Set up in-house training

Here's how I set up in-house training and tailored it to our needs

Knowsley Safari Park in Prescot, Liverpool, attracts half a million visitors a year to its 200 acres of visitor attractions. Amusement Park Manager Sean Lawler explains how he uses formal and informal in-house training to develop employees' customer care skills.

What I did

Agree training priorities

"When I joined the company, training was done externally on an ad-hoc basis. I had been through the Investors in People programme in my previous role and wanted to apply some of the techniques I'd learned, including staff training.

"We have 35 full-time staff and up to 150 temporary employees over the summer season. Every staff member has contact with the public, so we wanted to provide customer care training for all of them. However, having so many temporary workers complicated things.

"It wasn't practical or cost-effective to bring in external trainers or send people out on courses every time a new employee joined. In consultation with the management team, we decided to focus on in-house methods."

Develop a training programme

"Using my previous experience of in-house training, input from line managers and employee feedback, we reviewed our existing customer care standards and highlighted areas for improvement. I then wrote a combined induction and customer care programme.

"The programme covers a combination of relevant topics, like communication skills, personal presentation and health and safety standards. It takes half a day and is delivered to all new staff. We also use the programme as the basis for refresher training for longer-established employees.

"Originally, I delivered the programme myself, because I was the only one with the skills. Since then, I have attended The Academy of Excellence Customer Care programme, a trainer-to-trainer course that's helped me pass on training skills to line managers."

Implement and evaluate

"The beauty of in-house training is that it can be scheduled to fit in with your business. We regularly set aside time for training, but we can reschedule at short notice without incurring cancellation fees.

"Consistency is a key to good training too and in-house delivery helps with that. Because me and my line managers are seeing staff on a daily basis, training can be reinforced on the job with informal coaching.

"I monitor employees' progress via line managers, who conduct regular appraisals.

"We also evaluate our in-house training using customer questionnaires and audits, adapting it as necessary. That's another advantage of in-house training - content can be modified quickly so it's always in step with current business needs."

What I'd do differently

Train line managers earlier

"Training line managers to conduct our in-house programme has proved very effective. Looking back, we should have started training them sooner so the process didn't rely on me."

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• The business case for in-house training
• Informal in-house training
• Formal in-house training - the options
• Buying in a classroom-based course
• Distance learning and Internet-based training
• In-house training - skills requirements
• Training resources and costs
• Evaluating training effectiveness
• Checklist: setting up in-house training
• Here's how I set up in-house training and tailored it to our needs

 

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