Listen. Act. Trust.

Your colleagues answered. The workshops you sit in decide whether that was worth their time.

JA Resorts & HotelsStop. Start. Continue.

Ninety minutes. One promise kept.

Wake up the room
Ice breaker, energizer, one honest show of hands
Why this matters
Listening, trust and three big numbers
The property file
The guide you carry into every workshop, not the script
Stop. Start. Continue.
The framework, the anatomy of a good action
Practice round
Two groups, one workshop each, share back
Your playbook and close
Do's and don'ts for the facilitator, commitments

Two truths and a guest complaint.

1

Tell three stories

Three guest complaints you personally handled. Two really happened. One you made up on the spot.

2

Table votes

Your table guesses the invented one. Confidence is encouraged. Accuracy is optional.

04:00

The silent line-up.

1

Round one

One line across the room, ordered by years with JA. Shortest tenure here, longest there. Not one word spoken. 60 seconds.

2

Round two

Re-sort by how far you travelled to work this morning. Still silent. Hands, eyebrows and dramatic pointing only.

03:00

No judgement. Only recognition.

Raise your hand ifyou have ever read a survey result and thought "That is not my department".
Raise your hand ifyou have ever promised a follow-up and then the season happened.
Raise your hand ifyou have ever wished your own boss asked you what you think, and then did something about it.
Keep it up ifyou are willing to be the leader who closes the loop this time.

A survey is not listening.
Acting on it is.

Ask

The survey. Done.

Read

The property file. Your guide.

Decide

The department workshop. Stop, Start, Continue.

Act

30, 60, 90 days.

Tell

"You said, we did."

Trust is built at step five. Most organisations stop at step one and wonder why participation drops next year.

20%

Only one in five employees worldwide is engaged at work.

Not unhappy. Not quitting. Just present. The gap between "present" and "engaged" is where guest experience lives.

Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2026 (2025 data). 20% engaged, 64% not engaged, 16% actively disengaged. Low engagement cost an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity.
70%
of the variance

The manager explains seventy percent of a team's engagement.

The person who runs the daily briefing. That is why every workshop belongs to its Head of Department, and why you sit beside them, not in front of them.

Gallup: managers account for at least 70% of the variance in team engagement.

Move "my opinions count" from 3 in 10 to 6 in 10 and watch what moves with it.

My opinions count3 in 106 in 1030% to 60%
Safety incidentsindex 100 to 60
-40%
Turnoverindex 100 to 73
-27%
Productivityindex 100 to 112
+12%

One survey item. Three business outcomes. The item is about being heard, and the workshop is where you prove it.

Gallup, State of the American Workplace: raising "opinions count" strong agreement from 30% to 60%.

Engaged teams are not nicer. They perform.

+23%
Profitability
The outcome every owner reads first
+18%
Productivity
Sales and production output
+10%
Customer loyalty
Your guest, your review score, your repeat stay
-81%
Absenteeism
The roster that finally holds

Every one of these starts with a team that believes someone is listening.

Gallup Q12 Meta-Analysis, 11th edition. Top-quartile vs bottom-quartile business units.

Reading your
property file.

685 of 729 JATR colleagues answered. 94%. eNPS +39.4, mean 4.29 / 5. The file is your guide. The room is the source.

Numbers do not speak. The team does.

Open with two strengths

The department's two strongest items. JATR-wide that is role clarity (4.49) and pride (4.47). They seed the Continue column. The HOD says them to the team first. Always first.

Name up to two signals

The lowest item, and the item furthest below the JATR mean. Property-wide: recognition (4.13) and belief that action will be taken (4.19). Signals, not verdicts. The team decides what they mean.

Then leave the file

Straight to Stop, Start, Continue. Colleagues say what hurts and what annoys them. Then they choose one priority together. The survey guides the conversation. It never dictates it.

Sample size first. Groups under 5 are suppressed. Treat small groups as directional, never as a verdict.

Stop.
Start.
Continue.

Three questions your team already knows the answer to.

Stop

What drains energy, wastes time or quietly damages trust?

Habits, meetings, rules, workarounds. Things that made sense once and nobody dared to cancel.

  • Announcing roster changes in the group chat at 23:00
  • Inspections that check boxes and skip the conversation

Start

What would make the biggest difference if we began it next week?

Small, visible, owned. Not a project. A new habit the team can feel within thirty days.

  • Two-minute "idea round" in every Monday briefing
  • Night shift gets the VIP list before the guests do

Continue

What is working that we must protect, even when busy?

Your strengths from the file. Named, celebrated, and scheduled so the season cannot eat them.

  • Monthly birthday breakfast with the Director
  • Buddy system for every new joiner in week one

Recognition scored 4.13 / 5. Now what?

JATR's lowest item, 3.69 in F&B Service. The number tells you where. The team tells you why. The three columns turn why into a plan a stranger could execute.

VerbStart+Specific actionone compliment read by name, every briefing+OwnerOutlet Manager+First stepfrom Monday
StopSaving "well done" for the monthly meeting. Praise lands in the shift it was earned. Owner: Outlet Manager.
StartOne guest compliment read by name in every briefing. Owner: whoever runs the briefing. From Monday. Review at 30 days.
ContinueThe supervisor floor-walk at 14:00, with one question added: "Who did something today I should know about?" Owner: all supervisors.

Could a new joiner read it and know exactly what happens Monday?

Sounds like a plan, is not one

  • "Improve communication in the department"
  • "HR should organise more training"
  • "Recognise the team more often"
  • "Continue being a great team"

A plan

  • "Start a 7-minute stand-up at the 14:45 shift overlap. Owner: Duty Manager. From Monday. Review at 30 days."
  • "Start one 20-minute skills huddle per week, run by a colleague, topic voted by the team. Owner: Sous Chef Ali."
  • "Start reading one guest compliment by name in every briefing. Owner: whoever runs the briefing."
  • "Continue the buddy week for new joiners, and add a day-30 coffee with the HOD. Owner: Housekeeping Manager."

Fewer actions. More finished ones.

The 27-item plan

Everything is a priority, so nothing is. A short list that gets finished builds more trust than a long list that disappears.

Fix: one to three commitments in total

The ghost owner

"The team" owns it, which means nobody does. Or "HR" owns it, which means it is already your Stop item.

Fix: one name, one date, per line

Defending the score

"The survey was during peak." "New joiners did not understand the question." Every minute explaining is a minute not listening.

Fix: "Tell me more" instead of "Yes, but"

The silent 90 days

A great workshop followed by nothing visible. Participation next year drops, and now the data is worse and the trust is too.

Fix: first step within 7 days, review at 30, 60, 90

Marisol Bay Resort needs a facilitator.

  1. Two small groups. Each group takes one workshop card and sits in it as the HR facilitator.
  2. Read the room: the workshop in progress, the three scores and the three voices. Agree what is going wrong, and who is not being heard.
  3. Fill the three columns for yourself: what must HR Stop, Start and Continue so the workshop runs, the priority is not dictated, and every colleague is heard. Choose one to three moves.
  4. Pick a presenter. 60 seconds per group to share back. The timer is merciless.
Golden rule: you are not there to write their plan. If your Start column says "tell them the priority", you owe the room a coffee.
Group work
12:00
Fictional hotel. Real patterns.

Marisol Bay Resort & Spa

Fictional, any resemblance is a coincidence

A five-star beach resort on the Gulf. 412 keys, three pools, six outlets, a spa, a kids' club and a very loyal regional clientele. The owner is proud. The GM is new. The last engagement survey was two years ago; results were presented to department heads and never reached the floor.

620
colleagues, 38 nationalities
3.3 / 5
"I believe action will be taken as a result of this survey"
+31
eNPS, participation 78% (up from 61%)
GM

"We finally have the data. I want every department to walk out of their workshop with a plan I can read in one page."

Daniel, General Manager, 4 months in role
HR

"Participation went up because we promised it would be different this time. Our job in each workshop is to make sure it is."

Noor, Director of People & Culture
Two workshops are in progress. Each group sits in one of them as the HR facilitator. Treat the voices as real colleagues. They are, somewhere.

Front Office. The plan is already written.

52 colleagues, 14 in the room, minute 20 of 90

The Front Office Manager opens with a slide. Three priorities, three owners, all three are supervisors. "I did the thinking so we can be efficient." The team nods. Two receptionists have not looked up from the table. When a night-shift colleague mentions the kiosks, the manager answers before she finishes: "That is Engineering, not us." The sticky notes are still in the packet.

3.4 / 5
"In the last 7 days I received recognition or praise"
3.6 / 5
"I feel comfortable sharing ideas or concerns"
4.6 / 5
"I clearly understand what is expected of me"
FOM

"We have forty minutes. I have already written what we need. Can we just confirm and go?"

Front Office Manager, 6 years
RA

"If I say the briefing never happens, he will know it was me. There are five of us on nights."

Receptionist, night shift, said to you at the coffee station
SV

"The score was during peak. New joiners did not understand the question. Honestly, the survey is the problem."

Front Office Supervisor, 5 years
Your task: as the HR facilitator in this room, what do you Stop, Start and Continue so the workshop runs, the priority is not dictated, and every colleague is heard? One to three moves, each with the first sentence you would actually say.

Housekeeping. Nobody is talking.

168 colleagues, 22 in the room, minute 35 of 90

The Executive Housekeeper is doing everything right and it is not working. She asked the open question. Silence. She asked again. One floor supervisor answered for everyone, in English, at length. Half the room speaks English as a third language. When a room attendant finally says "the linen", the supervisor explains why the linen is fine. Three ideas so far. All three begin with "HR should".

3.5 / 5
"I feel comfortable sharing ideas or concerns"
+12
eNPS, lowest in the hotel. Participation 62%
4.4 / 5
"I feel supported by my manager in maintaining my wellbeing"
EHK

"I told them it is safe. They are not saying anything. Can you take over? They might talk to HR."

Executive Housekeeper, whispered to you at minute 30
SV

"HR should fix the transport. HR should do the training in Hindi. HR should talk to the owner about the salary."

Floor Supervisor, 6 years, the only voice so far
RA

"I had an idea for the trolley that saves ten minutes a floor. I wrote it on the paper. I did not say it."

Room Attendant, 3 years, sticky note found after the break
Your task: as the HR facilitator in this room, what do you Stop, Start and Continue so the workshop runs, the priority is not dictated, and every colleague is heard? One to three moves, each with the first sentence you would actually say.

Before the workshop: set the table.

BeforeDuringAfter

Do

  • Meet the Head of Department before the day. Agree the split: they lead the conversation, you guard the process.
  • Know the department row: two strengths, up to two signals. Enough to steer, not enough to lecture.
  • Check the set-up: a wall, markers, stickies, a visible timer, and a slot that night shift and casuals can actually attend.
  • Say it out loud to the HOD: the priority is chosen in the room, not before it. Get a nod.

Don't

  • Arrive with a plan in your pocket. If you already know the answer, the workshop is theatre.
  • Let the HOD forward the Excel on WhatsApp with no context. Or at 23:00. Or both.
  • Try to work out who said what. You will be wrong, and it will show.
  • Accept a second postponement. The second postponement is the message.

During the workshop: hold the process, not the pen.

BeforeDuringAfter

Do

  • Frame the process in two minutes, then hand the room to the HOD. Thanks, strengths, then the gaps, without apology.
  • Protect silent brainwriting. Everyone writes before anyone speaks. Then cluster, then dots on the wall.
  • Ask the quietest person, and wait. Count to seven in your head before anyone fills the gap.
  • When the HOD starts answering for the team, say "Let us hear the room first." Then hold it.

Don't

  • Take over when it gets quiet. Your chair is at the side, not at the front.
  • Let a score be defended. "Yes, but" ends the conversation. "Tell me more" restarts it.
  • Let "HR should" pass. Park it honestly on the wall, then ask what the team can own on Monday.
  • Let the loudest voice write the plan. One voice is not a priority. Dots are.

After the workshop: close the loop, loudly.

BeforeDuringAfter

Do

  • Make sure the priority row reaches the CES Priority Submission sheet: one row, one owner, first step, review date, measure of success.
  • Check the commitments went back to the whole team within 7 days. On the notice board, in the briefing, by name.
  • Check in with the HOD before the 30-day review. Ask what moved, not what was planned.
  • Flag early. Where a department is stuck, People & Culture hears it from you before the review, not at it.

Don't

  • Own the action. The owner sits in the department. You are the mirror, not the engine.
  • Let an action change quietly. If it moves or drops, the team hears why.
  • Chase by email only. Walk the floor and ask a colleague what they heard about the plan.
  • Go silent for 90 days. Silence is the one result everyone remembers.

Three things you take out of this room.

01

Read before you react

Sample size, then means and favourable. Two strengths, up to two priority signals. Everything else is noise until the team speaks.

02

Fewer, finished, owned

One to three commitments in total. Every line has a verb, one owner, a first step, a review date and evidence. Nothing begins with "HR should".

03

Tell them, then tell them again

Commitments back to the team within 7 days. "You said, we did" at 30, 60, 90. Where no action is possible, say why. Trust is built in step five.

Department workshops
October

HR facilitates as the neutral party. Output: Stop, Start, Continue and one priority row.

Action plan signed off
October

GM and Head of HR confirm one to three named priorities with owners.

Quick wins delivered
Beginning November

Comms series after sign-off of priorities. Pulse re-listen 16 to 27 November.

Thank you.

Their teams already told them what to do.
Go help them show they heard.

JA Resorts & Hotels