The key ingredient for success in the hospitality industry is a service-oriented, professional workforce. With a diverse workforce of varying degrees of educational backgrounds, hospitality employers have a challenge to teach the practice of service, professionalism, and business acumen in an efficient, effective, and economical manner.

There are many ways to teach a workforce. Most employers would use a one-to-one shadowing method to onboard new employees. This method works for teaching day-to day technical “hard” skills. What is more difficult is imparting soft skills. A technically competent employee can perform the required tasks with guests transactionally. But will the guests leave satisfied, have an affinity with the company and make it a priority to return? To entice a guest to return, it requires soft skills.

Soft skills are varied. The most important ones include leadership, team working, attention to detail, time management, critical thinking, problem solving, and of course, communication. The way most people learn soft skills is by taking a class. A reason for this is uniformity. It is important to ensure that employees learn the same set of skills deemed important by the company. It is important to impart the company culture. Not every situation can be taught, and employees will have to navigate gray areas. A strong company culture will allow an employee to make decisions based on corporate principles. Another reason for training is to ensure that employees know what to do and how to make proper decisions to protect themselves, fellow employees, guests, and the company.

Putting employees through soft skills training provides benefits at all levels. Financially, soft skills training provides a return as guests become happier, buy more, and return more frequently. Operationally, performance in terms of quality and efficiency improves. Thirdly, the climate will improve. Employees will become more satisfied with their ability to perform, gain confidence, and note the care accorded to them by their employer via investing in their growth.

An option for soft skills training that brings the best practices of the hospitality industry, is CLIMB® from TISOH. The CLIMB® Hospitality Professional Development program from TISOH is a complete library of self-paced e-learning programs, designed by and for hospitality professionals, which 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.