Training
After the testing we will provide training programs for missing competences of employees in tourist companies. Training will be offered in blended learning approach, which means a combination of e-learning and standard approaches (e.g. workshops). It will be formed on a basis of professional assessment and will be target orientated - adapted to each individual (without a standard program, applied for the whole group, as it is usually the case in standard training).FOCUS GROUP REPORT
In order to progress the ABATA project we needed to investigate the educational needs of the tourism sector. To facilitate this aim we organized a focus on the 10th February 2009 in Kadis. We invited all HR managers from our partner organizations to join us for two hours. During the focus group we discussed educational management, types of education and qualifications, training evaluation and the ideal for training. The outcomes of the focus group are described in detail below.
The participating companies all organize their own training at least twice a year. Mainly they have workshops on health and financial topics but also on sales, communication, marketing, client focus, leadership, team building and foreign languages (German, Italian). They train mainly health staff, sales representatives, marketing staff, catering staff and receptionists. It is difficult to say how much money they spend on training, they estimate somewhere in-between 10 000 and 20 000 €.
The companies organize manly internal training but they would like to also have more and more external training. They would like training to be interactive with lots of case studies and practical examples. The advantage of internal training is that lecturers know the organizational climate and procedures in their company and they can just integrate the new knowledge from the external training with this knowledge. The main disadvantage is that participants cannot take the lecturers so seriously. Usually trainers are leaders of departments and people from the field. The companies really appreciate good speaking lecturers and tailor made training. These are more attended in working hours than in spare time. They prefer shorter training because it is easier to prevent drop outs. They try encouraging commitment to training by using contracts or asking that participants pay half the cost.
Slovenian tourism companies do not have a lot of experience with e-learning. Tourism is a service and for this reason the training should be practically orientated. Combinations of classical and e- learning might be a good solution. The main advantage of e-learning is that it is cheaper and you can be more flexible and individual with learning. On the downside maintaining motivation and self-discipline is more difficult.
Who is trained in the company depends on the self- initiative and ambitions of the person and also the needs in the department, the spending and the law obligations.
What impacts does training have? Companies would like to measure the impacts more systematically but they lack the money, the staff and the knowledge in their companies.
What is the ideal way to approach training in the tourism sector? Firstly, companies would find out the needs by observing staff and having yearly conversations. From this information leaders of departments could suggest the contents and the methods of trainings. HR managers could organise tailor made trainings. The favourite method of training would be a combination of self-education with e-learning and weekend face-to-face training with the whole team, which could also be a chance for team building. After training the knowledge should be shared and transferred around departments in the company. It would be nice to evaluate the effects of training systematically as well.
For more informations you can ask on darja.potocnik@kadis.si.