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International hotel group Kempinski is identifying and nurturing its next generation of high potential managers with the help of a talent management solution from Cezanne Software.
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Cezanne
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areCASE STUDY
Client Profile
Kempinski‘s portfolio of 65 luxury hotelsspans Europe, the Middle East, Africaand Asia. Headquartered in Switzerland,the group now employs over 17,000people across the globe. The businessis part-way through a period of rapidexpansion which will see it doublein size by 2015.
International hotel group Kempinski Hotels is using Cezanne Software’s talentmanagement solution to identify and nurture the next generation of high potentialmanagers to support the group’s ambitious growth plans.
Developing the talents of employees has always been a high priority for Kempinski,but the top management team recognised a more strategic and sophisticatedapproach would be required to support the group’s planned growth.
In the fast-moving hospitality industry, employee turnover is typically high andparticularly in the top tiers of management, good people are at a premium. Thebusiness needed to make sure it was retaining the best people and developinga pipeline of talented managers who would fulfil the organisation’s resourcingneeds and business growth going forward. Ensuring effective talent managementis essential for Kempinski, which specialises in the management of luxury hotels.
“Kempinski is a rapidly growing company and we need to foster innovativeand multi-cultural people management,” says Reto Wittwer, President and CEO.“We believe our people are the key to our success as they are the ones, after all,delivering our brand promise to our guests. In the hospitality business, lookingafter people is of strategic importance.”
Wittwer initiated a series of top-level discussions about where responsibility for theleadership development process should lie and how it would work in practice on theground. Previous feedback had suggested there was a lack of clarity about whoshould be identifying high potential employees and that managers often found thetask complex, time-consuming and difficult to drive forward.
Plans for a sophisticated and global succession planning process began to takeshape – and it quickly became clear that some kind of supporting technology wouldbe needed if the programme were to be truly effective.
Kempinski began to search for a talent management software solution that wouldhelp it consolidate its previously fragmented approach, foster and develop high-flyers and plan succession for key posts effectively.
Kempinski Hotels identify the nextgeneration of potential managers usingCezanne’s talent management solution
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A number of leading suppliers werebrought in for presentations anddemonstrations, and after a stringentprocurement process, Cezanne’s talentmanagement solution was chosen for itsflexibility, rich functionality and previoustrack record of successful use in a globalcontext. Senior management were closelyinvolved in the procurement decision,which was made with the full backingof the group’s management board.
Cezanne Software worked closely withKempinski to understand its requirementsand configure a system that met theorganisation’s specific needs. A stagedroll-out was planned, with the first phaseconcentrating on top management(General Managers who manage thehotels) and later the top five per centof the management population.
The system puts identification of highpotential employees firmly in thehands of General Managers, who arecharged with feeding information abouttalented people in their team into thesystem. A full personal profile is builtup for each individual, covering notjust their qualifications and career todate, but also information about softskills and aspirations.
“We are in a service industry, so the skillset we are looking for in our managers isless about qualifications or even previousexperience, and more heavily focusedon soft skills like attitude, culturalawareness and ability to adapt tochange,” says Henrike Gosemann,VP Talent Development. “We neededa system that would allow us to moveaway from the traditional focus on CVs,which reflect the career path but not thepotential, and would allow us to collectand analyse the kind of data we needed.”
“We believe our peopleare the key to oursuccess as they are theones, after all, deliveringour brand promise toour guests. In thehospitality business,looking after people isof strategic importance.”
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Information about issues like languageskills and mobility is also entered ontothe system. “Moving around is verycommon in this industry. It’s quite normalfor our General Managers to move aroundevery two or three years – and in factgetting experience in different typesof hotels is an important part of theirdevelopment,” explained Gosemann.
The software is gradually enablingKempinski to build up a bank of potentialcandidates who will lead or occupy seniorpositions in the more than 40 new hotelsthe business is due to open by 2015. Aspositions become available, the systemallows the business to do a ‘best fit’search among those who are readyto step up into more senior positions.
Gosemann likens it to a matchmakingagency, which helps match candidateswith suitable openings. There are thosewho might be more suitable for a city-based hotel as opposed to a resort
hotel, for example, or who would becapable of taking a new hotel throughthe pre-launch and opening phase.
She points out that a softwaresupported process is vital given theorganisation’s rapid growth. It is nolonger feasible for the corporate teamto have a detailed personal knowledgeof all the potential candidates – andwhile General Managers have a goodknowledge of senior colleagues at theirlevel and within their region, they wouldnot necessarily be aware of ‘up andcoming’ candidates in other areas.
“We are becoming our own internalhead hunter, so we are not searchingthrough a third party, we have our ownpool where we can fish,” she says. “Itwould of course be impossible to getevery single one of these new rolesfilled from within the group, but thesystem is helping us to fully exploitour internal talent base.”
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Maximising the potential of existingemployees is particularly important,given Kempinski’s strong emphasis ona values-driven approach to leadership.It has a distinctive management style,quite unlike that found in other leadinghotel chains, and needs people whoare a good cultural fit and have the‘Kempinski DNA’.
The system also allows Kempinski toplan and track the development of itshigh potential employees. Seniormanagers who are on the fast trackhave the opportunity to do an executiveMBA and to go on carefully chosenplacements in a variety of hotels andlocations to broaden their experience.
To date, around 900 profiles have beengenerated and added to the system.It is predicted that by 2015, up to 2,000profiles will have been entered.
In the early stages, the systemwas managed by the group’s TalentDevelopment team, who were trained byrepresentatives from Cezanne. They inturn are rolling the process out to around60 General Managers plus Corporateand Regional department heads acrossthe business, with plans to complete thetraining by the end of this year.
Once everyone is on stream, GeneralManagers will have the ability not onlyto identify and manage potential in theirown teams – but will also be able toaccess data about candidates fromother areas who may fit into theirsuccession planning process.
Gosemann points out that one of thekey advantages of the system is that itenables the business to see the widerimpact of any promotions or transfers itmay be considering. “We are able to seea succession tree, so while we might
have found the right candidate for onehotel, we might see that moving them outof their current role could create a biggergap, this insight allows us reconsider andlook elsewhere,” she explains.
Future plans include expanding thesystem to incorporate specialistdepartments, such as finance, sales,marketing and operations. The idea hereis that ‘talent champions’ will be identifiedin each of these corporate teams andgiven responsibility for using the systemto aid their succession planning.
Kempinski will also be looking closelyat Return on Investment (ROI). “Thereare a few quick wins but it takes time forthese kind of projects to bear fruit. Wewill be gathering data and are confidentwe will see an impact in areas likeemployee retention and investment inexternal recruitment,” says Gosemann.
Cezanne Software
Cezanne Software provides leading-edgeHuman Capital Management solutions thathelp companies better manage, develop,reward and retain their most important asset- their people. With many years’ experienceof delivering HCM solutions and hundredsof customers worldwide, Cezanne Softwareis committed to service excellence.
Our focus is to provide flexible, people-centered solutions that improve theday-to-day management of HR activities,drive the processes that are criticalto an organization’s success and helpcompanies to develop and maintaina competitive talent advantage.
France - Cezanne Software S.a.r.l.Tel +33 (0)1 44 09 71 21Email [email protected]
Italy - Cezanne Software S.p.A.Tel +39 080 549 84 11Email [email protected]
Portugal - Cezanne Software Ibérica S.A.Tel +351 21 3562024Email [email protected]
Spain - Cezanne Software Ibérica S.A.U.Tel +34 91 7684080Email [email protected]
United Kingdom - Cezanne Software LimitedTel + 44 (0)20 7202 9300Email [email protected]
USA - Cezanne Software, Inc.Tel +1 617 418-3945 (from USA 1 800 CEZANNE)Email [email protected]
Venezuela - Cezanne Solutions C.A.Tel +58 212 959 87 16Email [email protected]
For other locations please [email protected] visit www.cezannesw.com
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