PROFESSIONAL TRAINING FOR THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

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1 PROFESSIONAL TRAINING FOR THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY Mia Nahm Industry Placement Manager Kenvale College of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Australia INTRODUCTION The course called PPD, -Personal and Professional Development-is a compulsory course for all students studying at the College. It is through this course that we are effectively able to teach our students how important it is to learn, not only the skills necessary to become a compentent professional in the industry, but the correct attitude to do the job well. A good professional in the hospitality industry is a person who knows how to serve the guest but knows also how to relate to the individual in a genuine attitude of cheerful service. This means that on the part of the person who is serving the guest, there is an understanding of what the guest wants, needs and even anticipates what other needs and wants they might have. It is very important that this service is authentic, in that, the guest experiences that the person serving them is happy doing their job. So how do you teach a person to be cheeful and happy doing their job? This is a real challenge because it cannot be taught in a 17 week course (1 semester), or a 17 year course because the state of being cheeful and happy is from within the person, not something attached and imposed from outside. Through the PPD course we try to help the students to understand this concept from the start because many times they are quickly able to grasp the skills but the attitude of service takes longer to incorporate into their way of being.

2 METHODOLOGY OF CLASS DELIVERY There are 15 classroom sessions of one and a half hours with a lecturer. The classes vary in style with some sessions having a more hands-on component while the majority of the classes are delivered through the classic magisterial syle. The textbook for this course is called The 7 heavenly virtues of leadership. It is compiled by the Australian Institute of Management. It is a book with contributions from many different professionals who are also academics in Australia. Each chapter deals with different virtues such as humility, courage, integrity, compassion, humour, passion and wisdom. It is through these readings that the students come in contact with the knowledge of what the word virtue is about. A common occurance with the students at the beginning of the course is that they are not able to articulate in their own words why they are attracted to a person who they highly regard. For example, they might admire a popular artist or a supervisor in their workplace or their grandmother whom they love dearly. When asked what it is that these people have that instills in them this high regard and respect, the student is unable to say that it is because of the virtues they possess. In effect, the student is unable to articulate the why but knows sincerely that there is something that this person has that makes them attractive. This point of departure makes teaching about virtues a pretty easy task because of the fact that there are no concepts or misrepresentations about what a virtue is or is not. Once the students have done the readings associated with each of the virtues and their relevant behaviour outcomes demontrating the virtue, they are in a better state to discuss whether they have this virtue or not and what can be done to acquire it. A major assignment is to research a great leader who the student admires. In this assignment, the student is required to state what personality traits and qualities the leader has that make him or her the great leader that he or she is. They need to make references to the virtues that have been discussed in class and state how these virtues are lived in the life of the leader they have chosen.

3 Students need some guidance in choosing their leaders because at first they might appear to be great leaders because they are cool but in discussing more in depth with the student, they soon discover that perhaps their chosen leader isn t so cool because they do not have in any great depth the virtues discussed in class. An activity that is popular and that also acts to break the ice between the students is one where they students are put into groups of four. Once in the group, each person within the group gets to play the role of a leader by directing the others within the team to achive an activity with a specific timeframe. For example, the team needs to come up with a menu for a cocktail party that has a variety of foods and wines to match it. The leader has to supervise the group as they interact and come up with the final product that is then presented to the class. The group then evaluates the leader who directed them to see if that person was demanding, encouraging, leading or directing them as a team. Since each person in the team gets a go at being the leader, the personality trait of each individual is easily recognised by how they lead their team. Some are autocractic, other diplomatic, others are very laissez faire. This type of class activity leads very smoothly to the introduction of a personal development assignment that all students are required to hand in by the end of the course. This assignment is the basis for training the student on life skills and proper attitude development to become competent professionals. Since it is a very personal plan and no two students are alike, it is a very person based training programme that the individual herself (himself) has come up with for their own personal development. Once the general plan has been drawn up by the student and through the mentoring system at the College, we are then effectively able to assist each student by having their mentor discuss with them their goals and how to achieve them. I would like now to speak briefly about the mentoring system at the College which is crucial to developing the students in their personal and professional life. First year students have a mentor who is a permanent member of staff meet with them every 15 days throughout semeseter one and, every month throughout semester two, as well as in second year. Mentoring sessions are usually about minutes and as the semester develops, the topics discussed vary according to the subject matter students are exposed to in the

4 various classes. When the students are asked to complete a personal development assignment for PPD, the mentors are alerted by the lecturer on what virtue the student has chosen for their own personal development. So hand in hand with the mentor and the lecturer, the student is then helped to work on the one or two virtue she/he has chosen to be acquired. Numerous examples of how the virtue can be practiced at work as well at the college and in their own homes if they are still living with their families or in their flats with their flatmates are raised so that the student can grasp the fact that the virtue can be lived in all aspects of their lives. So, in meeting and discussing with the student how they plan to live the virtue, and effectively, how they are living the virtue becomes slowly a reality in their life. Progress is praised and ways to avoid fall backs are discussed so that alerted by possible pitfalls of falling into old ways of doing things or old ways of thinking are avoided. Some monitoring techniques are also useful so that a better analysis of how to avoid falling can be outlined objectively and discussed with the mentor. ((some examples of student s personal development plans will be presented)) TOPICS COVERD IN PPD (cf. course outline) Professionalism, character and self knowledge and self development, virtues needed for the hospitality and tourism industry, team work and managing conflicts and finding creative solutions to problems and time management that ties into work/life balance. HOW SOME OF THE TOPICS COVERED IN PPD HAVE AN IMPACT ON STUDENTS LIFE AND WORK The students are expected to begin industry placement as soon as possible. Usually, once the student has been accepted at the College, the industry placement process for the student begins immediately. This process includes a touching up of the student s resume, preparing them for their first interview by guiding the students through mock interviews and

5 effectively bringing them to their interview that is usually with the Human Resources Manager of the hotel/establishment as well as with their immediately supervisor. Students are expected to complete 20 hours of industry placement per week and a total of 800 or 1000 hours during the first year of studies. Generally speaking most students who have been accepted at the College are ready for work, either in the back of house or front of house. Some students are very keen to be in the front of house from day one but usually through the help of the IPM, they are happy with whatever placement they are given. Many of the College s industry partners are very well aware of the work ethic and values that are taught at the College. Therefore, they are willing to give the students a chance to prove themselves within any of the departments within the hotel as recommended by the IPM. As can be seen in our video, the General Manager of a 5 star hotel says that the students come from families who have taught them how to work hard and if the student has a bit of passion and works hard, he/she can get far within the business. This part of the video is stressed with each student through the mentoring system because it keeps the goal of achieving where they want to end up very much in mind. When the students have done about 200 hours of industry placement, generally speaking, they are at a level where their skills are developing but the fatigue of getting the work done is being noticed. This is when the mentoring system and the personal development plan identified by the student is really important. No matter what virtue the student had set out to develop, this is the time to be very opportune to support and encourage the student so that they do not lose focus on their personal goals. Although the book Seven Habits of Highly Effectively People is not the textbook for this course, it is very useful as a resource book. The mentors are able to help the student by making reference to the time quadrants alluded to in this book to help the student incorporate time management skills that by the time week 10 and 11 come around are very important for them because of the juggling they need to do with deadlines in assignments as well the upkeep of doing 20 hours of industry placement. This usually is

6 about the time when the student needs to practice a lot of virtues and needs the support and encouragement to keep at developing themselves with cheerfulness not giving into their old ways of being but rather being challenged by the new responsibilites of managing many tasks at once. This year a new assignment has been issued. It is where the student is asked to come up with 3 compentencies or virtues that are required by a supervisor or manager in their workplace. An interview with the supervisor or manager is required to obtain the information first hand. The assignment should incorporate a brief definition of the competency/virtue, list the illustrative behaviours and outline suggested development actions. This assignment will enable the student to clearly outline and detail aspects of job that perhaps they aspire to obtain by the time they finish their studies at the College. Going back to the industry placement component of the programme, each student is provided feedback from their immediate supervisor about their work performance in the presence of the IPM. This meeting is a very important one for the student as it is feedback for them on how they are doing in their work. The meeting is conducted in an open discussion manner, where any of the parties are encouraged to say what they think about the feedback given as well as the feedback taken. Once this feedback session is completed, the respective mentors of each student are given a copy of the feedback so that they can discuss it with the student they mentor. ((an example of a case will be presented here)) HOW PPD HELPS BALANCED DIET AND BALANCED LIFE It is clear that students are not the same from the time they begin their studies at Kenvale to the time when they leave. Over the years, it is very satisfying to see tranformed students leave the College to pursue their careers in various jobs within the hospitality and tourism as well as other industries. There is a personal satisfaction for me as a person and as a manager at the College- to witness how the students are when they leave the College to secure their first full time jobs

7 as Front Office receptionists, as Food and Beverage superviors and Room Attending supervisors. Last year we had a student get into a management trainee program that is for 18 months with one of the largest resort corporations within the country. The fact that the students are able to secure some of these positions is a result of their hard work and effort in many areas but I think that through the PPD course they gain what might not be the most visible skill but what is the most important to them for their lives which is that they have a better knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses and they know that they have the ability to work on those weaknesses through the practice of virtues. Recently we received the following from an alumni that I feel reflects what I am trying to say: Kenvale College is a fun college. Even though it is a tough one, but you will never regret it. You will find your life in the real world is much easier than you never know. It is because Kenvale College has given you the best training not only at school but also in life