Page 6 - 2016 GCSS Newsletter-Issue 10-November 2016_Neat

Featured Team Member of the Month!

1. What are your favorite things to do on weekend? Whenever possible I like
to take the family out and explore the area surrounding us. It is something that has allowed us to
explore, discover and enjoy little secrets in each place where we have lived, although I do get the
feeling that there’s so much more to see. Most weekends for me include supporting my daughter
in her music/sports activities, enjoying a late breakfast with my family, cooking, and playing
guitar for my local church on Sundays, now also once a month in Oxford to support the Spanish
speaking community. But whenever we can, we escape the routine and go and explore.

2. What makes you come to work? I am motivated by the challenges and
opportunities that working for one of IHG’s most diverse and complex regions brings. The Europe
Rafael Gonzalez region in IHG covers 662 hotels in 34 countries, with 23 official languages plus 60 other
Director, C&B, Europe languages and dialects. The countries within the region cover 12 time zones, and we
support about 900 corporate employees across 14 countries. As you can imagine such
scale brings with it a plethora of challenges and opportunities, and managing those with a lean regional C&B team, makes me strive
for small incremental improvements to move the needle forward. It does sometimes feel like trying to boil the ocean or to climb a
high mountain, but looking back to “enjoy the view” of everything that we have achieved so far, motivates me to keep moving
forward even if inch by inch.

3. Amongst our winning ways, what do you think is the most important? For me
Celebrate Difference is key, on one hand because we need to recognize and celebrate the differences that
exist in each of the many locations where we operate; that being differences
from a business, cultural, legal and/or political perspective, and also how those
differences influence our rewards offerings and our employee’s expectations.
Whilst on the other hand because more and more research confirms that
diverse teams and companies outperform their peers, so in my view we need
to embrace and celebrate diversity within our team.

4. If you were invisible for a day, what would you do and

why? At this current place in time I am intrigued to be a “fly on wall” in the
oval office to get an insight into the transition between the current and future US Rafa’s sing and dance in a version of ‘Sister Act’!
presidents, and see firsthand how they reflect on their past and future challenges
and achievements. But putting politics aside, I would love to observe an innovative chef and his team, like Heston Blumenthal at
the “Fat Duck” to see and understand their creative process, and how they push the boundaries of cooking.

November Birthday Celebrants

Kae Calabig Rafael Gonzalez

Nov 02 Nov 25

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