In the hospitality industry, the number one resource is skilled labor. As a service-based industry, hospitality is a people-based industry. Finding technically competent, trainable staff is one thing, but the bigger question is: do they possess the wherewithal to deliver service? This begs the perennial question of whether service is trainable and, if so, how?
People have intrinsic values and behaviors that affect their worldview and how they interact with others. It is true that everyone is set in their ways to some extent, but generally speaking, with relatable training, most behavior can be altered. That is where training, and in particular, soft skills training comes into play.
Soft skills are those that are not technical in nature, that affect not the ability to get work done, but how work gets done. For example, a front desk agent in a hotel can be technically competent and able to efficiently check in a guest, but how they do it is a soft skill. To be an exceptional front desk agent, one should have communication skills, be able to listen, and show empathy. Those are soft skills. In general, soft skills center around the ability to work with others, to manage one’s work and environment, and the skills with which to solve challenges at hand.
According to thebalancecareers.com, the top soft skills center around communication, leadership, critical thinking, having a positive attitude, teamwork and a positive work ethic. If one considers these skills, with limited variance, they are universal across industries.
Soft skills are learned differently than “hard” technical skills. Soft skills are more personal; as learners absorb the material, they interpret it personally and, in that sense, have more at stake. Consequently, soft skill training can either be successful or dismissed off handedly.
For soft skills training in hospitality, there are vendors like Linkedin offering generic online courses. Those are broad in topic and do not specifically speak to hospitality service. The International School of Hospitality (TISOH), an accredited educational institution that specializes in hospitality, offers soft skills training that directly speaks to the hospitality industry, and more importantly, directly to hospitality professionals, ensuring that the material has personal relevance, and is comprehensible, absorbable, and applicable.
The CLIMB® Hospitality Professional Development program from TISOH is a complete library of self-paced e-learning programs, designed by and for hospitality professionals, that is usable across all connected devices and suited to a professional's busy lifestyle. Harnessing a range of learning artifacts, the targeted programming features interactive content leading to improved comprehension and learner engagement. CLIMB® users may choose to take the 60-min classes individually, or as a five-class Skill Series. Skills Series include: Guest Service, Communication, Essential Management, People Management, and Restaurant Management. Additionally, users may choose to take a 10-class Core Series to orient and increase the skill level of those in associate, supervisor, or manager levels.
Key program highlights of the CLIMB® e-learning system include: industry professional developers, 60-minute classes, the ability to learn from anywhere, 100% accessible on mobile, tablet, or computer, the ability to start and pick-up as needed, low cost, CEU records as documentation of learning, and a learning summary for each class.
The entire program is accredited by ACCET, the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training. TISOH is an accredited member of ACCET, a national institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U. S. Department of Education. TISOH is also listed in the American Council on Education’s Accredited Institutions of Postsecondary Education (AIPE) and the Council on Higher Education Accreditation’s (CHEA) website, which are widely used by government agencies, military services, corporations, and professional organizations for identifying credible education and training organizations relative to accepting CEU credits and establishing tuition reimbursement policies.
For employers, CLIMB® provides for instant, turnkey hospitality training. Subscription-based, CLIMB® provides both value and a range of options for learners. Users have full control over their learning experience, while managers maintain supervisorial control of their subscribed learners.
For more information about the CLIMB® Hospitality Professional Development program from TISOH, visit hospitalityclimb.com.