#ThursdayThoughts - ‘Learning strategy for high performing teams’ with Jenni Clarke MIH

Jenni Clarke MIH

I was literally born into a learning & development family! Both my parents are hospitality learning dedicated professionals. One of my earliest memories is when I’m around 5 years old and my dad was teaching me how to open a bottle of wine – yes, a vital skill for a 5-year-old1 I was already having my first ‘on job skills session’. 

I left college at 17 & went straight into a hotel as a room attendant and it didn’t take long for me to fall in love with all things hotel and that was it. I knew there and then that the rest of my working life would be dedicated to this magnificent industry. 

I currently head up the learning and development functions of two independent central London hotels as part of the Autograph Collection – Bankside Hotel, South Bank and St Ermin’s Hotel, St James. Physically both extremely different hotels with different business markets but their people culture and therefore learning culture remain the same. The core vision of both of our properties is providing our guests with truly authentic and intuitive hospitality – the type of places you make wonderful lifelong memories with service that takes your breath away. 

What learning strategies do you use in your organization?  

At the heart of both of our hotels, are a set of strong, authentic, emotional people values and so creating a concrete values-based culture is vital. We have a very Millennial/Gen Z type workforce and so our learning strategies and tools are all aimed at motivating & engaging the mind of these generations.  

• We all spend so much time of our phones that it’s often the only device we own, so mobile friendly content with gamification included, that is intuitive to learning, is a must.
  

• Video Based Learning – with the culture of YouTube/Ted Talks/Podcasts, video or audible learning is the way a lot of us learn in our own time these days, so ensuring our onsite learning is supported or based on these platforms is a must. 
  

• Micro-learning – although technology plays a part in this, we reduced our traditional half a day/full day session to bitesize 2-hour sessions where our teams are still within the key focus zone. This also enables them to go back to their departments, evaluate and discuss these skills with others increasing the social aspect – leading to great follow up sessions! 
  

• A clearly defined learning path is crucial – having clear goals along with their own personal career vision is at the forefront. They know what their knowledge gap areas are, how to fill them & given a timeline to their vision – make it easy for them! 

How do you get the most out of the teams? 

Personally, it’s all about making learning fun for me. I am sure all of us can sit here and remember a time when we’ve almost fallen asleep in a full day’s classroom session, even if you did find the topic interesting! 

Like any successful project, it is all about the learners ‘buy in’. If learners feel involved in it, had some direction in its design, then they believe it, want it and make it their own. 

The fact is, I know my teams and I know what they like. I am in the operation and I know what the business needs, but for me, it’s as simple as just asking them “What is it you want to learn? and “How do you want to learn it?” 

Whether you are personally delivering the training or looking at another source, make sure you yourself are also bought in. I get my learner buy in because I love what I do and as I’m all things hospitality, I aim to relate any subject back to their day to day. But if you are not passionate, interested or an expert in that area, don’t do it. I am an advocate of different training voices and there are so many other great professionals out there, reach out and find them! 

By having completely transparent communication, delivering on their requests, and then most importantly actually following up through their performance chats and regular feedback, you have bought their trust in you and their learning future.

What is the future of learning in your opinion?

If I’d been asked this question in February 2020 I would have given you a very different answer – but I think we can all agree that the last year has not only obviously changed our lives but also changed the way in which we view learning. From speaking to our teams, with so much time on our hands, learning a new skill or signing up to an accredited course became the new norm and with so much access to courses online it was easy as a click of a button. 

I see the demand for access to digital learning as the basic standard a company should provide. Much  as in hospitality we all love a ‘classroom’ type session, we are going to have to step up, invest and ensure we have the right content to match the new times. 

We have our workforce desperate to learn, grow and use their skills – it’s every learning & development manager’s dream! 

Right now, as hospitality leaders, I see it as our job to make our people fall in love with hospitality again and any business that doesn’t recognise this learning culture change and adapt, will lose the vital motivation and engagement of its’ people.