At the time of writing, a news article reported the New Zealand hospitality and tourism sectors needed 65,000 workers to meet the summer demand.
Tourists are beginning to return and businesses are struggling to hire enough staff. Adding to that is the need for “quality” staff to deliver a seamless hospitality experience for the customer, no matter what level of service is required.
The year B.C
Before Covid, my role as a Training Advisor in the Hospitality and Tourism sector put me in front of business owners and operators, for the purpose of supporting their business through the framework of industry qualifications.
Very few operators, as a percentage, showed much interest in investing their time and energy in structured learning. While on the job qualifications can appear tedious at times, and feel a bit that way during the process, committing to a training based outcome brings plenty of opportunity for operators to mold and develop their staff to become masters of their craft.
B.C, these operators (in my view) did not value their staff enough and by extension, did not have the interests of the industry on their radar as well. Common complaints still heard today, lay the responsibility of staff training and upskilling with everyone but themselves…the polytechs, the training institutions. Then there’s the disappointment when graduates don’t perform under real-life stresses.
I’m a 20 year hopsitality veteran, and understand the challenges of having the time and energy to train staff. So, with my learning and development hat on, what value can I add to the arguement?
Training that means something
The technical aspect of any role can be taught, provided the trainee has the capability. Some natural talent certainly helps – no doubt about it!
But talent doesn’t work alone.
Operators who miss the opportunity to develop their staff miss the opportunity to connect with them in a very important and personal way. Training the technical aspects is a task related focus. What most leaders, supervisors and managers lack insight to is the process of training.
To illustrate, think back to the last time you learnt something new, never done before – something you were eager to learn. You were motivated, energised and eager to get started. Without clear direction, we quickly realise we don’t know what we’re doing. We get embarrassed, imagine others will think we a fools, or useless – or even that we are a fraud!
It’s not until we improve our skill level that we build our confidence and eventually get up to speed.
How do you think polytech graduates, or any new employee for that matter, feels when they reach that point? When they’ve been thrown in the deep end and expected to perform?
Well, expect they will want to leave, if you have not helped their development.
We expect supervisors, managers and team leaders to provide the “training”.
- But in reality, have they ever had training themselves that helps them connect with their team members?
- Do they know how to bring someone through the process to be competent in their task?
This is the training that has meaning – being able to connect with and provide the direction and support their teams need to succeed.
A culture that connects
The said article quotes one large hospitality operator as needing 16 chefs and an equal amount of service staff in their recruitment drive. This is a business that has a solid people and culture support – yet they too have had to reduce trading days and hours or temporarily close. A big call to make, but not unusual in the current climate. Included in the decision was to consider the wellbeing of their staff. Good call.
It pleases me very much when hospo operators invest in their leaders. Brew Union, a busy micro-brewery and large dining venue, recently attended the Blanchard Coaching Essentials workshop I held in Palmerston North. This is awesome! Why?
Because it is a significant financial investment to bring a chunk of their leadership team (Three chefs and three Front of House). Yes, that’s right – chefs!!! Coaching!!???
Even more encouraging is the intention of the owners to apply best practice behaviour change, through the support of the platform we used, the learning design and by taking seriously the challenge to train their leaders and managers to connect with their people, for the purpose of boosting performance and supercharging their team culture. This team is committed to listening with intent, enquiring with their people to understand what is at the heart of the matter and focussing on how together they can move forward.
Their desire (which will not be different to workplaces that do NOT train their leaders) is to provide a supportive, inclusive and respectful place to work. Using the mindset and skill set from our workshop will get them heading towards this goal.
Not just for hospo
The same is said of WISE Charitable Trust who invest in their leadership team.
CE Paul Scouller is specifically looking at how they connect with one another and to further those connections with their stakeholders. Although not a hospo organisation, he understands the importance of connectedness. He understands it’s impact on internal training and development. They too, do not have a bottomless pit of money set aside for professional development.
Paul and his senior leadership team have invested in Blanchard programs Self Leadership, The SLII Experience and Core Strength’s Results Through Relationships. Significant investment! I’ll be working over the coming months to support their behaviour change. Why invest in this range of programs? Paul specifically wants to build capability in the team and protect the trust itself.
No training event is a silver bullet. But any training/workshop/event that helps teams build trust, communicate more meaningfully and make connections based on values and principles will impact on:
- quality of staff,
- levels of service
- retaining your superstars.
Keep Moving Forward
This is the essence of Blanchard Coaching Essentials – keep moving foward. Don’t look to the past if only to learn from past mistakes.
Coaching skills are necessary management skills – being really good at it takes practice. Asking meaningful questions at the right time is a skill all to itself!
When you invest in quality training and development such as the suite of Blanchard tools you get:
- content tested for success,
- resources that are best practice, and
- you leave the workshop with clear actions that will bring you towards the outcomes you need.
When it comes to staff shortages and a perceived lack of decent recruitment opportunities, start with looking in the mirror. Identifying what you need to work on – and with that you can start without delay.