Training is, of course, an essential part of any job. Very few of us, after all, are competent to undertake a new job from day one! It can be informal, on the job training, or take the form of formal recognised courses.

An appraisal system makes it possible to identify an individual’s training and development needs in a way that links this with achieving the business objectives.

Most tourism businesses use a combination of both so that the essential information and training given by the manager, or another more senior employee is supported by some external courses important for the job e.g. Basic Food Hygiene or IT training.

There are two important things to remember about training:

• Some employees may find external training worrying, particularly if it is assessed in any way or in a classroom environment, or may feel that you are implying that they are not doing their job well enough by sending them on courses. This is where an appraisal system helps enormously, as training is linked to the job role and objectives, and mutually agreed between you.
• Most people, however, welcome the opportunity to develop new skills or to gain further qualifications. Offering training and development opportunities can be a very significant factor in retaining staff that are keen to progress.

There are many different types of training and it is important that you get the sort of training that suits both you and the individual best. For example, you may find it hard to provide cover for employees to go away on courses or undertake longer programmes of study, but by using a combination of different types of training, you should be able to overcome most of the difficulties. These are just a few of the types of training available:

• “on the job” training from a member of staff
• “on the job” training with assistance from a training provider e.g. NVQs
• Mentoring – having someone work alongside another employee to provide advice and guidance
• Modern Apprenticeships
• Modern Skills Diploma for Adults
• In house courses from an external training provider
• External courses at a local college
• Distance learning, sometimes via an in house computer
• Marketing or sales training
• Management training, which may be via a “Trade” association such as the British Institute of Innkeepers http://www.bii.org/,

You may be concerned that training will have a cost to your organization – whether in providing additional staff to cover the member of staff being trained, using an existing member of staff’s time to undertake training, or in “buying in” formal training from an external source.

It is sometimes tempting to consider it an additional, rather than, essential cost, but as you have already established that there is a genuine need for it to meet the business’ objectives – as identified via your appraisals – and seen the benefits in retaining your staff through offering development opportunities, it is immediately evident that it is money well spent.

Once training and development become a systematic process linked to job objectives, identification of competencies and development opportunities, it will help you to develop a training record for each employee.

This can be kept with their job description and appraisal notes (see Personnel Records Link) It is vitally important that you talk with the employee again after the training takes place, to evaluate the training with regard to its effectiveness for your business and so that the employee can see you have a real interest in what they got from it as an individual too.

Where training and development are concerned, the good news is that there are a plethora of organizations willing and able to help you. Some of the most significant are these:

Tourism Training Forum for Wales – http://www.tourismtrainingguide.co.uk/

Learndirect – http://www.learndirect.co.uk/

Business Eye - http://www.businesseye.org.uk/

DFES – http://www.dfes.gov.uk

The benefits of having a training and development system in your business are:

All training and development is agreed between yourself and the employee and linked to meeting business objectives

All employees get equal access and opportunities for training and development

Everyone is - at the very least – competent to do their job and most will feel able to develop themselves further

Employees can gain recognition for skills and knowledge through achievement of vocationally relevant qualifications

Training and development activity is evaluated to ensure that it is meeting the identified needs

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