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By Susan
Darrington
Exceeding guest and client
expectations is the goal of any organization. It drives repeat business and
should be a motivating factor behind all decisions. Getting your staff from
the ground up to buy into and actively invest themselves in this culture of
excellence is paramount to achieving success in your business.
Consistent, effective training is a key driver to building and maintaining a
culture of excellence. No other single initiative within your organization
will go as far to influence company culture as a strong training program.
Staff training for public assembly facilities is a continuing challenge, no
matter what major client or sport your facility hosts. Whether you outsource
your labor needs or use in-house staff, the education and training these
employees receive could very well mean the difference between success and
costly failure.
Over the past two years, the training program for our part-time event staff
at Qwest Field and Qwest Field Event Center has undergone a dramatic
transition to now follow a continuous cycle of training. We have established
a dynamic, continually evolving training program called Qwest Field
University. The Qwest Field University program is designed not only to
provide the formal training to our staff, but also put tools in place to
recognize staff and reinforce concepts throughout the year.
We have identified five steps in this continual training cycle: hiring,
formal training, on-the-job experience, recognition programs and continuous
communication. Every step of this process must echo the others and be fully
integrated with the overall branding of your organization.
1. Hiring Process
Training can begin as early as the interview-and- hiring process for your
event staff. With most facilities this is a yearly task to replace natural
attrition in your part-time labor pool. At Qwest Field, we hold a series of
hiring presentations to recruit and interview prospective event staff. The
highlight of these presentations is an interactive presentation on the
culture of service and excellence of the Qwest Field and Seattle Seahawks
organization.
You must set the expectations and the tone for the entire employee
experience from the beginning. By indoctrinating our applicants into our
culture at this point we have a head start on training, as well as a much
better rate of identifying and retaining right fit candidates.
2. Formal Training
Our formal training classes at Qwest Field are focused on providing a basic
framework and roadmap to success that will be filled in along with the rest
of the continuous training cycle of Qwest Field University. Classes and
descriptions are as follows:
Train the Trainers. A four-hour
intensive session to train the staff that will deliver the content for the
formal training sessions. This, along with the next class, is the
cornerstone of our program. The focus here is to develop outgoing, energetic
and knowledgeable trainers that will instill this same energy and outgoing
pursuit of service excellence in our staff.
Leadership Core Training. This four hour
class is mandatory for all supervisors and managers. The focus is on
providing fundamental leadership guidance and personnel management skills.
Training should be provided on all required paperwork and payroll functions.
Strong, dedicated leaders and trainers will result in dedicated and
organized staff.
Alcohol Management Training. Alcohol and
incident management classes using the “Techniques for Effective Alcohol
Management” training program — supplemented with instruction from an
experienced alcohol enforcement officer — provides real life examples and
consequence management direction.
Game Day Training. This class orients
our employees into our service philosophy and culture of excellence. We
ensure that every employee walks away from training knowing our mission
statement and how to apply it toward their job at Qwest Field. Policies and
procedures are covered as well.
Standardized and complete guest service training should be given to all
employees, not just game day staff with service responsibilities. Everyone
in your employ represents your facility. Even a facility engineer repairing
a seat must be invest ed in the culture of service and excellence.
Stadium Emergency Procedures. Full-time
and part-time game day staff should be familiar with the facility emergency
procedures and receive at the very least a walk through of all evacuation
procedures twice during a season. More specific training focused on
individual areas of responsibility should be provided to all personnel
performing crowd management functions. Detailed training needs to include
things as simple as how and where to report an injury or altercation. Local
supervisors can deliver continuing reinforcement on a daily basis.
3. On-The-Job Experience
As stated above, having a strong group of leaders who supervise your
front-line staff is the key to maintaining and further developing the skills
and concepts learned in the formal training. Leaders should model the
expected behavior, character, passion and guest service expected of all
staff. Informal training sessions in the field are also a part of the
supervisor’s job on an ongoing basis at each event and/or game.
4. Recognition Programs
Programs that encourage and reward the desired behavior of your staff are an
absolute must. Set up your programs such that the goal and driver behind
them are achieving the service and making great fan experiences as opposed
to simply dangling a prize in front of your staff to encourage them to go
through the expected motions. Staff should feel that the reward is making
great fan experiences; the tangible prize is secondary. Recognition programs
fail when the focus is on the tangible reward or prize and the reason behind
the program (outstanding guest service that drives excellence in business
results) are forgotten.
5. Continuous Communication
You cannot over-communicate with your part-time staff. Under-communication
will only create a void that will need to be filled. If you do not fill it
yourself, misinformation, rumor and speculation will run rampant to satisfy
your employees’ need for information.
Newsletters, mailings and bulletin boards are the simplest tools for
communication. Each break room should have a bulletin board updated
regularly with company information. Pre-shift meetings are a great way to
deliver the most updated information and should be held prior to every
event. The information and delivery methods should fit in look and feel with
the overall brand of your organization and training program.
Get Your Staff Invested
To develop outstanding content for your training program, you have to know
the whys and drivers behind your business and your actions. Be sure that
your employees know this too. Get them invested. Do not do anything without
a reason, and never without a reason that supports your mission. Make sure
your employees know that there is this same driving reason behind what you
ask them to do.
People need purpose, and they need to know the whys behind what they are
asked to do. They will be invested in your objectives and company when they
feel that their actions are contributing toward a tangible result that they,
too, will benefit from. Treat all of your employees in these trainings and
subsequent meetings as if they were owners of the company. They should feel
ownership of their area within the framework, leadership and policies of the
overall organization.
Your ongoing training program is the single best way to get employees
invested in your culture of excellence. Make your training interactive and
fun, and an ongoing experience and cycle that lasts throughout the year. The
result will be happy, motivated employees directly invested in your
organization’s success. Happy employees will make for happy and motivated
fans and clients who will directly invest in — and thereby drive the success
of — your business.
Susan Darrington is vice
president of facility operations and services at Qwest Field & Event Center
in Seattle. |
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