Inside The Edge
About
The Executive Chair
The one question you always want to ask a successful person in a senior leadership role is “How did you get there?” In developing your own career, you learn more from hearing what worked – and didn’t work – from senior leaders and hearing their wisdom than from any other source.
We are embarking on a series of interviews with leaders who exemplify success for us. In their words are insights that can give you direction for moving your own career forward.
To read a summary, written by Michael DeVenney, of the past 12 interviews this year - click here.
| Suzanne Bachur - Know Every Aspect of Your Business |
Bluteau DeVenney and Company (BDCO): What did you do to move to a leadership role?Suzanne Bachur (SB): My career started back when I was 15 years old working with McDonald's Restaurants. I worked there for five years, and within that period I learned very quickly that I loved working with people and that relationship-building was the part of business I especially enjoyed. Because of this passion for building relationships, I was eager to seek mentors in my field, particularly as I left McDonald's and began my career with AMJ Campbell Van Lines. In that role, the President of the company, Tim Moore, quickly became one of my mentors and role models. My next career move was the result of a decision my husband Ron and I made to start our own business, a decision that also brought us to the Maritimes. Together we accepted an offer to take over a Swiss Chalet Restaurant in Halifax. In that business, it was my responsibility to manage the staff and build relationships. It was at that point that I was presented with an opportunity to start Premiere Executive Suites with my former boss and mentor, Tim Moore, and it is our work together that has led me to the position I am in today. I think it is my past work experiences and having role models such as my husband and Tim that have really helped develop my leadership and people skills, enabling me to succeed in my current role with Premiere Executive Suites. (BDCO): What is one thing that developing professionals need to do more of?(SB): You have to truly understand what everyone in your organization is dealing with every day. You should know what challenges your sales people are facing, or what problems your operations manager is experiencing. I believe that the reason I am so successful in the position I am in today is because I know every aspect of this business. In every company I have worked with, I quickly escalated to positions with increasing responsibilities, because I was eager to learn everything I could about the business. (BDCO): What about doing less of?(SB): Working the extreme long hours that prevent you from getting that proper work-life balance. You are much more effective when you go to work not feeling overworked and stretched too thin. Maintaining a balance is easier said than done, but it is something that is important to work on getting better at because it makes you a stronger worker in the long run. (BDCO): What experience helped you the most in your career and why?(SB): I would honestly have to say that my five years of experience working at McDonald's probably helped me the most. Mainly because of their professionalism and training, as well as the culture they had developed. Regardless of which restaurant I worked in, I always experienced the same culture of respectfulness, high standards and precise training. All of their procedures were so detailed and meticulous that it left little room for error and resulted in high customer satisfaction. I took away a lot of valuable knowledge that I then applied to my experience in entering into the Swiss Chalet franchise and running our own business. We took over a restaurant that was a year old and therefore had no procedures or training processes in place at all. As a result, I relied very heavily on my knowledge and past experiences with McDonald's to make the changes necessary to set us up for success. It was Swiss Chalet that instilled in me the importance of strong brand loyalty. (BDCO): What was the greatest challenge moving your career forward?(SB): Balancing business and family. I am a very motivated person and I like to please as many people as possible. I am a "yes" person meaning that when I am asked to do something I rarely, if ever, say no. I work my hardest to follow through and complete the task to the best of my ability. I do this at work and at home, so trying to balance the demands of both has probably my greatest challenge. (BDCO): What is the greatest strength of your approach to leadership?(SB): I am very hands on and involved with all aspects of the business. I have a firm open door policy and I try very hard to be approachable. Titles don't mean that much inside of our organization. We're all on an equal playing field. Every person here has an important role to play and everyone adds value to the organization. (BDCO): What has been the biggest surprise you have had since attaining a senior leadership role?(SB): The biggest surprise for me has been how fast we have grown in such a short period of time. Premiere Executive Suites was meant to be a small part-time business on the side. Today we are a major business, coast-to-coast, with 30 offices across the country. We never dreamed we would grow so large so quickly. (BDCO): What is the greatest benefit to you in attaining a senior leadership role?(SB): The opportunity to own shares in a company and play a contributing role in the development and success of that company. (BDCO): What is the biggest challenge you face in achieving results in your work?(SB): The lack of corporate head offices in Atlantic Canada is definitely one of our huge challenges. We have a very strong, successful operation, but the challenge of trying to secure relationships with corporate businesses when there is little corporate presence here is certainly a struggle at times. We are also very dependent on government-funded initiatives, for example the tax breaks offered for film production. A large part of our business involves satisfying the accommodation needs of those involved in film production, so when there was consideration of taking those tax breaks away, we were faced with the possibility of losing a large percentage of our revenue. Those factors that are out of our control always prove to be our biggest challenges. (BDCO): What is your greatest opportunity/goal for providing value for your organization?(SB): Listening and communicating with my employees and then reacting to what I hear is how I can add value. My team is very empowered and they have so much to offer. I very rarely make an executive decision without reaching out to my team first to hear what they have to say. In entering into a change that is going to affect the team, I always like to discuss with everyone involved first. The more communication and buy-in I have regarding the change, the easier the change process will be.
Think about where you are now in your career and what you can take from Suzanne’s observations. We would love to hear your comments about what are your key takeaways from our conversation with Suzanne. Tell us your progress – we want you to succeed. ______________________________________________________________
Premiere Executive Suites is Canada's number one provider of four-star, extended stay, furnished apartments and executive suites. You can find out more about Premier Executive Suites at www.premiersuites.com. |
