EHL Passugg Updates EHL Passugg: Faculty Testimonial with Frank Giannotti

How did your interest in the hospitality industry begin?

My favorite holiday of the year was Christmas Eve. This was my family's turn to host the whole family for a big party event. I knew that I was going to see all of my family and we would all celebrate being with each other over a big meal that my Mom would cook. I guess this was the beginning of my interest in hospitality. From there, my first job was at the restaurant on the corner of our street. 16 years old, and ever since. I was always completely engaged when working in Food and Beverage.

What is your job right now at EHL Passugg?

I have three primary areas of responsibility at the school. Most recently I have accepted the position of Affective Hospitality Leader. This encompasses the future direction of the school and what will eventually be our defining characteristic. Returning hospitality education to its essence through an educational curriculum focused on the caring of ourselves and others. I am the School’s International Internship Coordinator, where I help connect the professional world of opportunities to our students aspirations. I am also a core member of Senior Lecturers. My subjects are and have included Learning and Working Strategies, Rhetoric, Professional development and preparation, Food and Beverage Control, Beverage Management,and Presentation Skills.

What do you like best about EHL?

What I love about EHL is the relentless pursuit of progress. At no point have I felt that the desire to improve and grow would not be completely embraced by this organization. Never have I encountered an entire community of professionals whose driving motivation is to find and develop the best of our industry.

How do you keep your personal hospitality spirit alive?

Easily. It lives within me. There is no separation between the values I live in my professional life from those I live in my personal life. I think this is critical to living a self-actualized life experience. I wake up planning how I can best take care of people and I go to sleep contemplating the same. I think it is also essential to take care of ourselves with the same consideration as we do those around us, as this only enhances our ability to take care of each other.

What do you do next to work and your “hospitality life” to keep the balance?

My wife and I both have full time positions, as well as an incredible young daughter, who is our most precious gift. Finding methods to be considerate of all the important elements of life can be challenging. I wake up early. 4:55. I have a regimented morning that allows me to maintain personal care and be ready for the day ahead. I am able to cook breakfast, lunch and dinner for my family without missing a beat. I am psychotic about food nutrition and cooking which helps me connect professional to personal. My work day has a relentless strategic framework, the same as my home life. Weekends are spent with an emphasis on experiences and family time. Cooking, eating and enjoying nature. We travel for food. We live for each other.

and International Career Coordinator

The world as we know is in a state of change, and the COVID-19 pandemic has even fueled it. The Corona crisis has made it clear to us all that difficult situations and challenges can be tackled and solved primarily with the help of social and emotional intelligence. Matthias Horx, trend and futurologist, again notes a shift from the previous dominance in the area of technology and digitalization to the human factor.

Why do we need emotional competencies in a professional environment?

Emotions are part of our thinking and acting. They help us make important decisions in a short time by retrieving and evaluating all of a person's accumulated experiences in a fraction of a second. That's why it's important to be aware of your emotions, especially in today's digital and complex world. Emotional competence helps to use emotions to achieve our goals. By perceiving and understanding emotions, our own and those of our counterpart, we can consciously respond to better understand the needs of the counterpart and act accordingly. EHL Passugg is convinced that emotional competence will gain importance on a broad basis, both in the global hospitality market and in the overall business sector. For this reason, EHL Passugg has set itself the goal of taking a holistic view of emotional competence in the new curriculum of the Swiss Professional Degree program and training it in order to best prepare its graduates for the highly competitive global job market.

How are emotional competencies integrated in the new curriculum?

Integration through Emotional Competence Assessment

The faculty of EHL Passugg has already started a first trial within the former curriculum where they have integrated the Emotional Competence Assessment, which has been developed by the University of Geneva. This assessment is based on the “Ability” model that describes that emotional intelligence as a competence that can be trained.It measures how well one can deal with one's own and others' emotions in certain work situations, usually "emotionally charged" typical hospitality or office situations. Students will take the test twice, at the beginning and at the end of their studies. Students have to read typical work situations, then choose the appropriate answer depending on the competence to be tested. At the end of the study, the development of emotional intelligence can be observed. The goal of the assessment is to record the students' growth in competence and give them a status report of their emotional competences with the final report. Along with the Emotional Competence Assessment all the subcompetencies mentioned above have been integrated in the curriculum through specific modules, which serve to develop these emotional competencies. Students are actively encouraged to engage with their emotions, to get to know themselves better, and also to actively use their emotions.

Integration through hospitality roles

Furthermore, next to the emotional competencies’ based modules, each semester focuses on a specific hospitality role that has been defined in cooperation with the University of St. Gallen. The determined roles are:

-Host

-Communicator

-Entrepreneur

-Networker

The roles are like a short summary of the competencies a hotelier must have. Behind each role there are of course a number of sub-competencies that are learned in the different modules. For example, during the Communicator semester (semester 2) students visit modules such as business communication, communication & culture, rooms division management and operations or hospitality sales & marketing. Hence, each module supports the growth into the role of a communicator. The roles are designed to help students better understand their future job functions and the competencies to be achieved. Additionally, the focus on career services and professional coachings will be increased, which highlights the overall shift to the affective curriculum.