THE CONTEXT
THRIVE worked with an award-winning hotel, restaurant, and cafe in rural New England. All three businesses run at high volume, and the ten-person management team holds itself and its 60+ employees to an extremely high bar. The front-of-house teams are warm and attentive to every guest’s needs, while the back-of-house operations hustle to produce food, drinks, and lodging options that are both distinctive and of consistently high quality.

THE CHALLENGE
The Inn's staff operate in constant “survival mode”, quickly coordinating their efforts in high pressure situations with little to no time for rest or reflection. Their only dedicated time together comes in rushed pre-shift huddles and unproductive leadership meetings. Managers are burned out, and they don't have the time or capacity to slow down, think clearly together, and do the higher-order work that creates new value rather than just output.

HOW THRIVE HELPED
We partnered with three managers to co-design two interventions. Each one created space for the team to step back from their daily tasks, reconnect with themselves and one another, and move toward more intention and clarity.

Phase 1 - Communication workshops (Fall 2025)
THRIVE delivered two ninety-minute experiential workshops with the full management team. We met in a physical space that eliminated hierarchy, and I led the team through exercises that provided each manager with time to write and share their vision for their department. We then conducted a root-cause analysis that identified themes and challenges across departments, with each person being given the opportunity to speak freely. Between sessions, managers paired up and stayed in conversation outside of their daily workflow. During the second 90-minute session, the management team mapped out future possibilities anchored around their shared visions, and they left with a set of collective goals that was carried forward by the GM for future leadership team meetings. 

Phase 2 - 1:1 leadership development (Spring 2026)
Following the workshops, the GM commissioned a six-week coaching experience for two managers. We tailored each participant’s sessions for their unique roles, challenges, work styles, and goals. These sessions were grounded in the realities of their specific work. The managers shared their visions with me in a trusted and confidential space and together we identified barriers, built their capacity to experiment, and used each week's reflections to guide their next steps forward.

Phase 3 - Ongoing partnership
The relationship with the GM is now in its third phase. We are scoping work around the Friday management meetings and designing a staff-wide working retreat. The ultimate goal is distributed leadership across the team, so that each manager has the capacity to identify problems and opportunities, generate and experiment with solutions, and adapt to what comes next.

RESULTS
From the GM:
 "I could see a change in results and behavior and attitude quickly after the communication workshops. It's been extremely helpful for us as we bring three distinct businesses together."

From the managers:
“At the start, I was pretty deep in the stress and burnout of my role. I was constantly in “go” mode, trying to hold everything together, manage everyone, and meet expectations that kept growing and sacrificing myself in the long run. Our work helped me slow down, take the time to think and look at how I was operating, and more importantly, why. Those small steps started to shift things for me.”

"I've gotten better at recognizing the barriers in place and my role in being proactive:. centering myself and carrying forward actions as a leader when before I was paralyzed by anxiety."

The signal to the team is clear: the GM is invested in their growth. That changes how they show up for work and for each other. It is a long-run investment in the team's capacity to grow and adapt, from the ground up.

HOW THRIVE WORKS
We do not pretend to have all of the answers. We listen carefully and partner with our clients to co-design workshops, coaching sessions, and working retreats that build their team’s capacity to do their best work. When teams feel empowered, supported, and focused, they create real value, not just output.

june 2026