Without continued investment in training, a growing organization is unlikely to live up to its vision. Let the tourism sector's training strategy be a model for your business.
The Egyptian Tourism Federation, like most forward-thinking organizations, has a vision: for the Egyptian tourism industry to be the best in the world. This lofty ambition was behind an initial focus on increasing numbers - numbers of arrivals and numbers of hotel rooms, and on developing supra- and infrastructure to support these numbers. But this approach did not adequately address the backbone of the industry: its work force.
In the tourism sector, a shortage of qualified workers has turned into an acute and chronic problem, especially among the two, three and four-star hotels and tourism establishments that do not have the luxury of in-house training programs. It's hard to get a reliable figure, but we estimate that close to 300,000 hospitality workers in the country have had no formal training. About 75 percent of all hotels and tourism establishments do not conduct any training courses for their staff. If we don't address this issue, we face the probability of a deterioration of the quality of services, leading to decreased competitiveness, a decrease in the rate of repeat tourism and an image demotion to that of a cheap destination. All of this will affect receipts and therefore the economy of the country.
The tourism industry is not alone in neglecting to develop people along with ideas and products. In the area of human resources and development, the country as a whole has what I call "a heritage of negligence." Many managers with their eye on the bottom line have a glaring lack of awareness about the benefits of training, while others see it as a "one-off" deal and not an ongoing investment to secure continued growth. The organization that continues to invest in training in targeted areas throughout tough economic times is the one that is in a position to capitalize on the weaknesses of competitors.
The task we faced was enormous, and there simply wasn't time to set up and staff the hundreds of new schools and departments that would have been required to meet the training needs of what may soon be half a million workers. The question was: how do we train a huge number of people in a short amount of time, and with maximum cost-effectiveness? That's where we were forced to innovate.
The Egyptian Tourism Workforce Development program, a vocational training program supported by the Egyptian Tourism Federation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), adapted a quality-assured, "cascade" training model - also known as "train-the-trainer" - for large-scale implementation on a national level. Ten thousand line-level employees received training during Phase I in 2004.
A specially trained group of Arabic-speaking "master trainers," each with 10+ years' experience in the industry, forms the core of the program. With the cascade method, master trainers instruct groups of 10-12 supervisors nominated by participating hotels and restaurants. Upon passing the course, the supervisors then return to their workplace and immediately train 12-15 first-level personnel in their departments.
This method of training a few key individuals in each organization to be trainers is an efficient way for any organization, large or small, to ensure ongoing training needs are met so the company can keep growing. A few other lessons from our project that could be applied to other companies:
Get support from the top
Unless the top management all the way through to the supervisory levels are aware of the benefits of the program and understand and support what is being taught, the trainees are unlikely to be able to apply their learnings effectively. In our case, we ran trainings for hotel management and internal supervision parallel to the ones for line staff. This approach ensures that the whole operation is in sync from line-staff to management.
Insist on quality from the start
Key to our success was our early insistence on quality. We were extremely selective about both the curriculum and the core group of master trainers. That the training and materials must be in Arabic was non-negotiable. Too often in attempts to cut corners, managers implement "cut and paste" training courses that don't incorporate either the local language or particular obstacles or weaknesses - ultimately a waste of time and money.
Keep it close to home - and make it quick
The master trainers are each regionally-based in one of the key tourism areas of Egypt and focus on building the skills of the businesses in that area. The program is mobile, meaning that the trainers come to the site of the participating establishment to further support implementation and provide mentoring and feedback to trainees. The training-of-trainers course for supervisors is condensed down to 40 hours over six consecutive days, and they begin training the line-level staff back at their workplaces immediately. This model has several benefits, not the least of which is significantly decreasing the off-the-job time and expense of sending employees to distant training facilities.
Make it relevant and motivating
The staff attending the training sessions should be the ones who can most benefit the organization by being there. Also, the employee should expect some benefit from learning the new skills. In our project, skills development is focused on a specific set of competencies, from the line-staff duties of front office, food and beverage, housekeeping and food safety, through to advanced internal supervision and hotel management training. Trainees are tested on these competencies by the master trainers, and awarded a certificate, which gives them an edge in promotion considerations or job-seeking.
Monitor implementation and results
Don't just train your staff and then expect them to figure out how to apply their learning to their environment. Each department should have a designated person to ensure that the newly trained staff are applying their learnings to maximum benefit, and to obtain feedback and suggestions for consideration. In our project, this is part of the training itself. The master trainers visit the participating hotels and tourist establishments daily throughout the two weeks to follow up on the implementation of the courses, assist the trainees and supervisors, and evaluate the trainees at the end of the course.
Of course, to maintain motivation and commitment to training, the organization needs to see real results in order to evaluate cost-effectiveness and weak areas requiring attention. For instance, in Phase I of the Egyptian Tourism Workforce Development project, we saw a 27-percent decrease in breakage in food and beverage departments, as well as a significant increase in customer satisfaction among participating establishments.
Immeasurable benefits
Beyond the obvious bottom-line benefits, however, are long-term outcomes such as increased employee loyalty born out of a sense that the organization does contribute to building his or her future. While caring about employees seems a "soft" characteristic unsuitable for the competitive arena of business, it may prove to be a crucial factor when it translates into less employee turnover, and therefore less training expense and higher quality service.
With Phase II, which began in October 2005, we are aiming to train over 16,000 hospitality personnel. It's still just a drop in the bucket, but since it develops human capacity, that drop can go a long way.
By Hussein Badran
© Business Monthly 2006
