Seeking Training Resources for Employee Discipline and Service in Retail and Restaurant Settings

Dear All,

This is Padmapriya. I am the personnel manager in a company that has a restaurant, textile, and readymade showroom. I need resources such as videos or PowerPoint presentations to train the employees in our shops on topics like discipline, providing good service, understanding their roles and responsibilities, and following standard operating procedures for the restaurant.

As I am new to this field, it would be helpful to receive some good resources here.

Thanks in advance.

Role of the Personnel Manager in SOP Preparation

Preparation of operational or technical SOPs is the job of the respective Head of Department (HOD) and not the Personnel Manager. You are responsible for making SOPs for your department and not for others. How can one person possess knowledge of the hospitality industry, textile industry, and retail industry simultaneously? Even if someone provides you with the material, will you be able to assess its quality? Furthermore, will you be able to determine its applicability?

SOPs for Restaurants

Regarding SOPs for restaurants, it is the responsibility of the F&B Manager. However, this task is not simple either. F&B Managers who have only worked in Indian restaurants may struggle to create SOPs for continental or Chinese restaurants.

SOPs are always customized and are developed after a thorough study of the operations.

Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

I am equally curious, as our senior member Dinesh Divekar is, about why operations people and HODs aren't getting involved. It seems like you have a very large business group that houses three verticals. I am just guessing.

Since you are new to this whole process, you must form a team of experts from these verticals with technical and legal know-how. You will have to officially set up this knowledge team for this specific project, assign roles, and set up discussions. Therefore, you will need to approach your top management team or the decision-makers with a plan for such a team. Please understand that the scope of your work activities needs to be precisely mapped. This will take time, the kind of time where people drop a few sizes!

Once you have a rough plan for this project, approach your top management and get the ball rolling. Understand that there will be plenty of discussions going back and forth, followed by documentation and approval of that work. Always have the technical and legal experts ready with you. This will take nearly three months of work for each business vertical. So, in your plan, set the deadline to four months for each. These are just random figures as we have no idea how big your business verticals are.

Members here will share resources with you, but as long as you haven't put your hands into it, you are only guessing. It's good to realize this at all times when you will employ your efforts and time on a project like this. There are going to be lots of revisions, to a point of frustration, if you decide to go it alone. So, I won't tell you that you are doing it wrong as you may have your reasons.

Therefore, your best strategy is to know what you are up against, make a team plan for one vertical, identify the right people, and get approval from your top management. Get a dedicated cabin/conference room, establish a budget, brand this project, and make some noise. Once it's accomplished for one vertical, you are ready to move on to the other two. That takes care of learning on the job, especially when you are new.

Regarding resources, you should check CiteOps and CiteSales as well; you may find something useful. Ideally, once your mapping of processes and documentation of SOP work on one vertical is complete, you should be ready to start the training process.

Here is some information on managing customer service in the meantime: http://citepptdownloads.blogspot.com...-download.html

Regards,
Andy

The Ineffectiveness of Generic Training Materials

If someone gives you PowerPoints, what are you going to do with them? Do you know anything about these topics? How are you going to teach your people?

If you intend to stand in front of a class and just read the words on someone else's PowerPoint, then you are wasting your time and that of the employees. They will learn nothing. Anyone can stand up and read a few words on a PowerPoint. It is totally useless, and it is not training. They can sit at their desks and read it on their screens.

Conducting a Training Needs Analysis

You first need to do your Training Needs Analysis (TNA) and then work out exactly what training your staff need. Then you develop a specific training course to meet those needs. What you think they need isn't what they really need. Why do you think they need training in discipline and customer service? Where is your TNA evidence to support that theory?

I have said a million times here on CiteHR that training is NOT a one-size-fits-all proposition. Effective training needs to be tailored to the specific audience.

I have many training courses, but I do not give them to anyone else. They were specifically developed for the organizations and their needs. My training courses are useless to you.

I think John is right. No training materials can be useful to anyone unless they are defined according to the requirements of the particular organization. Padmapriya, please analyze the training needs for your employees. Your industry is retail. I do accept that in this retail industry, it is difficult to tackle the showroom employees as they usually have a different mindset. They often work according to their mindset only. For that, try to analyze or find out their mindset, and I am sure that you will be able to design the training needs accordingly for them.

@John - In India, many "so-called" professionals do not wish to engage paid support for training, HR services, etc. Hence, if something comes free, they would like to use it.

@Padmapriya - Most retail segments hire people who are high school graduates, and I believe you may have also done the same. Basically, customer etiquette is what they need to be trained on.