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Financial
Pundits Predict Increase In Audits of Hotel Training Programs?!?
by Jim Hartigan July 19, 2011 The big financial news last week was the
addition of 157K
new jobs in the month of June. The
financial pundits are now saying that the job growth – primarily driven
by the
service sector, which produced 130K of the reported new jobs last month
– is an
indication that the recovery has regained its footing.
Hoteliers have enjoyed a rebound in occupancy
for some time now, and in fact 2011 has seen the return of ADR growth
(albeit
not as much as any of us wants yet!). As
I listened to the experts, the macro-economic story is becoming clearer
to me
and I think they are right. The “soft
patch” that we experienced here in the United States this spring was
really the
result of a couple of different phenomena.
Specifically:
All of this is good news for hoteliers, but
the other
comment I found most interesting (made by Warren Buffet no less) was
that the
unemployment level in the U.S. is still high due to the lost
construction jobs,
primarily residential construction, and until housing rebounds - these
jobs
won’t return. So what does all this have to do with hotel
training
programs? A lot. Many
companies in the service sector today –
and perhaps even your hotel - employ more people than they did 18
months
ago. With higher occupancy, while most
hotels may not have returned to pre-downturn staffing levels – there
are more
team members on the payroll today than there were in early 2009. That means more new team members needing
training. Also, as hotel occupancy
returns to the 60%+ level, there will undoubtedly be increased “job
movement”
created by people moving from one job to another for advancement, etc. All this new hiring and job change means one
thing – lots of new people who need to develop a level of mastery in
their new
duties! In the current economic environment, it’s
difficult to not
just throw team members into the fray and rely on the old OJT – On the
Job
Training. But let’s face it, personally
- has that ever worked for you? The key
is to audit your current training and make the necessary adjustments to
ensure
that you’ve got the most efficient and effective educational
experiences
available to new hires, transfers, and promotions – helping them
compress the
time to mastery of the new skills that will make them successful in
your
organization. Think AAA – Audit, Adjust,
and Assessments. 1.
Audit – take inventory of your current training programs and
manuals. Dust them off and give them a critical review. Are
the processes and procedures the same today as when the material was
created? What’s changed? Terminology? Does the
training tie to your hotel or management company’s Vision, Mission, or
Values? Did the material create the behaviors you wanted?
2. Adjust – making the necessary updates to the material is your next step. Establish clearly defined learning objectives and determine the best platform to deliver the training. What type of knowledge are you trying to transfer to your team - facts, concepts, processes, principles, or procedures? A mixture of all five? What is the best method to transfer this knowledge, ensure it is retained, and, ultimately, change behavior? Can you migrate portions of classroom content to an online eLearning platform? Learning Management Systems (LMS) are more affordable than ever before and create an excellent platform to deliver team member knowledge in bite-sized chunks of time! 3. Assessments – metrics are the key to any business and are the live-blood of the hotel business. If you can’t count it, it doesn’t count. How many hours will creation/modification of your training programs take? How much will you need to invest and what will be the finished product? How many hours of instructional design/development does it take to create 30 minutes of eLearning or 4 hours in the classroom? How will you know that the learning objectives have been achieved? How will you measure changes in behavior? Most importantly – how will you measure the ROI of your efforts? If the financial pundits are right and the
recovery has
regained its footing … we’re headed for a second leg up!
Sure, this second leg will likely be a slower
one than the initial days of the recovery, but we’re starting from a
better
place this time. Today, we can be much
more confident that there won’t be a “double dip.”
Today, the growth in hotel revenues is coming
from ADR gains – which raise customer expectations of your team. Today, savvy hotel leaders know it’s time to
reinvest in their greatest asset – their people. Begin
that investment the AAA way…today. About the Author: Jim Hartigan, Chief Business Development Officer and Partner joined OrgWide Services, a Training/e-Learning, Communications, Surveys and Consulting firm in April 2010 after nearly 30 years experience in the hospitality industry, including the last 18 as a senior executive with Hilton Worldwide. Jim’s last position was that of Senior Vice President – Global Brand Services where he provided strategic leadership and business development and support to the $22B enterprise of 10 brands and more than 3,400 hotels in 80 countries around the world. His team was responsible for ensuring excellence in system product quality, customer satisfaction, market research, brand management, media planning, and sustainability. |
Contact: Jim Hartigan Chief Business Development Officer & Partner OrgWide Services 165 N. Main Street, Suite 202 Collierville, TN 38017 office: 901.850.8190 Ext. 230 mobile: 901.628.6586 [email protected] www.orgwide.com |