As tough as these days, there is a call for better when it comes to people. Not just compassion but placing people back at the top of plans.

These are the saddest of times and during the discussions taking place, it is becoming clear that many feel frustrated and concerned over the way talent and people are managed. This is arguably nothing new bar there is a genuine call for better.

Everyone is struggling at the moment but as we do re-emerge there is a need for companies to think with greater care, compassion and thought on the people issue. It was simply not good enough pre-Covid and the request now is for companies to be far better as we re-emerge. After all the suffering which has taken place over the last seven months, it is becoming an expectation more than a request.

The below are some of the comments from senior industry players for review:

“As I sit and listen to either family members, who rightly or wrongly!, followed me into the Industry, or to younger colleagues still in the industry, in Leadership or more junior supervisory roles, who tell me what's going on…I find myself feeling sorry, frustrated and even angry on their behalf, as they don't seem to be being "looked after", enough, by their bosses. “

“We cannot place all the ills we are facing at the door of Covid. From many of the discussions we have had in the past, we know that there has been a lingering need for change and more inspired leadership, and at the base of it a need to develop the talent and management skills of the younger generation, who are keen to take on more responsibility and entrepreneurship.”

“ So many companies over the last generation fell into the race to dispense with the ‘old leaders’, and that, in turn, led to a huge loss of worthy experience and more mistakes were made along the line. I have always cited that in my mind, the greatest quality of Leadership is the ability to listen. So many 'Leaders ‘ are too autocratic and believe that their view is always the best and the only one worth considering.”

“I know many young, talented, career-driven people in our industry who would welcome the support and guidance that a leadership hub could give and to get advice and encouragement from people that have the experience and are willing to share their knowledge would give them more confidence to be brave and follow their dream

We need to do things and think differently as we navigate this uncharted territory and it’s more important than ever to work together to support and retrain others and ourselves. We all need to think differently, adapt and mould our future reality. “

“I was speaking to my daughters the other day wondering what kind of future will they have? Will most young people end up working in warehouses and supermarkets or is this a time when more entrepreneurship needs to be supported?

I am extremely passionate, as you know, about entrepreneurship, especially in encouraging young people and women to set up businesses. It is these younger generations who will know and understand what societies’ new needs will be but they may not have the knowledge and experience that older generations can offer.”

“I see the leadership need as being no longer about sweating the asset. The next 50 years will require leaders who are rule changers – and this in turn requires imaginative thinkers who can inspire change. A huge contrast to the historical. The risks for tomorrow’s leaders are bigger, but for those that get it right the prizes are greater still”

“However I also feel that the world we will emerge into will be very different and require some very new skill sets and thinking - quick to react, new models and styles and in many instances ignoring / not being held back by more traditional / pre-Covid thinking

So as always with my view - a balance of some established and some ‘nimble/fleet of foot’ new thinking

We will need to be brave enough to trial and fail - and for that to be ok as despite everyone’s thinking we honestly can’t know what the world will evolve in to.”

These are just a sample of many that are similar. It is an old cliché that “people are the great asset in hospitality”. It is now time to really put this belief into practice.