Is eLearning on your club's training menu?

Increasingly intense competition, high customer expectations, and retaining quality employees are challenges almost every restaurant manager must face. One of the best ways to address these challenges is through consistent delivery and assessment of an employee training program.

Unfortunately, time and scheduling constraints and high employee turnover all present challenges and obstacles to delivering training effectively and consistently.

So, what about interactive training using a computer (also known as 'eLearning')?

Using a computer to deliver training is obviously not a new concept, and there have been many ways to describe it in recent years:

* Online learning.

* Distance learning.

* Technology-based training.

* Web-based training.

* Computer-based training (generally thought of as learning from a CD-ROM).

But the restaurant business is all about people, not technology--right?

While there are increasing numbers of success stories, eLearning has yet to catch on in the F&B segment to the extent it has in other sectors like finance and IT. One argument is that the restaurant business is a people business. Very true, but a large percentage of people who make up your restaurant staff belong to the so-called 'Nintendo Generation.' They do not want to learn from an authority figure standing in front of them; rather, they are comfortable in front of a computer, and they want to explore and progress at their own pace. They want to do this at a time that suits them, in an environment that they are comfortable with. This is a tough audience to capture, and the training experience has to be engaging, fast, colorful, player driven, challenging, and fun.

Another argument is that you can't use a computer to teach 'people skills,' that they must be experienced firsthand. Well that is also true--to a point, eLearning should never totally replace a practical, live training experience, especially for customer-facing roles. But a well-written eLearning course can deliver the theory behind your service philosophy along with a procedure and policy in an interesting and engaging format. This approach is ideal for ensuring a base level of understanding for a group of employees with varying knowledge and skill levels before they interact with your customers or in a live training event. One example is to deliver a customer care and service policy orientation via eLearning, then practice what is learned with a group in a live role-playing session.

eLearning Can Help You Overcome Major Training Challenges

Does your club suffer from high turnover or seasonal staffing? The hospitality industry has had an issue with high turnover for a long time. So why should you spend time and money on training when employees are going to leave anyway? This argument, unfortunately, can lead to a vicious cycle of poor performance and customer service. Next on the list is job dissatisfaction, which then leads to higher turnover.

With eLearning, however, you can provide just-in-time training to new employees, or refresher training to existing employees as and when required--all while actually reducing training costs. The more people you train, the lower the per-head training costs.

How eLearning Works

Instead of attending training sessions, reading manuals, or watching a video, your employees interact with a course on a computer. A simple log-in registers each trainee and allows you to monitor training progress. Games, interactive reviews, and exercises help to reinforce topics in a fun and interesting way.

Sounds great, but does it really work?

To measure effectiveness, trainees can take an online pre- and post-course assessment. The programs automatically assess and record scores as the test is taken, eliminating the need to spend additional time testing, grading, and compiling results by hand. Reports and records can be generated from data stored on the PC, or accessed from remote sites, eliminating the time and space required for paper-based records. Another benefit of a pre-assessment is that, based on the results, the course can be customized to deliver only the information that is required for each individual. So, a new-hire who has already worked in hospitality and understands the topic can progress quickly or opt out of some material, saving time and getting him or her on the job faster. The old adage of "good teaching is good teaching, no matter how it's done" still rings true, and eLearning brings with it new opportunities for the restaurant industry to educate and motivate its workforce.

Improved Performance With eLearning

Improvement in employee performance can be measured in a number of ways. A simple method is to compare pre-eLearning performance against post-eLearning performance. One example would be to compare average check sales before and after implementing a wait staff sales eLearning course.

In addition, eLearning is an extremely cost- and time-effective way to keep employees up to speed on the latest F&B service regulatory mandates--such as Food Safety/HACCP or Responsible Alcohol Service--consequently reducing the risk of a lawsuit should things go wrong. If certain processes are not in place, a club can be subject to fines and lawsuits. With eLearning, organizations can deliver consistent training while simultaneously tracking their workforce compliance and performance.

Conclusion

In almost every area eLearning is well suited to support the dynamics of the restaurant and hospitality industries. It is delivered in a format that a large proportion of your 'audience' will be comfortable with. The courses are available 24/7, so new employees can learn before, after, or between shifts. Information can be changed and updated quickly, to accommodate new policies or product and service offerings.

Robert Duprey has over 22 years experience in the restaurant and hotel industries, and founded Lexington Interactive to provide eLearning specifically for these markets. The company offers a catalog of interactive hospitality training courses for the 'video game generation.' For more information, contact Robert at [e-mail] or visit www.lexingtoninteractive.com.