Once upon a time, in a village high up in the mountain, a yearly event was happening: ‘The Fastest Tree Cutter of the year’. Every year for the last 50 years, it is the same man who wins. He is now 68 and since the age of 18 he has won the competition. But this year, a young strapping 18 years old man, had decided to beat the old man as he believes he is much stronger than him by now: ‘It would be impossible to beat me’ the young man says. So the competition starts, the young man is cutting hard and strong, but every 50 minutes the old man stops, goes away for 10 minutes and then returns to start cutting. At the end of the day, the wood is counted and the old man has won AGAIN!! ‘It’s impossible’ the young man said, ‘not only I am stronger but I have never stopped once, and you stopped every hour! Why and where were you going??’ So the old wise man looked at him and said, every 50 minutes, I was going to sharpen my axe for 10 minutes…
So, you see training cannot be a once-in-a-year thing. Let’s get everyone in a room for a few hours and we’ll have that box ticked. Training is a daily practice, but as an organisation you first need to know your offering and the standards you are setting yourself so that you can then train your employees to deliver exceptional service and achieve these goals. If your employees don’t know what is expected of them than how can you blame them for not delivering?
Training your employees isn’t just a need; it is a necessity. It isn’t only good for you as an employer, but it is also good for your employees too. Through training, your employees will feel valued because you are spending time and money on their development and have given them the tools to do their job.
There are certain skills that employees need to master when they are facing their customers, regardless of the level of interaction. It may be that your employees have contact with your customers in a restaurant or shop, office or financial institution or in the entertainment or tourist industries. This interaction may take place over the phone or face-to-face. Either way good customer service skills help everyone.
Some of these skills are basic, such as being polite, friendly, smiling, helpful, but others don’t come as naturally and need a little more practice to help give your employees confidence.
Taking care of your employees is about developing them, inspiring them and progressing for success.
