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News for the Hospitality Executive |
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| by Harry Nobles June 15, 2009 Sir Winston Churchill is credited with saying”Truth is the first casualty of war”. An applicable paraphrase for our industry might be “Training is the first casualty of bad economic times”. Since less effective training often leads directly to a lower quality of guest service delivery, is this a loss you can afford? Not only can you not afford the loss, you can avoid it or at least lessen the impact by taking a positive pro-active approach. If your guest service delivery does suffer for any reason, you will certainly take corrective action at some point; the sooner you address the problem, the sooner you can begin to improve the situation. Sometimes prompt and decisive action can also reduce the long term cost.
The most important thing I learned from the experience was that certain components are absolutely essential to an effective training program. First, the program must be clearly focused on your specific goals. Before you start training, determine exactly what training is needed and who needs it. Perhaps the only thing worse than no training is an unfocused fuzzy program that looks like training for training’s sake. Your staff will see this immediately and will generally respond poorly. This can result in training that is ineffective and potentially counter-productive. It is also costly with no or little positive results. Another required component is accountability. Training is an integral part of your managers’ and supervisors’ responsibilities. Train them to do it well, give them the tools they need, and hold them accountable! Require them to hold their employees accountable! Another key component is follow-up. Post training evaluations can tell you when remedial training is needed, and help you identify weak areas and weak personnel thus keeping your training always focused. While the actual training is very important, the pre-training preparation is essential as the solid base on which to build your program. Once the training is completed the cycle starts all over again because follow-up action tells you where you are now, and helps to identify the next step. Lastly, we encourage our clients to keep training interesting and be innovative. The most costly and least effective training are the sessions that bore the employees to tears. Keep it focused, enjoyable, and serious, but make it fun too! I know this is possible because we do it regularly. |
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Harry Nobles Hospitality Consulting |
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