There is no more important issue relevant to the success of the hospitality industry than the availability and quality of its managers and skilled workers. The growth and profitability of the industry has been put at risk due to its current inability to recruit, develop and maintain an adequate reserve of highly motivated, skilled, career oriented professionals.
A corporate and/or independent operator Career Development Program (CDP) is needed. It must be designed to reverse the declining pool of dedicated personnel.
An effective program will:
- Assure a steady supply of quality job applicants.
- Reduce company turn over significantly.
- Provide a well trained, better educated, highly motivated work force.
- Assure that all interested employees understand the value of a career in both the company and the hospitality industry.
- Ensure all interested employees have equal access to career development.
- Ensure fair treatment for all employees as they pursue their career goals.
- Help, where practical, employees acquire their education by assisting them in scheduling as well as in identifying outside grants and/or scholarships etc.
- Coordinate an education assistance program with other industry opportunities
Understand that an effective career development program is a significant departure from a traditional training program. It is an education program. Its focus is on the individual employee who is reaching out to maximize their potential (“Being the Best They Can Be”).
As they develop themselves, the company is the beneficiary. It gains the benefit of their expertise, loyalty, enthusiasm, professionalism and new found professional expertise.
A company, if it is to prosper, must rethink its traditional approach and expectations related to hourly employee development. Managers are being required to perform in a much more sophisticated manner than ever before. They are being held accountable for accomplishing higher levels of expectations than their predecessors. Managers in this decade are looking for far more than “just a job”. They are seeking a rewarding career.
The underlying strength of a well structured career development program is that it offers this new breed of managers more than "Just a Job". It provides insight into, and training for, a successful career in the hospitality industry. A successful CDP encourages this generation of managers to achieve personal excellence and never to be satisfied with just simply "good".
All of this to the end that, industry’s management and staff will find that they are far more, personally and professionally, successful working together with common career goals than they ever could be working independently in a self serving manner
CDP participant’s commitment:
“People doing common things uncommonly well achieving outstanding success”.
Career Development Philosophy
A successful program will:
Achieve excellence in serving guest and fulfilling their expectations
Provide public service to the community in which they operate
Be an effective part of an employee’s career growth
By contributing to their professionalism
Provide a lucrative financial return on investment and sustain continuing growth in net worth
To assure company success the operator will:
Recruit and hire self-motivated career oriented people
Provide in-depth training, education and personal career growth opportunities
Consistently communicate company goals & objectives and monitor performance
Provide an environment for success
Promote only on the basis of excellence and not for any other reason
Practice a consistent, open, aggressive, involved management style
Learn from, but never accept failure
Always expect success
Reward both with equal passion
Career Development Program Executive Summary
Purpose:
To assure adequate availability of quality job applicants
To provide a simple, low cost approach to permanently reducing turnover in both hourly and management positions
To sustain a well trained, appropriately educated, highly motivated work force
To increase guest counts, sales and profitability through enhanced, employee motivation, performance and outstanding guest relations
To help employees significantly prosper from their career in the hospitality industry.
To assure all employees have equal access to career development opportunities
To assure fair treatment to all employees as they pursue their career goals
To help employees enhance their education by cooperation in scheduling, researching scholarships and other potential funding sources and other good faith efforts
Identifying career advancement opportunities.
Process:
Each current manager and all new management hires will go through CDP indoctrination and be given an opportunity to participate. If they elect to participate their progress will be recorded in a special CDP electronic file.Its purpose is to track their career for as long as they are in the industry(A CDP alumni program).
There will be minimum required curriculum but the employee may sign up for additional experiences of their choice. A mentor will help them pre-plan a three to five year career path and determine the classes and work assignments necessary to achieve it.The company will provide the tools they need to ensure personal development but it's up to the employee to reach out and use the program to advance their career.
It is the employee’s responsibility to use the program for their personal and professional growth.As an employee obtains the job and people skills, necessary to qualify for the next advancement, their file will be marked “ready for promotion”.They will be registered in an active assignment pool.As the participant gains skills and experience this process will be repeated until the employee achieves their pre-planned career level. At that time an evaluation of their career status will be conducted. Additional development opportunities will be considered and further assignments awarded, as available, if the employee chooses.
Some employers may not have all the opportunities needed to facilitate a full CDP program. In that case arrangements will be made to accommodate the documented career path.
If a participating employee’s professional grow is more rapid than the employer can provide promotional opportunities, the employer must be ready to loose them. They must demonstrate sincere pleasure in the employee’s growth and find ways to help them continue their career growth. This may include the employee moving on to another company.
The employer must support that decision.When an employer demonstrates an honest commitment to their employee’s career development their employees will respond with genuine enthusiasm, efficiency, tenure and outstanding loyalty.
Resources:
CEO and all senior management enthusiastic endorsement and support
Private and public learning centers and on-line courses
Community colleges.
Universities.
Trade schools.
High schools.
Trade associations.
Industry sponsors and suppliers
Federal, state and local governmental management personnel
Foundations
Local Chefs
Dietitians
Retired industry professionals
A company’s own key employees, both management and hourly
Former employees (Alumni)
The media
A variety of others
Scope:
- Primarily a three year management and/or executive Chef Certification program.
- All company jobs considered to be career path opportunities.
- A CDP computerized participant tracking system will be in use.
- Job openings broadly communicated (CDP participants get priority)
- It is desirable for career development be an industry wide process/commitment. Local, regional, national and eventually international career development programs are encouraged.
- Certification is an integral part of the program.
- Industry career counseling (usually done by outside professional trade association representatives or college counselors) will be available
- A monthly CDP newsletter distributed.
- A CDP annual meeting for participants, senior management, mentors and trainers.
- CDP (hands on) specific training for each job or task from dishwasher through unit manager and beyond will be available
- CDP class room specific training/education for appropriate subjects, i.e.; sanitation, food technology, policy, compliance issues, accounting, quality control, motivation skills, etc. will be included
- CDP volunteer instructors and mentors will conduct the majority of the in-house programs. Guest speakers approximately four times per year.
- CDP annual (three year cycle) calendar broadly communicated and distributed
Recognition:
CDP alumni society awards
CDP volunteer recognition and reward program
CDP guest awareness award (Based on guest input on CDP training results)
CDP internal employee focus group awards (for results and new ideas)
CDP formal “Best Individual Program” award (evaluation published and distributed).
Conclusion:
This is not a training program; it is an education program. (Industry’s equivalent of an in-house “Institute of Education”). It produces an almost uncanny level of enthusiasm within participating organizations. While it does not target or focus on enthusiasm, it produces it on a large scale.
The underlying strength of the program is that it establishes the hospitality industry, in general, as an excellent long-term career field. It clearly demonstrates that the industry provides excellent income opportunities, builds people skills and encourages professionalism and outstanding work ethics.This can be done as employees are attending school and/or seeking a job in another field. No matter which direction an individual takes, the industry benefits from having an outstanding, motivated employee focused on their personal growth.
Albeit long or short term, the company will have an enthusiastic team player, working side by side with the rest of the team who will extol the benefits of what the company is doing for them and what a wonderful career field the industry truly is. The best part is, with an effective career development program in place, “it will be true”.
The program’s low cost is made possible by coordinating already existing resources. It is self-funding. This comes about, and can be measured, by bottom line savings from dramatically reduced turnover and training cost reductions, increased guest counts and average ticket sales.
Recruiting gets vastly easier because the employer won’t need as many people, "and" the existing employees will be asking if the employer would consider hiring their friends. Schools recognizing the benefits of the career development program will eagerly refer their students to the employer. Outside trainers, used in the program, will enthusiastically provide potential applicants.
In short, the employer will be recognized as one of the industry’s (local and national) leading champions of career education as well as an excellent career choice. When people find out the CDP is for real, they will seek out the participating employer.
Enthusiasm
(Unknown author)
That certain something that makes us great, that pulls us out of the mediocre and into commonplace - that builds into us power. It glows and shines - it lights up our faces. Enthusiasm - the keynote that makes us sing and makes others sing with us.
Enthusiasm
The maker of friends, the maker of smiles, the producer of confidence. It cries to the world, "I’ve got what it takes!" It tells everyone that our job is a great job - the company we work for sincerely cares for us – the products and services we offer are the best.
Enthusiasm
The inspiration that makes us "Wake up and live". Puts spring in our step, spring in our hearts - a twinkle in our eyes and gives us confidence in ourselves and in each other.
Enthusiasm
It changes a deadpan salesperson to a producer - a pessimist to an optimist - a loafer to a go-getter.
Enthusiasm
If we have it, we should thank God for it. If we don’t have it, then we should get down on our knees and pray for it.
Upon the plains of hesitation, bleached the bones of countless millions who, on the threshold of victory, sat to wait, and waiting they died.
