Despite the romantic notion of cruising for a job, at the end of the day this is a business with all the needs of any other large corporation. As such all the regular systems, processes, and procedures are in place to ensure the operation moves successfully forward. Management and succession training play a big role in every future oriented corporation, and Celebrity Cruise Lines is no exception. And our approach to ensuring our future success is the Celebrity Leadership Institute.
The Celebrity Leadership Institute (CLI) is a multi-part program designed to train our new supervisors and managers in the skills necessary to excel. The content of these training programs are fairly predictable for those who have developed in management on land. We have courses on managing business performance, communications, coaching, performance management, being a leader, etc. The content is standard, but the implementation of this program is not. First, start with the fact that we are promoting people from dozens of countries all over the world and are trying to apply an American business cultural norm to diverse cultural backgrounds. Second, recognize that even though they are moving up through excellent performance in their current jobs, the vast majority does not have a college education and their first (and sometimes even second) language is not English. Third, these are people who never get a day off and work 10 to 14 hours per day. When you give them an assignment to do outside of class there is limited time to accomplish it. Finally, where in America you can offer a management seminar that spans three to five consecutive days, the average time that a person spends in a contiguous classroom experience is one to one-and-a-half hours. Other than these restrictions, of course, it is exactly like teaching a seminar on land.
The other major difference is that we are fundamentally trying to change a culture. The cruise industry management system seemed to descend from European military structures. So management styles were far more dictatorial and the caste system was alive and well. Modern cruise companies, with Celebrity definitely one of the leaders, is trying to move to more of a 21st century leadership style of motivating by shared ownership of the results rather than fear of reprisal. This transition is still in effect, but we have made tremendous changes already. Yet, when I taught a course the other day on Performance Evaluations I felt that the principles that I was so familiar with were absolutely revelatory to this class of new managers.
This is what makes working in the Celebrity Leadership Institute so motivating. We are recreating the style of management for the cruise industry. Other companies are working on this, of course, but we have a more systematic approach to the application of this important skill development and cultural change. When I start by asking people how they would like to be managed and then give them permission to manage others in the same way, you see the light go on and the possibility of another way grab a toehold. But it is work. Tools such as SWOT analyses, which are rudimentary to business students in college in America are groundbreaking here. The basic concepts of financial and managerial accounting are unheard of and need to be taught from scratch. The principles of Management by Objectives are foreign. But that becomes the value that I know I get to add.
Due to all the barriers listed above I sometimes must struggle with only two or three showing up at a class session. It is in those moments that I recall a statement I’ve often made about preaching at Sunday mass. If only one person gets the message the time spent was worthwhile. If only one supervisor or manager learns a new and better way to lead their employees then the investment of my time and energy has paid off. When ten show up I feel like a little kid at Christmas. And every day, I simply work to deliver the best I can to whatever group is in front of me.
Every journey begins with a single step.
And the journey continues . . .
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