Theme: Opportunity for Equal Career Development and Advancement
ABOUT THIS SERIES
In this series, “Enjoy Your Stay”, I interview various former Starwood Hotel employees to try to understand the magic behind the company’s culture (for more on the “why” behind this project, read this). At the end of each interview, I highlight one key driver of Starwood’s unique culture.
This week’s interview was with Katherine Keenan who used to work on Starwood’s SPG (loyalty program) and Business Intelligence teams. The theme we will explore is all about how career advancement and development opportunities play a role in driving employee loyalty.
KEY THEMES
I interviewed Katherine Keenan, a former Starwood employee. Katherine joined Starwood in her early 20s after getting her feet wet at another hospitality company. She would first spend time on the Business Intelligence team and then earn a promotion when she moved to support the SPG team.
My interview with Katherine highlighted three key aspects that contributed to a culture of excellence and employee loyalty at Starwood.
Valuing of performance, not pedigree
Emphasis on sponsorship
Valuing of both “rockstars” and “superstars”
Valuing Performance, Not Pedigree
Starwood was known for having employees with years, even decades worth of experience. For young employees in their 20s entering Starwood, their hunger for growth and development opportunities was fueled, rather than starved. There’s a lot we can learn about how to develop and grow careers from Starwood’s playbook.
When Katherine joined Starwood, she was pleasantly surprised by all the opportunities she found to further her career. Later as she contemplated going back to school for an advanced degree she evaluated what success looked like at Starwood. In particular, she found there wasn’t necessarily one path she needed to take. At Starwood, the value was placed on performance, not pedigree.
Starwood employed a large number of employees who had decades of experience in the hospitality industry. However, Starwood also recruited non-hospitality experienced individuals, many of whom had MBAs, but no hotel experience. With such a mix of different pedigrees, the atmosphere was ripe for conflict. But none came.
As Keenan noted, “If you looked around at the VPs you saw a mix of people with MBAs and no MBAs. It was validation that I could succeed and grow my career within the four walls of Starwood. I didn't have to go elsewhere to be given opportunities for growth.” What she recognized is that all types of experience were valued at Starwood. In other companies, there often exists an invisible hierarchy of either people who come from the field or those with advanced degrees. That type of invisible barrier to success wasn’t pronounced at Starwood which was more motivating to new employees.
I had a similar experience while working at Starwood. Coming out of strategy consulting, I had skipped the step of going to get my MBA. I wasn’t sold that it was the right path for me at that point in my career. The thought of having to go back and get my MBA just so I could advance at my company would have been extremely discouraging. Rather, when I looked around at Starwood, I felt like I could continue to grow and advance despite not having a MBA or having experience working on property. While those experiences would have been rich experiences that gave me new perspectives, those perspectives didn’t feel inherently more valuable than my own perspective.
Creating opportunities for development and advancement within your organization is key to retaining talent. When invisible hierarchies force people to leave to get advanced degrees, just to say they have an advanced degree, it discourages people from advancement and contributes to inequality. Why? Because advanced degrees are expensive to obtain both in terms of financial investment and time investment. It's a privilege to have the time and money to pursue an advanced degree, particularly once entering the workforce full time. While some organizations have tuition reimbursement programs, that still puts the burden on the employee to front the money for the program, which is not accessible to all.
At Starwood, an advanced degree was not required. Nor was having prior hospitality experience. Everyone was on equal footing as long as they were open to learning and were devoted to the guest experience. The output at Starwood was more important than the input. And it was precisely that type of openness that enabled a variety of talent to be cultivated under the same roof.
Emphasis on Sponsorship
Another way Starwood created advancement is through sponsorship. A sponsor is different from a mentor in that they not only give advice, but actively work to advance the career of their sponsee. Keenan appreciated that she had sponsors who consistently advocated for her.
As Keenan noted, “I had a salary initially that wasn't that great...my mentor helped fight for me to get more than I asked for.” That experience is the mark not of a mentor, but of a true sponsor, someone who advocates for you when they have nothing to gain. Clearly it was worth it as she still remembers the kind gesture years later.
I actually have a similar story and experience with one of my former boss’s at Starwood who also advocated for me to receive a pay increase without me asking. I didn’t have the experience or visibility to understand the concept of pay bands, nor recognize that I was at the bottom of the pay band for my level when I joined the organization. However, my boss recognized my talent and proactively advocated for a “salary adjustment” so that my pay was more commensurate with my contributions. This is the mark of true sponsorship, not just mentorship. And that act still resonates with me today.
These gestures also spoke to a larger topic around the generosity of spirit of many Starwood leaders in that they just wanted to see you be successful. Sponsorship can only exist when there is psychological safety in an organization. Without that psychological safety, people can spend more time and energy jockeying for positioning and too focused on building their own reputation at the expense of others. At Starwood, that type of competitiveness, particularly with your own team, did not exist.
In many subsequent interviews, I heard examples of leaders who intentionally cultivated the talent on their team and created successors. Inexperienced leaders may feel threatened by strong talent on their team as they think it puts their job at risk. Experienced leaders know that everyone wins when you cultivate your team’s talent.
Valuing Both “Rockstars” and “Superstars”
In the book Radical Candor, the author Kim Scott calls out that leaders should look to retain two types of employees: Superstars and Rockstars. Scott differentiates these two types of employees based on trajectory, not potential. In particular, she calls attention to the “rockstars” who are at a slower trajectory and enjoy excelling in their current role. These individuals provide stability to a team while still performing at a high level.
Starwood was the rare organization that seemed to implicitly understand and appreciate both types of employees. Keenan noticed this right away upon joining Starwood. She recognized there were a plethora of long tenured employees in mid-level roles who were well respected and very generous with their time. These individuals had a wealth of institutional knowledge that was recognized and appreciated, which meant these individuals were also invested in from a retention perspective. These were the “rockstars” that Kim Scott was referring to.
Personally, when I first joined Starwood I noticed these individuals as well and wasn’t sure what to make of them. I had just come from Strategy Consulting which was heavy on the “up or out” culture. There was only one direction you could move your career in consulting and it had to be moved at the same pace or faster than all your colleagues or you would lose your job. At Starwood, there seemed to be a lot of individuals who had been at a Manager, Associate Director or even Director level position for 4+ years. It blew my mind at the time.
Now as a person in their 30s, I have a new appreciation and understanding for how these individuals managed their careers. I realize these individuals might have been quite content in a role where they knew what they were doing, were respected for their knowledge and work, and used their extra time to focus on the things that mattered most to them like family, hobbies, and general free time. As a young overachieving 25 year old, that was a foreign concept to me. Now, I covet it.
During a subsequent interview I had with an individual who had been at a Director level role for many years, they pointed out that because of the high retention rate at Starwood, there wasn’t a lot of opportunity for formal title advancement at higher levels. Since people rarely left, there were rarely roles available to move into, which might be one downside to high retention organizations. On the other hand, it might have emphasized growth over advancement. Often people think of advancement as being the only way to grow. In other words, growth looks like getting a promotion and moving up to the next level in an organization. However, growth can also include expansion. This could mean taking a lateral title move into a role on another team, or carving out a new role as the organization shifts, or even taking on new responsibilities and projects that push you to learn new skills. Based on my experience coaching individuals, I find the more people can expand their definition of growth beyond advancement, the more fulfilled and secure they feel in their career.
In all, Starwood excelled at creating an environment where people could advance based on their performance, not their pedigree. It saw individuals invest in their direct reports’ careers through sponsorship and allowed people to shine in their current roles without pushing them to advance at a specific pace. This in turn seemed to allow people the opportunity to thrive in a “build your own adventure” type of way and ultimately resulted in retaining high performing employees over the long term. This is one of the key ingredients needed to build employee loyalty.
FOLLOW ALONG
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