Business Leaders interview: Paulina Chahin Garcia

Tell us a little about yourself and your business. 

My name is Paulina Chahin García, I was born in Mexico City and moved to the Caribbean 21 years ago to start my career in Tourism. I had the fortune of studying abroad in Salzburg, Austria; experience that opened my horizons in the world of hospitality. My beginnings were in Group Sales, with time I was able to earn different milestones, firstly as BDM and then as Director of Sales and Marketing. I was too young at that time and I felt I needed more experience. At that time my employer gave me the opportunity to start an operations management career, so I went for 8 years to Cuba as an Executive Assistant Manager and then Hotel General Manager first in Cuba and then in the D.R. With the pandemic hitting business and closing the world, one day I was away from home on holidays and unable to return back to work. I started my studies in NLP and my Leadership Certification with John Maxwell’s team. Long story short, I got called to a new adventure in hotels in Playa del Carmen as Director of Operations and currently I returned to my roots with the same company in the sales department as a Corporate DOS for The Fives Hotels & Residences.

What motivates you in your work and what do you find most fulfilling about being a business leader?

I feel I came to this world to help people. I’ve always loved the service industry, I’m a passionate leader who enjoys sharing life experiences that can help people improve themselves. With the studies I’ve done in emotional intelligence, leadership and NLP I think I’ve acquired the necessary tools to mentor my team to success. I enjoy when former team members grow their careers and then say that I “planted the seed”; those moments mean the world to me. I feel the greatest gratitude when our clients share beautiful experiences of their holidays and when travel agents get good reviews and gain repeat customers, that then repeat our hotels as well.

How did you develop your leadership skills and how would you define your leadership style?

When I started in sales, I organized and operated the convention centre of the hotel I used to work for. The GM was invited to several emotional intelligence seminaries, but he was too busy, so he’d tell me to go instead of him… for free! I’ve always enjoyed learning, so those were my beginnings in knowing I wanted more. I’m used to reading motivational books, podcasts, and in Cuba, one of our tasks as Managers is to train Cuban staff due to the lack of literature, connectivity and updates. I then started training staff and giving different seminaries with FORMATUR. On the pandemic, being without job made me start the journey in Neuro-linguistic Programming and joining John Maxwell’s leadership team to gain more tools to continue my growth. I think I am a transformational leader as I like to inspire and motivate my team, and I like them to develop their skills and new ones.

Innovating is crucial in our very diverse industry. How do you stay ahead of trends and incorporate them into your global strategy?

Reading articles in hospitality, leadership, sales and of course learning from my team members and leaders as well.

What do you consider to be the key component(s) of effective business operational development?

The core is understanding the business, then guest experience focus (internal guests and external guests) together with the internal guests training and engagement of both. We need to have operational efficiency (technology is a good key, expensive at first but with return of investment), focusing on the market trend to make decisions. And something very important, a very good communication to ensure the alignment to the goals of business.

How do you approach identifying areas for improvement within a company's operations?

Auditing gives a great help and also an overview to what´s happening, getting the “5 why” to go to the root of what needs to be improved, getting a continues improvement process and also thinking on “how can we improve this”, everything can be improved.

Where do you think the most promising investments should be focusing on and/or made on?

Training, technology and sustainability, Digital marketing and health and safety

What is or are your biggest career achievement(s)?

Getting to the point where I’m at as a woman and Mexican is a big achievement for me, but the team and community I belong to and the people I trained that many have very good management positions would be the greatest. Motivating people and empowering them to be better is my biggest motivator and achievement.

Do you have examples where your leadership made a difference? If so, what were they? 

While working in Cuba, I was able to help with the cat problem in the community where my hotel was. We trained clients and employees not to feed cats, we strayed them and built cat cafés so we can keep them out but yet living in their environment. This initiative helped us increase our occupancy for “pet lover clients” and also from other parts of the world as the word spread. 

In one of our hotels, we had difficulty to get staffed as it was far, not many benefits for employees, not a good salary as well. I had a housekeeping manager that was deaf, so we took inclusion courses, and it came up to my mind to see if I could hire staff with disabilities. This helped me reduce employee turnover and also help people belong and have a job. 

In one of my jobs in Cuba, there was a big category 4 hurricane hitting, in our manuals, we had to be evacuated, however, as it was a major crisis and we were well prepared, they used us as a refugee. This was by far the scariest but mind-blowing at the same time experience, as we were able to safeguard over 500 guests/employees, give them food, keep them calm and with 0 complaints after it hit. Our staff did an awesome job keeping everyone safe and when clients were crying at us with gratitude my heart felt it was full and at peace

What’s the most important leadership lesson you’ve learned?

I’ve learnt the world is so small and you need to be patient, careful, prudent. Listen before speaking and think before answering to say the correct words. 

How did you identify and seize opportunities for advancement in your career?

When I was growing in my carrier, I was offered another job, but I really loved the company I worked for even though there was no option to grow at that time in that position. I chose to leave and take this other job, to then find that my employer had other things I could do besides sales, and this was the moment when I went to Cuba to become a General Manager and to get a 360° perspective on the hotel industry. This change led me to learn all these tools that now are a big advantage now that I am in sales.

Have you achieved everything you wanted in your career so far? 

Yes, and I am very grateful for the choices I’ve made to be where I am now. 

How important is personal development to your success, and how do you approach it?

I think we are always learning, so that is the most important, learning more soft skills and improving them, training your brain to learn and unlearn, while giving feedback to my team, also asking for feedback to improve, having and setting clear goals, working also on my wellbeing/time off and things that make me happy… and going out of my comfort zone and of course networking.

How do you prioritise tasks when everything feels like a priority?

I try to delegate as much as I can, I list the things I need to do and check in what is urgent and what is important.

What was the hardest decision you have taken as a leader? 

Letting someone go because results were not met, and improvement sessions were given. 

What steps do you take to measure your own performance?

I have OKR scheme with different Key Indicators to see how far I am to achieve my goals.

What does success mean for you as a business leader?

For me it means empowering others and building new relationships, learning and unlearning to adapt to the changes effectively, growing as a person through my learnings and also as a professional.