02 February 2012 by Tom Vaughan By now you’ve most likely broken any resolutions you’ve made, but one promise you must keep is to develop your team. Experts and operators tell Tom Vaughan how they’re planning the training and inspiration to get the best out of their staff
Giving up smoking; joining a gym; starting that diet; deep down, we all know that our New Year resolutions won’t last a month when it comes to the crunch. So rather than making yourself promises that you won’t keep this January, why not make your staff promises you can keep, and put aside some time to properly map out a training programme for the coming 12 months?
The more prepared among you may well have had this all wrapped up long before the Christmas presents – ask Fred Sirieix, general manager at London’s Galvin at Windows, who by early December had a daily, weekly and monthly training programme planned for 2012. However, it is by no means too late to sit down, on your own and with your staff, and work out what you are going to do to develop them over the coming year.
If the purse strings are tight in these dire financial straits, don’t make training the fall guy. It is a common misconception that training has to cost a lot of money, says Institute of Hospitality chief executive Philippe Rossiter.
“People think that training has to mean sending staff on a course and it is simply not true. Soft training is a great weapon to have, especially in the quieter months such as January. It is generally accepted that there is a skills deficiency in hospitality, especially when it comes to customer service and leadership. Use that time to bring someone in for some cost-efficient training or refresher training. Rather than send them off on a course, set aside an hour, bring someone in and do a masterclass.”
