Quality Control, Don't Train In Vain
Foodservice
and Hospitality, September 2002. David Lipton.
Make staff training an investment rather than an expense, by focusing
on appropriate training, debriefing and monitoring.
Almost everyone agrees that training restaurant staff is important.
After all, how is somebody supposed to learn to swim if they're
not taught? But restaurant owners often become disillusioned with
training, assuming that they're "simply throwing money away".
It's true that if not done properly, 60 per cent of what is taught
during a training seminar is forgotten when the trainee leaves the
room, and an additional 30 per cent is lost within the next seven
days. That means 10 per cent of what the company spent thousands
of dollars trying to teach their workers is retained, making training
seem like a waste of time and money.
But training should be considered an investment, not a cost. Ad
while 10 per cent doesn't seem like much, it doesn't have to be
that way. If done correctly, with well-planned initiatives co-ordinated
with company objectives and customer satisfaction in mind, money
spent on training will bring return on investment. Remember too
that inadequate training can lead to higher turnover, a negative
work-place environment and unhappy guests. A restaurant loses 68
per cent of its customers because of an employee with an indifferent
attitude. That indifference is often the mark of an ill-equipped,
dissatisfied worker who lacks the motivation and skills to do their
job well. But simply sending an employee off to be trained isn't
enough. Ensuring that employees retain what they're taught required
briefing, debriefing, monitoring and reinforcement by the operator.
Employees scheduled for training courses should be briefed beforehand
so they understand why the training is necessary and what they will
be expected to do differently afterward. Determining what needs
to be taught varies from job to job, from front of the house to
back of the house, and from restaurant to restaurant. In fact, what
may seem crucial for an employee to learn from the owner's perspective
may be entirely different from that of the customer's viewpoint.
For this reason it's crucial that restaurant owners first determine
their customers' needs and determine whether they're being satisfied.
Conducting various customer-service surveys will help uncover these
needs, how well they're being met, what areas are lacking and how
they can be improve. That information should be kept in mind when
planning training sessions and should of course be passed on to
trainees.
Immediately following the training session, employees should be
debriefed to ensure they learned what they were supposed to. Debriefing
also helps reinforce the reasons why new skills and behaviours are
necessary. Most owners will spend thousands of dollars on training
programs, but only a fraction of that amount - if any at all - on
monitoring and reinforcement. It's important to remember that it
takes six months to replace an old behaviour with a new one, and
the only way that can happen is through constant monitoring and
reinforcement.
Training is as important at the top of an organization as it is
at the bottom, and all levels should be participating in new training
programs equally. Senior managers may not feel they need to be taught
certain skills, but going back to basics is a good opportunity for
them to brush up on things they may have forgotten. It will also
enable them to effectively follow-up and reinforce those behaviours
and skills in their subordinates. At the same time staff will look
to their manager so see if they're practicing the required attitudes,
skills an habits. If upper management doesn't practice what it preaches,
the effectiveness of any training is diminished, as staff loses
confidence in their leaders and become increasingly frustrated.
Customer also act as reinforcements. If employees recognize that
customer are more satisfied than they were before the training,
they will be more likely to make the extra effort to maintain that
level of satisfaction. Sometimes the smile on a customer's face
is enough, but occasionally it will be necessary to conduct customer-service
surveys either verbally or thorough comment cards. All this customer
information should be passed on to employees as well so that they
know the learned behaviour and skills have made a difference.
Mystery Shopping is another great way to monitor and reinforce
the effects of training. To employers, mystery shoppers are merely
customers, and as such these unbiased, third-party inspectors should
feel free to give staff on-the-spot feedback. For example, agreeing
to order a dessert upon a server's suggestion encourages and reinforces
training for upselling. Mystery shoppers could also tell the server
they really appreciated the friendly and honest suggestions he or
she made before ordering. Instantly knowing they did a good job
reinforces the learned behaviour and helps retain the training.
Reports generated by Mystery shoppers provide even more feedback,
and will help management develop the next training session based
on areas that still need improvement.
Properly trained staff and management truly are assets to any operation.
For this reason, well-planned training programs and proper monitoring
and reinforcement save time, costs and customers - far better alternative
than the sink-or-swim approach.
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