“There is a belief in some countries that unless you are foreign you cannot become a general manager,” says Steven Greenwood, GM of the 473-room InterContinental Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and country manager, Malaysia, for InterContinental Hotels Group IHG.
In his national capacity, he oversees five hotels, all managed, with a pipeline of 10, and he is making progress helping locals up the career ladder. “Already, two of my hotels’ GMs are Malaysians,” he said with pride, adding that in his own hotel, six members of the 10-strong executive committee are locals.
InterContinental Kuala Lumpur is owned by publicly held MTJ Development Sdn Bhd of Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur has citywide unemployment of 3.4%, according to Trading Economics, and Greenwood has to maintain a team of 450.
“We have on average a monthly 3.3% turnover, which means 15 colleagues joining each month,” he explained. He wants, from their arrival, to encourage these newcomers to work up to management.
“There are several IHG colleague development programs that help us to attract and then develop the right talent. The IHG Academy program partners with national universities – we ourselves work with Berjaya Hospitality University, Taylors Hospitality University and with Cilantro Culinary School.”
IHG also has a Future Leader fast-track development program, and there is RISE, launched on International Women’s Day 2017 to inspire and mentor females who have GM potential.
“In Malaysia we have 19 participants in the first SEAK, South-East Asia and Korea, cycle, of whom two are from InterContinental Kuala Lumpur, and, in addition, this hotel has nine female managers who take part in bi-monthly Lean In meetings here, on-site,” Greenwood continued, adding that one woman in his team has already transferred to InterContinental Singapore as Club InterContinental manager.
Greenwood has always been a strong believer in helping those with passion climb the ladder, just as he has been mentored throughout his career (he is continually in touch with his own direct boss, Thomas Schmelter, senior director of operations SEA, IHG, who coincidentally is based in Singapore).
Brought up in Scotland with a merchant banker as a father, Greenwood first thought of banking or the law as his own future. He started law but was diverted after talking to Allan Deeson, an essential member of the Deeson hotel dynasty (Stuart Deeson is today the big Hyatt name in Abu Dhabi, UAE).
Allan Deeson encouraged the teenager to spend a spell handling baggage and doing similar jobs in his own small Scottish hotels – but then, the mentor said, go and study, and look for a big brand.
After graduating from the University of Plymouth in southwest England and a short stage in France, Greenwood wrote to all the top brands then in London.
“I liked the response from InterContinental Hotels, I felt they would look after me. I joined a two-year graduate course in 1996 and I have been with them ever since – my first role was a night manager, which everyone should do,” he recalled.
He took up his present position in November 2018 and was immediately encouraged by the enthusiasm and passion of his team. “I want to inspire others just as I was inspired,” he said.