Training Spa Employees
Spa Business / Spa Press Releases / Spa Marketing
The Secret of Knowledge Transfer is no secret, it has been known for thousands of years.
Next time you catch yourself grumbling that “I could do it faster myself”.. Remember that you can pay for training up front or in the long run.
We talked about it in our Spa Audio Video Web Presentation, Studies show that we remember:
10% of what we read…
20% of what we hear…
30% of what we see…
50% of what we hear AND see simultaneously…
70% of what we hear, see AND say
90% of what we hear, see, say AND do.
Confucius, that wise Chinese philosopher, first offered this insight around 2,000 years ago, when he said:
“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I know.”
Here’s what this means in business terms:
Reading a written document on how to schedule a new guest for an appointment – the employee will only recall about 10% of it. Explain to them how to schedule a new guest for an appointment – the employee will retain about 20%. Demonstrate them how to schedule a new guest for an appointment – 50%. Using a “Explain & Demonstrate” approach – and then having them repeat the process while you observe and provide feedback – gets you to 90%.
Use the five steps of training otherwise known as the “Confucius Checklist” to successfully transfer your knowledge to an employee:
1) Explain
Using both written and verbal guidance, tell the person what you want them to know. It may be a business process that you want employees to follow. Or it may be healthy living information for clients.
2) Demonstrate
Let’s say you’re training a new staffer on how to close up every night. Perform the steps yourself, as you normally would – and have the new employee shadow you with a copy of the written instructions. Have her read each step to you out loud as you both complete the process together. (You may find you’ve been skipping some steps yourself!) Prompt them to turn their copy of the instructions into a living document by adding their own notes, clarifications and reminders.
3) Observe
The next step in the process of transferring knowledge to someone else is to observe them apply the new information by performing the task or using the new skill themselves.
This time, your staffer takes the lead on closing up for the night. You shadow her, making notes for later feedback on what she’s doing right and where she’s missing something.
4) Follow Up
Feedback works best when it’s fresh. On the other hand, “death by a thousand nicks” – pinging your staffer with lots of little tweaks and critiques at every step along the way – is incredibly demoralizing to employees. Catch your staff doing things right this will build their confidence and motivate them.
So accumulate feedback while you’re observing the employee perform the process. Then provide it at well-timed intervals. For example, if your close process has four steps – reconcile cash register, clean restroom, straighten stock, and set alarm – perhaps you can mainly provide comments at the end of each major step.
Base the timing and frequency of your feedback on the employee’s learning style, the urgency of the correction, and its impact on the rest of the process.
For example, a critical mistake made early in the cash reconciliation process probably should be corrected instantly, since it will affect all of the subsequent steps. On the other hand, if your staffer is learning to lead a client session, it may be more appropriate and useful to provide comments after the session is complete.
Remember to ask for her observations as well – what went smoothly and where she feels it could have gone better.
5) Repeat
We call this the “lather, rinse, repeat” step! You’ve explained the process verbally and in writing. You’ve demonstrated the process. You’ve observed them perform the process. You’ve given feedback on their performance of the process. Now, watch them perform the process again.
Continue this cycle until the employee or client demonstrates mastery of the material.
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