PAGE 8 AUGUST 11, 1978
Brings New Style To Management -
■
Pauli Plans To Be “Visible" at Kah-Nee-Ta
Making money for the Tribes
by Cynthia Stowell
If it’s possible to keep a low
profile and be highly visible at
the same time, Kah-Nee-Ta’s
new manager Bill Pauli is doing
just that.
On the job for just a month,
Pauli has already made his
relaxed but diligent manage
ment style evident. His sport
shirts blend with the tourist
scene but employees can easily
spot him in the kitchen checking
on dinner, attending department
meetings, or making sure a
guest is .comfortable.
“I could sit in my office
twenty-four hours and not have
the foggiest idea how the resort
is running,” said Pauli. So he
makes a habit of visiting depart
ments and employees, his placid
exterior belying the fact that he
is observing, noting details, and
hatching ideas on his feet.
It may disturb the manager
if he sees three waiters doing the
job of one, a bellhop who doesn’t
offer a cheery “good morning,”
or a maid leaving a room less
than spotless. But it is not
Pauli’s style to raise a fuss on
the spot. For him the chain of
command must be preserved,
meaning that visibility is fine
but not to the point of interfer-
enee.
The eight-week interim be
tween the termination of Dan
Myles’s contract and the hiring
of Pauli confirmed the effective
ness of a departmentalized ap
proach to running the resort,
noted the new manager. Now
instead of the five-person man
agement team there is the
executive staff of nine depart
ment heads, carefully selected
for their special expertise and
given room to use their talents.
The difference is that now there
is a general manager at the top
of the chart.
Pauli’s “team” is directly
involved in decision-making and
largely responsible for day-to-
day operations. Pauli is there
for guidance and coordination
and, of course, to take flak.
Surrounded with a staff he
trusts, Pauli is ready to tackle
the challenges Kah-Nee-Ta pos
es as a unique resort with the
potential for prosperity that has
somehow eluded the last four
managers.
Kah-Nee-Ta has been plagu
ed with high operational costs
that have crippled its money
making ability. Pauli sees no
difficulty in reducing thé res
ort’s expenditures.
Labor represents the largest
single expense category and can
be made much more efficient. In
some cases one well-trained
employee can do the job of three
poorly-trained ones, suggested
Pauli.
Inflationary costs of goods
sold can not be controlled except
by the close monitoring of
waste, in kitchens, offices and
throughout the resort.
“There is no magic wand
that can be waved,” but, as in
service, it’s the little things that
count, said Pauli. Closed drapes
can keep heat in or out and
thermostats can be lowered to
reduce energy needs.
Miaullis’s observation that
Kah-Nee-Ta has not been charg
ing enough for its rooms will be
acted on soon, bringing the
resort’s rate schedule more in
INSPECTOR - Kah-Nee-Ta Manager Bill Pauli can be found most line with other resorts, said
anywhere, including in the kitchen making sure chef George Rica Pauli, and more effectively off
assembles his buffet salads to perfection.
CDS Photo setting the costs of goods and
service.
Attracting the business
Fully aware of the “peaks
and valleys oi the resort busi
ness,” Pauli plans to build up
the “shoulder season,” the
weeks and months before and
after the busy summer season.
Happily, the traditional conven
tion “seasons” coincide with
these spring and autumn “shoul
ders,” making large groups the
logical targets of sales and
public relations efforts.
In light of hotel consultant
Basil Miaullis’s suggestion that
Kah-Nee-Ta has been spending a
disproportionate amount on
promotional activities, Pauli
hopes to streamline the effort.
“The programs are here,
the people are here. All we plan
to do is make them more
effective,” explained Pauli. A
meeting between Pauli, Miaull-
is, Sales Director Bob McLeod,
and Rockey Marsh Public Rela
tions produced a commitment to
Pauli's Executive Staff
The “key executives” who with resort manager Bill Pauli will be
overseeing the daily operations of Kah-Nee-Ta are nine department
heads representing all phases of resort activity. They are:
OPERATIONS (gift shop, recreation, administration)
Garland Brunoe, Assistant Resort Manager
FOOD AND BEVERAGES - Robert Stahl
SALES - Bob McLeod
ACCOUNTING, PAYROLL - Lavina Hietala
TRAINING - Richard Macy
VILLAGE - Jim McDonald (assistant Village manager)
FRONT OFFICE - to be filled
MAINTENANCE - Tom Thorsen
HOUSEKEEPING - Mary Pauli
The five members of the eight-week interim management team
formed the core of this staff. Pauli then removed the front office,
maintenance and housekeeping from Brunoe’s department and
elevated them to executive status.
Pauli expects to utilize the expertise for which each of these
specialists was hired, taking, power from the manager s office and
distributing it among his staff.
(Note: In accordance with tribal policy, a new executive
housekeeper will replace Mary Pauli, who, as Bill’s wife, cannot alsc
be employed by Kah-Nee-Ta.)
pursue a more uniform market
ing effort.
Creating an “aura” by “re
peating the story again and
again,” is an effective promot
ional technique, said Pauli. This
can mean making the Kah-Nee-
Ta logo evident everywhere,
from bills to napkins, establish
ing a color scheme not only for
the facility but for its communi
cations and advertising, and
standardizing the language used
to describe Kah-Nee-Ta.
Kah-Nee-Ta as an employer
One of Kah-Nee-Ta’s stated
objectives, second only to mak
ing money for the Tribes, is
providing employment and
training opportunities to tribal
members. Pauli said, “We want
to encourage tribal members to
apply and department heads to
employ them.”
Although entry-level jobs
may be all that is available to
the inexperienced applicants,
there is room for advancement.
Keeping customers happy
“The opportunity is here for any
tribal member who is willing to
Once the guests have arriv apply himself diligently,” said
ed, making them comfortable is Pauli.
“the name of the business,”
noted Pauli. After all, they are
the ones who are “paying the
freight.”
Service must then be super
ior. As Pauli pointed out, “The
food in the Juniper Room may
taste differently to a guest based
on his experience at the front
desk.”
Kah-Nee-Ta’s
“beautiful
facility,” recreational opportun
When Bill Pauli was select
ities and locale may not be
enough to keep customers com ed as manager of Kah-Nee-Ta on
ing back. But good service “that July 14, he was in his seventh
month as Village Manager.
anticipates people’s needs” will
There he supervised such varied
do just that, the new manager
operations as a restaurant, bath
said.
house, craft shop, cottages and
It could be as simple as a
tepees, and concessions.
maid’s “hello,” a newspaper at
the door each morning, or an
Pauli feels he “brought res
easily made reservation.
ponsive and responsible man
But it could also mean
agement back to the Village” by
expanded transportation, a new
water system, or a larger cock delegating duties to department
heads, keeping employees in
tail lounge. The Juniper Room
formed, and always maintaining
menu was recently revamped to
be more attractive visually and
the proper chain of command.
more appealing to the palate.
The condensed menu devoted
Tribal management was suf
space to Indian cookery featured
ficiently impressed with his
in Indian language. Pauli also
skills to move him to the resort
said that winter packages are
manager
’s office. It was not the
being developed as well as
increased indoor activities, to first time Pauli had headed up a
make a winter vacation at sizable facility.
Kah-Nee-Ta even more memor
Before Kah-Nee-Ta, Pauli
able.
spent
2^ years managing pro
Room evaluation cards will
be recapped monthly and those perty in Alaska. For a year he
with names and addresses will ran the TravelLodge in Anchor
be responded to personally, said age and for a year and a half he
managed the J.R. Hickman
Pauli.
High standards for hiring
can foster employee pride, said
Pauli, as can on-the-job support.
Pauli pointed to a dual
responsibility : On the one hand,
Kah-Nee-Ta management must
ensure that the resort is a
successful enterprise and pro
vides jobs to members. On the
other hand, employees must do
their best to contribute to its
success.
Pauli expects management
and department heads to take an
active interest in individual em
ployees and their progress on an
informal day-to-day basis as
well as through formal training
programs.
Kah-Nee-Ta is the only re
sort Pauli knows of that employs
a training coordinator and facili
tator to .make educational oppor
tunities available to workers.
Not only are employees free to
take correspondence courses
and attend seminars and classes
at established institutions (all
reimbursable upon successful
completion), but they are learn
ing emergency first aid, CPR
and EMT right at Kah-Nee-Ta.
But perhaps most import
antly, training and recognition
of employees should come, from
direct superiors in an atmo
sphere of positive work attitudes
and regular incentives, said
Pauli.
The “longest journey” of a
tribal member through the
ranks to the resort management
can begin with such encourage
ment, which Pauli expects of his
staff and of himself.
For Bill Pauli, it’s the small
improvements, the details, that
will transform a struggling res
ort into a successful enterprise.
Those watching hope that
Pauli is one of those details.
From Alaska to Kah-Nee-Ta -
The Lodge is One Stop
in Pauli's Journey
Company, which owned the
largest hotel and block of com
mercial property in Ketchikan.
Prior to his stint in Alaska,
Pauli ran the Inn at Otter Crest
on the Oregon coast for a year
and a half, helping the resort
recover from bankruptcy. Dur
ing that time, he filled in as
manager at the Inn of the
Seventh Mountain in Bend for
four months — “a hell of a
commute.”
Nine years of Pauli’s exper
ience were gathered in Phoenix,
Arizona as a partner in a hotel
restaurant consulting firm.
Born and raised in Chicago,
Pauli started his hotel-motel
career in Washington, D..C. Now
47 years old, he is settling into
the manager’s house at Kah-
Nee-Ta with his second wife,
Mary. But not forever. His
dream is to one day operate his
own business, and it-is not likely
Kah-Nee-Ta will be for sale.