present for all people at all times. Regardless of the segments, every customer wants to feel safe, valued, and appreciated. Customer service is absolutely necessary and should provide the same customer experience irrespective of the bill amount. Leaders in this industry need to be available, approachable and accessible. They need to be able read the signs, not just of their customers but their team as well, because employees in the front line represent the brand.

Pivot – the Word of 2020

2020 has taught us to look at the glass half full. Transitioning through these times is hard and it’s necessary to give yourself time to grieve and deal with the loss and then pick yourself.

Through this experience, Dave has experienced the effect of the pandemic both as an employer and an employee. He believes in having an open up approach instead of a shut down approach.

He encourages people who are limiting themselves with tunnel vision to look at the big picture. The start might be small but you can always re-focus and have additional conversations to figure out a way around the situation. He was in the F&B industry but he realized his skill was actually in being a customer experience expert and an employee first culture expert. Dave believes that Pivot is the word of 2020 and it is possible to find light at the end of the tunnel.

Connect With Dave Willner

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/david-willner-5176945

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How do you put your employees first, even when times get tough and layoffs are eminent?