Ken Burgin

Hospitality Staff Training

Podcast 2: How to Use Facilitation Skills for Faster & Better Hospitality Staff Training

In this episode, I talk with team culture and facilitation expert Leanne Hughes about how to use facilitation skills to overcome some of the hesitation attached to restaurant, cafe and foodservice training. Training, the T-word, causes anxiety for many small business owners: don’t have the time, costs too much money, wasted on staff who don’t stay etc – small business thinking is very different to corporate culture, where training is embraced.

Many simple training sessions could be facilitated by the chef, the coffee or seafood supplier, or the bar manager who’s a fanatic on whiskey or craft beers. Maybe the in-house facilitator’s job is to set up the structures, organise the times, and let people get on with it. We went deep on the skills of a facilitator, and how this could be a great career extension for many people working in hospitality today.

Connect with Leanne Hughes on LinkedIn, through her website LeanneHughes.com and listen to her own excellent podcast First Time Facilitator.

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Some questions we discussed on the podcast:

  • What is a facilitator, and how is that different to being a trainer? Do I need qualifications?
  • What skills does the modern facilitator need for small face to face sessions?
  • What about extending this to online coaching and skill development for staff?
  • A new manager is keen to organise more staff development – how do they sell this to a boss who’s very cost-conscious? How to get buy-in?
  • How does a facilitator build their skills and profile – seems like a very marketable skill. What numbers should they track?
  • How do get beyond ‘chalk and talk’ – seems like many new trainers go back to the bad practices they experienced with handouts and powerpoint.
  • Using external resources to make short, sharp sessions happen eg YouTube
  • One-off sessions vs. a program with some face to face + revision and online.

Enjoy and subscribe to more Hospo Reset Podcasts.

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