Whenever a recession occurs, you can be sure of oil price hikes, economic contraction, a surge in inflation and essential budget cuts by businesses looking to weather the storm. Fortunately, the number of businesses cutting back on staff training and development during this recession has subsided. People 1st's 2010 State of the Nation report found that 59% of employers in hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism offered the same amount of training in 2010 as in 2009, while 14% provided more.
Some 60 years or so ago, in-house training was a different beast. It was mainly the preserve of large companies such as Ford, Cadbury and Lever, which had their own training departments (Human Resource Development: Beyond Training Interventions, CIPD 2004 ). The 1960s and '70s saw some radical HR concepts, with the introduction of programmes designed to train in-house trainers on how to develop their own training programmes. The Hospitality Training Foundation - now The People 1st Training Company - was one of the first to launch Train The Trainer programmes in the UK, known then as TS1 (now the Practical Training Certificate) and TS2 (the Group Training Certificate).
In the 1970s and early '80s, in-house training departments contracted, with greater pressure for HR professionals to demonstrate both the strategic role they played in an organisation and to find a commercial justification for training and developing staff. In the early 1990s, businesses became much more cautious about cutting back training budgets. People 1st observed that most organisations were starting to appreciate effective training could help to drive a company forward and boosting the skills of in-house trainers could pay dividends. The 'Great Recession' of 2008 changed the business landscape forever. For most HR departments, including our own, this meant having to fine-tune training to get more bang for the training buck.
Research from People 1st's State of the Nation 2010 report is indicative of a growing trend: 51% of employers moved more training in-house as a result of the recession. This is where Train the Trainer programmes such as the Group Training Certificate (GTC) can really add value. Over the past 40 years, GTC has continued to help organisations enhance their in-house training capabilities.
Malmaison and Hotel du Vin adopted the GTC because it is the only programme that both trains trainers to a nationally recognised standard and is adaptable to fit the needs of those being trained. For example, most recently we have run programmes for our sommeliers who, while being highly knowledgeable about the food and wine we offer, find it difficult to be concise and effective when explaining items on the menu to clients. As the GTC contains elements of neurolinguistic programming (NLP), our sommeliers now benefit from an interactive programme. We think this means our customers can enjoy the very best in foods and wines, with even better service.
Our people development managers, who are all GTC trained, have also run in-house programmes on delivering excellent customer service at each of our properties to all members of staff. As the training was to the same level required for new managers, this motivated staff. The programme provided staff with greater responsibility and an understanding of business imperatives. The skills our staff gained were not only tailored for their current roles, but were also of great benefit when they wanted to progress their careers. Along with strengthening our customer service skills, we have adopted the GTC format for all of Malmaison and Hotel du Vin's training material, from the recruitment process right through to the management and leadership programme, to ensure a consistent high quality methodology.
Malmaison and Hotel du Vin has achieved an 85% success rate of appointing internal managers and secured a healthy 55% business rate.
So, what does the future hold for in house-training? Certainly, HR will continue to develop in-house training programmes to meet the evolving needs of business. It is ultimately training that will help organisations cope and thrive in the new economic landscape, where talent management and leadership development will be crucial. The fact that some businesses are even training departmental heads to GTC's national standards - not just in HR - is a sign of how far organisations have come since the 1960s. Today, businesses take their training and development seriously and want to ensure that those conducting the training have the most effective skills. No matter who delivers the training, it needs to be fit for the times.
Mike Williams (pictured) is group director of people and development at hotel chains Malmaison and Hotel du Vin
