"Growth happens where people have the vision and courage to explore the unknown." - Dr. Florian Ilgen, CSP – Keynote Speaker & Change Catalyst

In this first interview of our pre-event interview series, we spoke with Dr. Florian Ilgen, CSP – Keynote Speaker & Change Catalyst, who will be delivering his keynote: Change Mindset – Embrace Change with Enthusiasm, showing how inner resistance can transform into genuine excitement for the new.

Your keynote for the HSMAI Commercial Strategy Conference MEA will be about the “Change Mindset” and how to embrace change with enthusiasm. Why is this an opportune time for commercial leaders in hospitality to learn more about the change mindset and reconnect with our passion?

We live in a world of constant but, above all, increasingly rapid change. Every representative of the hospitality industry can feel this right now, or will experience it in the very near future, due to the intensified implementation of AI. Since this change and transformation is challenging at times, we need a catalyst to help us manage and even benefit from it. The right mindset and the passion that follows are catalysts in this game: they help us develop joy while others struggle. A valid shortcut that saves us time and energy and creates opportunities to claim front-row positions in the global transformation challenge.

What is the most common misconception leaders have about why people resist change?

In my experience, most leaders believe that their coworkers don’t want to change. That’s not true, and it gets things wrong. Actually, they want to change, but they stop trying too early, usually because of three simple things:

• lack of tools: HOW to do it

• lack of a vision: WHY to do it

• lack of leadership and a real role model to show them: for WHOM to do it

Once these three are in place, the chance of inspired and motivated coworkers, who are willing and determined to carry out the transformation even in times of adversity, grows drastically in our favor.

This year’s conference theme is “Resilience. Agility. Results.” How can leaders recognise when resilience means staying the course and when it means having the courage to change direction?

After 17 years of running my own business, I know that things usually don’t work on the first try, and we have to be creative, enduring and, most of all, on a very strong mission to keep going, even in times of crisis like Covid. We all shared this experience. While resilience means handling setbacks and recovering or even overcompensating (like a sore muscle after a workout) to get better by learning from mistakes, we need to stay hungry. We need this vision to get better and progress. While we hold on to this unshakable vision (goal), we are allowed, and most of all encouraged, to always find new and better ways to reach that goal. The vision stays, but the path can change: we stay the course on the goal and change direction when the way to it stops working. Our vision is the bone (structure), while constant change and improvement are the meat that helps us accomplish our goal.

Hotel commercial teams are often expected to deliver immediate results while adapting to new technologies and changing guest expectations. How can leaders create space for experimentation when the pressure to perform leaves little room for mistakes?

No change without benefit. From psychology we know that people only change when there is a tangible benefit involved, be it saving time, saving cost, obtaining security or increasing profits. So we need to try things several times to be successful and to both understand and feel how we can benefit from a new routine. Assuming the leader involved takes all precautions (obtaining all information, simulating with AI and assessing new ideas in a selected and experienced team), change and new paths still require the freedom to make mistakes. This means that the expectation of experimentation without failure (from which we can learn) is not realistic, and it needs an adapted attitude from management.

You highlight the fear of losing familiar routines as a barrier to change. How can leaders address that fear when new technology, particularly AI, challenges people’s confidence in their skills or their future role?

We love being accepted and honored by our peer group. Most tasks within the comfort zone will produce the aforementioned outcome. Outside of the comfort zone, we struggle, fail and do not earn the response that feels so good that we have grown used to it. Since there is no learning without error and no significant improvement within the comfort zone, we have to trick ourselves into loving to perform in new areas. There will always be change, and its speed is picking up. One strategy is “selective memory”, which strongly influences how successful we are. When we remember all the successful transformations of the past that we managed, although they seemed terrifying at the beginning, we know we can manage much more in the future. No matter which AI model comes next.

Commercial success depends on sales, marketing, distribution and revenue management working together. What can leaders do when established departmental habits and competing priorities stand in the way of a shared approach?

Honestly, I think it starts with a shared goal. If every department is measured on different targets, they’ll pull in different directions. So I’d bring everyone together around common KPIs, like total revenue. Then I’d set up a regular commercial meeting where all teams look at the same numbers and make decisions together, for example on group bookings or promotions. And as a leader, I’d lead by example: listen, explain why we’re changing things and show quick wins. People change habits when they see that it actually works.

Ahead of your keynote at HSMAI MEA, what is one assumption you would like hospitality commercial leaders to question, and one practical change they could make when they return to their teams?

One assumption I’d love leaders to question is that revenue is the job of the revenue team. It isn’t. Revenue is the result of sales, marketing, distribution and revenue management working together, and when they work in silos, money gets left on the table. One practical change: go back and set up one shared commercial meeting every week, with all teams looking at the same numbers and agreeing on decisions together. It’s simple, it costs nothing, and it changes the conversation from “my target” to “our result”.

From your experience working with hospitality leaders, what do you see as the sector’s greatest strength when it comes to embracing change, and where could its established ways of thinking hold it back?

Hospitality deals with human beings every day, and human beings determine how successfully change is put into action. This industry has experienced very strong change in the past, with Covid and with revenue management based on machine learning, even before AI was a thing. The “we will manage it” mentality and the service mindset, which has to be very agile depending on who you are talking to, are strong proof that this industry already embraces change. However, the same strength can hold the industry back: the “we will manage it” attitude can turn into improvising instead of systematically questioning established routines, and the silos stay in place. Once we unite the goals of for example sales, marketing and revenue management, the silo obstacle is overcome, giving way to more efficient change that not only feels better but also ignites a true sense of team spirit and belonging.