The Perfect Team

By Sotirios C Ikonomou




"When Sotirios Ikonomou was promoted to Rooms Division Manager, he brought forth an idea that he believed would strengthen the relationship between our Housekeeping department through motivating and bonding with the supervisory team, and the outcome was truly phenomenal.

Shadow your employees to learn about them.

"After dedicating two weeks to shadowing his employees, Sotirios understood not only their work responsibilities, specific roles, and individual skills, but he also achieved real insight into their personal stories. It was evident that the team was positively impacted by the quality time that Sotirios spent with them, so he felt that it was very important to share those special moments with the rest of the hotel managers so that they could be a part of the overall impact.

Spot what makes them unique, and share that. Promote them, not yourself.

"From a single room in the hotel, he constructed a photography studio where he created a film from a collection of still images. The response was outstanding, and the housekeeping team members showed great pride when watching the film, surrounded by their peers and managers at the staff's quarterly meeting. The reaction was potent, moving many of the team members to tears and emotionally impacting others throughout the hotel, not directly related to the Housekeeping department.

A leader has to be part of the unit of people they lead
"While sometimes it can be very challenging to motivate and bring a team together as one strong unit, Sotirios found that this project really allowed him to shine a light on each team member both inside and outside of their Housekeeping uniforms, bonding them all in a powerful, and lasting way." 

Phil Dourado

The IHG Leaders Lounge
Award-winning Leadership Development



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