Training Articles (formerly Member Blog)

The new year is just around the corner and many hotel training departments are considering what training programs they are going to offer in 2016. We will look at our companies’ analytical data including revenue, operational performance and guest feedback. A needs analysis will be completed and we will determine what core competencies need to be focused on to create training programs to fill the performance gaps.

You see our enthusiastic caring at our conferences, read our sharing through our blogs posts and Ask My Peers replies, and learn with us at RTFs, but do you know how your board helps CHART grow year round?

Hospitality trainers come from a variety of backgrounds: Operations expert repositioned into a training role, educator who has made the shift to corporate training, or student of organizational development and learning entering the job market, to name a common few. Whatever skills a trainer has in his or her toolkit when the job begins may be sufficient for the initial role, but will likely not be enough to grow into an effective trainer, learning strategist and strategic business partner in the company. Here are some of my favorite practical tips for personal development from great mentors that helped me build my skills along my path as a hospitality trainer:

Social anxiety is real and is a growing issue; especially with the younger generation. It is not something that goes away; but one can learn to control it. Although during my CHART Talks session, my palms were sweating and my heart was racing, I have taken steps to overcome my fears of public speaking. .

If you were to ask me if I enjoy exercising, my answer would be a definite “no.” I don’t hate it as much as the taste of broccoli or when I’m forced to listen to someone chew gum with their mouth open, but I’m really not much of a fan of the gym.

Although it doesn’t get as much attention as the rapidly growing field of e-learning these days, classroom instruction is still a very popular method of training in the hotel and restaurant industries. According to the results from CHART’s 2015 Trends in Hospitality Training and Development Study, over 40% of the respondents said they use some form of in-person class when teaching topics such as guest service, financial management, new employee orientation, supervisory skills, HR compliance programs, and train-the-trainer skills.

Recently, I sat down with Cordell Riley, President of Tortel Training, to discuss some ideas in training.

During my CHART Talks at NOLA, I took some creative liberties and related the new minimum wage law for the State of Washington to the five stages of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression,and Acceptance. Watch the video as I illustrate how we adapted to this new law and share some lessons learned.

As a former science teacher, Becky Rice, Training and Development Manager at White Castle, is a believer in incorporating discrepant events to engage and motivate people during training presentations. During her CHART Talks session in New Orleans, Becky shares how you can incorporate these out-of-the-box experiments to illustrate key training messages that attendees will remember. Watch the video from her session as she shares two experiments.

For over half of my 60 years, I have had CHART in my life. In New Orleans, I shared how this organization has been the stepping stone in my career and in my personal life. The people of CHART got me to my 50th state and a lot of other places. Because of the relationships built, the CHART family has helped me get over stumbling blocks that have been in my path. Watch my short video and discover how you can also give to and get back from CHART.

Dana Roazzi, Retail Business Unit Director at Mimeo, shares the many lessons she learned at her first CHART conference. Recently, I made my way down to New Orleans for CHART’s 90th Hospitality Conference. CHART is a non-profit professional association of hospitality and restaurant training professionals. Incredibly enough, the 450+ members of CHART represent and train a workforce of almost 3 million people!

It's OK to admit it. Property managers can't relate to our corporate training videos and often are skeptical of them. "That will not work in my property with my employees," they'll say. And for associates, that skepticism is likely even higher. Training videos tend to not be realistic or particularly effective because they use scripted talking head actors and show only the latest, greatest properties.