Training Matters

#TrainingMatters #SliceOfLife #LessonsFromLife

The importance of Training employees in managing all possible scenarios in a day’s work cannot be overemphasised. In the hospitality industry – hotels, entertainment parks, restaurants and even airlines, this assumes greater importance.

These jobs are standardised, requiring minimal skills but even then, can be performed in a sub-par manner. There can be two reasons for it. One the training is inadequate. It hasn’t been thought through to cover all possible scenarios and develop an SOP on how to deal with it. Or the person on the job has not assimilated the task expected.

For a mature industry or an organisation, we can safely rule out the former. It is not possible that the training would not have thought through on how to deal with all possible scenarios.

Narrating here an experience with?Emirates?, an Airline that prides itself on delivering a superior travel experience – “Fly Better” is their tagline.?

I was seated in an aisle seat and during one of the food services, the air hostess was speaking to her colleague behind her (with her head turned towards the back) and simultaneously placing the coffee flask on her trolley. The flask was tilted spilling the contents over me. I cried out in pain as the hot liquid poured over me. She hadn’t noticed and I brought it to her attention. Without a word, she hurried to the galley, brought a bunch of paper towels, handed them to me and left without a word!?

I was too shocked to bother about anything and proceeded to pat dry myself. Fortunately, I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, so was saved except few moments of scalding and a large nasty stain.

As it was a long flight, I am sure the crew must have been tired, and I know that despite our best intentions, mishaps can happen due to a momentary lack of focus as was in this case.

The hurt was accentuated by the “care two hoots” attitude of the air hostess. I was reminded of a “When people treat you like they don’t care, believe them”.?

However, as this was in a hospitality-related industry, from an organisation that prides itself on better service, I decided to highlight to the air hostess the shortcomings in her handling of the situation.??I drew her attention with difficulty and mentioned that while I know accidents can happen, not being apologetic or expressing remorse for having caused inconvenience does not go well with the job.?

All I heard was, "I said sorry". With a deadpan, expressionless face, avoiding eye contact.?

Now this suggests three possibilities, or maybe four.?

One, the training would not have covered such situations and the person did not know how to respond to such situations. Not possible in this situation, as it happened with one of the prominent airlines, which has been in the business for a long time.

Second, the person is a rookie. Possible in many industries; at the billing counter of a store may be but unlikely in the airline industry as the crew is supposed to be trained to handle major inflight emergencies.

Third, the person is a snob, not suited for the hospitality industry. One knows the pains Disney goes through in hiring cheerful people at their parks for all roles, including that of a parking lot attendant and the importance they give to the pleasant disposition of the staff. One would assume that airlines would make similar efforts.?

Or maybe the person simply had a bad day that day. Possible, but even then the training should ensure that the personal issues do not impact the organisation’s image.?

My takeout from this experience.?

# Look closely at our Organisation’s customer interface.

# Visualise all possible situations and decide on an appropriate response.?

In this case, a canned response could have been – reaching out to the aggrieved customer, making eye contact, apologising for the hurt/inconvenience caused, and hoping that this momentary lapse has not marred the otherwise good experience they are striving to deliver. Maybe at the time of alighting, once again briefly speak and apologise. Wouldn’t such an interaction help leave a positive impact??

# Train and retrain the employees. I wonder if there is a process in such cases where the incident is reported to the senior crew, who too can step forward. I am not from the industry, but simply visualising various possibilities where a situation can be managed in a manner that customer comes out praising the staff and the organisation.?

# Hire for EQ and natural demeanour.??