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| Featured in
Indian Gaming Magazine
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| Cherokee Communication |
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Constant communication. That's the cornerstone of the
ongoing strategic plan to maintain a strong, unified corporate
culture at Harrah's Cherokee.
Harrah's recently celebrated the fourth anniversary in
its five-year relationship to manage the tribal property
nestled in the scenic Smoky Mountains of North Carolina.
Harrah's operates the casino under a contract with the
Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation, which owns the casino.
Of the 1,500 total employees at the casino, 35% are tribal,
or "enrolled," members. Tribal members occupy
60% of the managerial and supervisory positions. Only
22 of the employees actually work for Harrah's Entertainment,
Inc.; all others are employees of Tribal Casino Gaming
Enterprise (TCGE). The Cherokee tribe stresses education,
and many employees go back to school to complete degree
work. Education has served as a primary criterion for
promotion.Pat Dennehy, a Harrah's Sr. Vice President,
is the General Manager of the Cherokee property. Dennehy,
a former high school math teacher and football coach,
began with Harrah's in Atlantic City in 1980 and has served
as GM of properties in Joliet, Lake Tahoe, and New Orleans.
Harrah's is renowned for its strong corporate culture,
and the Harrah's imprint is clear at Harrah's Cherokee.
However, as Dennehy points out, it's not a Harrah's cookie-cutter
culture. "A very strong culture has been created
because it has incorporated a lot of the core values of
Harrah's with the core values of the tribe. It's a great
combination."
Harrah's set the stage for this happy union from the outset,
making the effort to know the tribe's culture and the
culture of the surrounding area, the local flavor. Dennehy
explains, "The Harrah's culture here is different
than in Atlantic City. Here we have the 'Southern Way'
among our employees, a gracious ease in the way they approach
their relationships with our customers. It's different
than the way customer service is viewed in the northeast,
where customers move at a more frantic pace. It's more
like the friendly and outgoing midwestern environment
of Joliet, the laid-back casualness of New Orleans, or
the relaxed mountain pace at Lake Tahoe."
Harrah's enjoyed the luxury of starting with essentially
a clean slate to build a corporate culture. There had
been a small temporary casino there before, but nothing
on the scale of the permanent casino. Beginning with the
raw materials of the local culture, Harrah's applied systematic
communication tactics to forge a strong connection with
the employees.
Dennehy maintains that communication is the glue that
bonds the culture. "It's a dynamic process of communication
with the tribal leaders, the TCGE, and employees,"
Dennehy said. "It's a work-in-progress that continues
today." He applies numerous tactics and resources
to keep management and employees connected and in touch.
He applies an aggressive and comprehensive multi-tiered
system of internal communication to keep employees informed
and to get continual feedback from them.
The main component of the communication strategy at Harrah's
Cherokee is pre-shift meetings (called
"buzz sessions" at some Harrah's properties).
"This is an opportunity for management to walk and
talk through the property and meet with employees informally.
We set service goals for the week, give employees important
operational details and words of encouragement, and get
feedback from them on what's going on in our business.
They are not shy about speaking up on issues affecting
them. It's two-way communication every day, every shift."
Other communication strategies he uses include the following:
Pre-employment screening to describe
clearly to prospective employees the special demands of
the casino environment (odd hours, working on holidays,
constant pressure, etc.) and the preferential treatment,
by compact, of tribal members in hiring and promotions.
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A department headed by a manager
dedicated solely to internal communications
within the Human Resources department.
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Closed circuit television system
in the employee dining room that displays messages
about marketing information, promotions, outstanding
"Shining Star" (employee-of-the-month)
accomplishments, customer research results, and
other news about activities and events at the property.
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Communication Central departmental bulletin
board system with specific boards placed
throughout the property dedicated to specific topics.
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Monthly meetings of the Cherokee Leadership
Team of upper management team to address
communication and cultural issues.
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Quarterly property-wide Leadership Team
update meetings to review directions and
results of the group's projects.
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Weekly meetings between the General Manager
and his direct reports to review/discuss
financials, discuss property issues, and disseminate
departmental information.
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The company conducts annual surveys to measure communication
effectiveness and corporate culture development impact
on employee understanding, learning, training, development,
involvement, overall employee satisfaction, teamwork,
accountability, resources, recognition, communication,
perceived customer satisfaction, and pride. Supervisory
feedback surveys give employees the opportunity to make
confidential evaluations of their supervisors. The results
are reviewed by management to determine action plans to
address any areas needing improvement. The results are
broken down by department and action plans are developed
for each department.
The full communication feedback loop Harrah's Cherokee
has created keeps a constant two-way dialog open between
management and employees. Many factors have a bearing
on developing a strong corporate culture, but the chief
component is always, first and foremost, communication.
Harrah's Cherokee demonstrates that loud and clear.
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