Hospitality Leadership: Why Public Criticism Is Costing You Staff
Have you ever had a masterclass in how not to treat people?
I often joke with old colleagues about the "crying cupboard". We laugh about it now, though it was anything but funny at the time.
In one central London venue, briefings felt less like team prep and more like a hostile sports debrief. "Would you imagine Barcelona playing like this?" or "I can end your career before service even starts" were standard line-ups. On Sunday mornings, scathing group messages would ping through before anyone had set foot in the venue.
For a long time I blamed myself. I told myself I wasn't tough enough to handle feedback, or that surviving it was part of building character and setting the standard. I learned how to line up tables with a piece of string and straighten the seams on lightbulbs. I also learned to combat constant anxiety with late nights and burnout.
We need to call this what it is. High standards and psychological warfare are not the same thing, though our industry has spent decades pretending they are.
High standards versus fear
High standards make your team proud of the work. Fear just teaches them how to survive you.
Belittling someone in front of the shift is not leadership. "It made me tough" is the story we tell ourselves so the hard years don't feel wasted. If there's anything worth keeping from those high-pressure venues, it isn't the trauma dressed up as resilience. It's a very clear lesson in how not to lead when it's your turn at the top.
Real hospitality leadership holds firm standards without needing an audience.
How should a hospitality leader communicate under pressure?
A great hospitality leader communicates with clear, calm intent. The goal is to be understood, not feared.
Under shift pressure, effective communication isn't about raising your voice or pulling someone up in front of the team to show who's in charge. It's about giving quick, practical direction that keeps the floor moving. The best managers strip out the noise so their team knows exactly what needs to happen next.
Off the pass, they balance firm standards with real support. High expectations, and people who feel backed, respected and heard.
Flip the script: correct in private, praise in public
If you want to build accountability that actually lasts, try flipping the old hospitality script this week.
Correct in private. When you need to pull someone up mid-shift, keep it about the work, never the person. Address it immediately, quietly, and out of earshot of the rest of the team and your guests. Holding someone accountable doesn't require embarrassing them in front of a full pass.
Praise in public. When someone executes well, handles a difficult table, or steps up during a rush, say so where the whole team can hear it. Most venues are quick to criticise publicly and painfully slow to recognise publicly.
Why this matters for Australian venues
This isn't only about how it feels!
Turnover. Accommodation and Food Services has the highest job mobility rate of any industry in Australia, according to the ABS. The Australian HR Institute found 40% of retail and hospitality organisations report annual turnover above 20%, the highest of any sector.
Replacing people is expensive. Australian estimates put the cost of replacing a hospitality team member at $3,000 to $7,000 once you count recruitment, onboarding and lost productivity. For supervisors and venue managers, AHRI puts senior and specialist replacement at 150% to 200% of annual salary.
Gallup puts preventable turnover at 42%. In Australia, AHRI attributes 21% of exits to conflict or poor workplace relationships, and another 17% to the quality of leadership and management. Close to four in ten people who walk out the door go because of how they were managed.
Burnout and speaking up. Hospitality Action's 2025 research in the UK found 47% of hospitality workers say burnout is simply "part of the job", rising to 62% among junior staff. 76% report mental health challenges during their careers, up from 56% in 2018. There's no Australian equivalent of that study, but I doubt many operators here would find those numbers unfamiliar.
Only 1 in 3 Australian workers strongly agree they can raise an issue at work without fear of negative consequences. That's exactly what public corrections do. They teach everyone watching that speaking up carries a cost.
The return on leading well. PwC's work with beyondblue found every $1 invested in effective workplace mental health strategies returns an average of $2.30, through lower absenteeism, fewer compensation claims and higher productivity. That research looked at mental health programs rather than leadership training, but it's the same mechanism. How people are treated at work shows up on your P&L.
What this means for your hospitality venue
Genuine accountability comes from clarity, mutual respect, and giving your team leaders the practical tools to lead well under pressure. It doesn't come from public dressing-downs or fear.
Swap the fear for quiet feedback and clear standards, and you protect your margin, lower the cost of turnover, and build a venue people want to stay in.
If you're looking to build a venue culture that keeps good people, have a look at how I work with venues on team training and leadership coaching.
