Training
We have over 18 years experience in corporate training including development of new programs and measurement of effectiveness. We have designed and offer workshops on a range of green hotel topics. For a more personalized approach, we custom design programs for exclusive in-house training, creating a curriculum to meet your needs.
Much training in the tourism industry is on-the-job training. While this is a good method for mastering skills, it is a slow method for integrating the organization's culture, especially for new hires. On-the-job training also does not offer the foundations of understanding needed to do more than just the job they were hired for.
When we read about hotel chains, for example, where it is every single employee's job to solve the guest's problem, doing so well requires more than the skills in their job description. It requires integrating the culture, the mission and goals of the organization and, most importantly, the reasons why certain policies exist.
There is much to recommend Ritz-Carlton as the No. 1 company on this year's Training Top 125 list… including …management and training philosophies that account for an annual voluntary turnover rate of 18% in an industry where 100% rates are the norm.
Training Magazine, March 2007
Understanding "why" motivates employees and makes for better decision-making, Workshop training provides this foundation to any employee's effectiveness. Foundational understanding of the "big picture" is the basis of employee willingness to become engaged in the work that needs to be accomplished.
Our training is not the "sit-in-your-chair-and-watch-the-PowerPoint" type. Our workshops are very interactive. Yes, it's about fun — but it it's based on behavioral science and system analysis. The more interactive and engaged the attendees are, the greater their enthusiasm for the subject matter. That results in greater retention of the subject matter and better opportunities for turning learning into behaviors on the job.
The following are the key overarching areas of focus in our green training workshops:
- The Basics: Earth 101 (or where things go, which is not away)
- A Systems Approach to Environmental Management
- Topic Specific Green Workshops
- Trends in Green Hotels
- Green Communications and Marketing Issues
Each of these categories consists of a number of workshops covering a variety of topics within that category.
Steve and Heidi also give presentations in combination with a cadre of experts in their field, and have organized many workshops and conferences in the area of sustainability and tourism.