Flat Iron people lead warns AI ‘noise’ is driving need for better managers

The head of people at steak specialist restaurant chain Flat Iron has urged hospitality businesses to focus on training managers within their existing roles rather than preparing them solely for future promotions.

Speaking at The Caterer’s People Summit last week, Gina Knight said too many people teams focus on “the next role” instead of supporting employees once they step into management positions.

She said: “There’s so little development for people in-role and one of the things that we’ve been working on at Flat Iron when we’re thinking about impact and about systems, [is] building our managers’ capabilities.”

Knight said stronger in-role development has become increasingly important as AI contributes to rising employee relations “noise”, with some cases increasing by 30% to 40% as staff are better able to formally represent themselves with the help of AI.

She said this has created additional pressure on managers who are often not sufficiently equipped to deal with increasingly complex workplace issues.

Knight made the comments during a session examining the lifecycle of hospitality businesses, from startup and growth through to maturity, decline or reinvention, and how priorities for people teams shift at each stage.

She stressed the importance of building strong systems and leadership capabilities during growth phases while maintaining operational discipline as businesses mature.

Highlighting examples of business reinvention, Knight praised Prezzo for its turnaround strategy after a difficult trading period. The restaurant group returned to profit after closing 46 loss-making sites in 2023 amid rising inflation and energy costs and has since focused on modernisation and investment in its teams.

Knight said Prezzo’s recovery had been driven by honesty about the business’s challenges, investment in the right areas and empowering employees.

She concluded: “The ‘so what’ of everything I’m saying today is: be deliberate about your people and be deliberate about your business, know where you are, and really think through the lens of how can I attract great people, how can I develop great people and, if I engage with them, will they stay with me?”