I’ve never forgotten something that a musician friend of mine out of Austin, Texas, once told me. He said that even concert pianists have to continue practicing the pieces they play in concert regularly. If they don’t, they would never be able to keep sophisticated piano concertos by Liszt, Rachmaninov or Prokofiev up to performance level, no matter how much talent, skill, technical ability or knowledge they might possess.
Constant practice, or ongoing training, is something those of us responsible for managing service industry personnel also have to engage in if we want to keep our teams performing up to standard. We have to keep learning and relearning, and we have to have systems in place that require our staff members to do the same.
Planning and organization
Planning and organizing your training processes isn’t rocket science, but it does take some critical thinking.
First, you will need to determine what training is necessary by identifying the gaps between present attitude, skill and knowledge levels and required attitude, skill and knowledge levels. These can be identified by:
- asking questions on the job or at pre-shift meetings that reveal the extent of employee knowledge;
- stepping back and observing staff performance;
- receiving feedback through guest comment surveys, employee surveys, mystery shops and review site/social media; and
- financial reports that point to areas in which additional training might need to occur.
Next, you will have to address the differences between the needs of new staff and existing staff. New staff might be new to your industry, company, hotel, area or market, and require extensive training. Existing staff might be rusty and need to be updated on new standards and procedures, equipment, legislation and policy changes. Existing team members can usually be brought up to speed through coaching.
Finally, it is important to take into consideration the ways that people actually learn. What are the factors that help learning? What are the factors that hinder learning? When you know what helps and hinders learning, training runs much more smoothly.
Nine factors that help learning include:
1. trainee participation;
2. asking and answering questions to encourage participation;
3. praising trainees, when warranted;
4. delivering ideas in a logical sequence;
5. giving clear and concise reasons for why a standard or procedure is important;
6. a minimal use of jargon on the part of the trainer;
7. highly skilled trainers;
8. creating interest in the subject; and
9. using proper training tools and equipment.
Nine factors that hinder learning include:
1. fear and worry on the part of the trainee (i.e., training anxiety);
2. interruptions and distractions;
3. environmental factors such as room temperature and noise level;
4. a lack of planning and organization on the part of the trainer
5. fatigue;
6. personal problems;
7. physical challenges;
8. language/cultural barriers; and
9. time constraints.
Many of the factors that hinder training can be eradicated by incorporating as many of the five senses into each training piece you deliver as often as possible. For example, if you’re training a group of banquet servers on how to fold a napkin, give each trainee a napkin so they can practice folding it themselves. Encourage participation. It is very difficult for anyone to remember a large amount of information when that information is merely dictated; it is much easier to remember key points when you can attach them to sights, sounds, touches, tastes or smells. A piano teacher wouldn’t be able to keep very many students if he or she simply told students how to play the piano but didn’t actually allow them to play it. Similarly, you will have a tough time keeping employees if you don’t set them up to succeed by engaging them in hands-on training.
Whether you’re training a new-hire or existing staff member, the thing to remember is that the training session isn’t over until the employee has completed the task alone according to the standard. It’s the golden rule of training. Only when a banquet server can assess that the napkin meets cleanliness and appearance standards, fold the napkin at the proper creases, and then place it on the table with the hem in the right position on their own, is napkin folding training complete.
Standard of the week training
No matter how inspiring or thorough initial training might be, without constant reinforcement even the highest achievers will wind up performing beneath their abilities.
In my October article, “How to lead your team from sidelines to victory,” I discussed the ins and outs of reinforcement and corrective coaching. This month, I’d like to suggest engaging in a more formal method of ongoing, on-the-job training: standard of the week training.
Standard of the week training is training that reinforces your standards and helps you and your team members achieve the highest possible levels of performance by requiring employees to focus on one guest-critical task a week. To create a standard of the week program, determine the guest-critical tasks for each department and position. What procedures are involved in completing each task? What are the standards for each task? Then, list each task by order of importance and create a weekly training schedule.
Once you have your training checklist/schedule in place, review and prepare session plans for each week and schedule the employees who will need to attend each session. When training begins, post the standard of the week in an area of high visibility, conduct (or monitor) each training session, observe each employee as they perform the task they have been trained to do according to the standard, and then provide feedback and coaching as needed. Remember the golden rule: All employees must meet the standard before the training session is over. As time goes on, you can adjust your training checklist of guest-critical tasks based on employee performance and anticipated training needs.
A guest-critical task for a housekeeping room attendant might be to clean the vanity and sink. During the week dedicated to training this task, go over the procedures and standards required for completing it. The procedures might look something like this:
• Clear the vanity.
o Move trays, amenities, or other items, as necessary.
o In a stay-over room, move guest toiletries aside until finished cleaning.
• Spray bathroom cleaner on all surfaces of the vanity, sink, stopper, overflow, main sink drains, and fixtures; allow chemicals to soak in.
• Use a clean cloth to scrub all surfaces, including vanity, backsplash, sink, and fixtures.
• Use a stiff brush to clean overflow holes in the sink.
• Rinse all surfaces with hot water.
• Dry all surfaces with a clean, dry cloth.
• Leave the sink drain stop in an open position.
• Place trays and other items back in their proper positions.
• Place guest toiletries neatly on a clean washcloth in the area they were originally located.
Standards for cleaning the vanity and sink might look something like this:
• Cleaned daily.
• Never touch guest’s valuables. Clean around them.
• All surfaces are free of:
o Scum, mold or soap build-up
o Smudges
o Hair
o Dust
• Odors
• Plumbing in working order:
o No dripping faucets.
o No clogged drain.
• Fixtures are free of spots and prints.
As you go over procedures and standards, encourage employees to ask questions and ask and answer questions of your own. Don’t just tell employees that they must allow the chemicals to soak in when they are cleaning the vanity and sink; ask them why they think the chemicals need to soak in. Then, answer the question yourself by explaining that the chemicals have to soak in so they have time to activate and kill any existing germs and bacteria, etc. Before you inform employees that the standard is to make sure all surfaces are free of gook and debris, ask what they think the condition of the sink and vanity should look like after they are cleaned.
Standard of the week training is all about participation. In addition to creating a dialog, it is about incorporating the employees’ senses. If you are training a room attendant how to spray bathroom cleaner, use a spray bottle during your demonstration. If you’re talking about where to leave guest toiletries, allow employees to actually move and replace the toiletries themselves during the session. Employees should walk away from standard of the week training sessions not just knowing what to do, but why it is important to perform according to the standards. Employee participation and hands-on training will ensure that they obtain and retain this knowledge.
If concert pianists have to continue to practice pieces they’ve been performing for nearly their whole lives, it stands to reason that none of us are above needing to practice the tasks we’ve learned in order to keep our performance up to snuff. Incorporating standard of the week training into your training program is an excellent way to make sure your service team continues to perform at the same high level across all departments.
Patrick O'Bryan is chief operating officer at FreemanGroup, a customer service solutions provider that serves premier hospitality and tourism organizations around the world. Clients range from government and tourist boards to hotels, casinos, cruise ships, and airlines. In addition to offering a number of proprietary training workshops and follow-up training programs, FreemanGroup offers instructor certification programs and workshops specifically designed for human resource departments, leadership, and supervisors.
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of HotelNewsNow.com or its parent company, Smith Travel Research and its affiliated companies. Columnists published on this site are given the freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to comment or contact an editor with any questions or concerns.
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