Living as an alien in the deep South
I thought I would use this first instalment from Georgia, USA to update you on my move and life so far.
After some emotional farewells in Cape Town I boarded the plane for Atlanta, leaving my wife and children to join me later this month. The journey was long, but the excitement of a new challenge and life in a new country made the trip pass quickly.
I arrived at Barnsley Inn & Golf Resort at 11am local time on Tuesday 13 June and was behind my desk and working by 12 noon. The team had been without a general manager for a month or so and gave a noticeable sigh of relief as I walked through the door. It didn't take them long to start hitting me with various projects requiring attention.
I think the hardest thing will be trying to keep us moving forwards and upwards as fast as possible, while inducting myself into life and business in the USA.
As well as the complicated human resources issues, I need to understand local products, suppliers, prices and the names of things, which are quite confusing. And it doesn't end there. When I drive "downtown" I have to do so on the right-hand side of the road.
This week I have spent most of my time introducing myself to the local communities and showing staff the way that I do things. The management team is incredibly supportive and we have completed our mission statement, objectives, operating philosophy, working values and vision. I like to get this done as soon as I start at a new location and call it "the foundation".
If you don't know where you are going, you will never get there. We need to agree on who and what we are before we start making the changes necessary to be world class.
I then present the mission to the staff in groups of 25-30. I have three simple rules rather than pages of policies and procedures. These are:
Take care of yourself
Take care of each other
Take care of this place.
Sounds fairly basic, but if you read deeper it covers most of the issues or problems that you will ever encounter.
Incidentally, "alien" is the term of endearment the US immigration has given me - my son will love it and probably think he is Buzz Lightyear.
Euan McGlashan is general manager of the Barnsley Inn & Golf Resort, north of Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Next diary from Euan McGlashan: 17 August 2000
