summarize

SUBJECT: Module Three: Strategy Alignment

Cherise Szuba is the general manager at the Econo Lodge in Ellensburg and has been working to update the training program (which was nearly non-existent) and modernize the company since it became an Econo Lodge last year. She has already gone a long way in terms of modernization by implementing technology but there is still a ways to go for developing a better training program.

Business Strategy

Econo Lodge has the goal to provide excellent hospitality service at a price competitive to other similar hotels in the area.

Mission Statement, Values, Goals

Ellensburg Econo Lodge does not have an official mission statement currently, however the goal of this company is to provide excellent service at a competitive price as stated in the strategy. Even though this is not an official mission statement, I do think it could be helpful in creating a better focus for employees if a clear mission was stated to them. Cherise also told me how integrity was one of the most important values to the company due to employees working alone so much. She explained how employees more often than not have to make their own decisions when handling sensitive situations as well as a lot of money. Because of those reason integrity is an absolutely required value of all Econo Lodge employees.

Strengths

Though there is some turnover, there is a very strong dedicated team which has been with us for a while. These longer term employees are a constant source of improvement of the company in terms of efficiency and good customer relations. Reviews can make or break a hotel and these dedicated employees are constantly mentioned in reviews in a positive light.

Weaknesses

Lack of training of customer service and hotel operations is the most major weakness of the business. Employees are only trained on running the hotels computer system and outside of that are not trained on the customer service requirements of the business or how the business operates. This creates issues among new employees who do not have prior experience in hospitality fields. These employees are never trained in these areas and do very poorly in them. This causes bad reviews and loss of business. This weakness stems from management not seeing the correlation between lack of training and loss of business.

Strategic Training and Development Initiatives

There are many strategies which could be implemented to improve the business but one of the most major ones would be developing and completing a comprehensive and consistent formal training program for all new employees. This would create a more consistent environment for the employees and most likely solve the employee retention problem. The training needs to be in addition to the hotel software training and focus on customer service skills and understanding the general operations of the hotel business. This training initiative would be a major step in improving our customer service scores on reviews and increasing business.

As a second initiative of developing a comprehensive training program, creating more consistent policies which do not change so drastically on a regular basis would make the business run more efficiently and cut down on confusion among the employees. In addition to lack of training, the constantly changing environment of rules is a source of employee turnover and lack of understanding. Fixing this situation is an absolute must as it would alleviate the need to constantly needing to retrain employees on new policies.

Training and Development Activities/Topics

As mentioned in the previous section about training, developing a comprehensive training program from the ground up would be a highly effective means of making the business more successful. This training needs to be drastically longer and more in depth than the current set up (one or two days with another person to help and one day of computer training videos). At least a week of formal training focusing on skills required for the job outside the workings on the computer would be invaluable.

In addition to the formal training program for new hires and instead of just talking to employees informally about new policies, having a set day or couple of days every month to have a short employee meeting would be very helpful. The meeting could be to discuss new policies and survey the employees to understand the success and failures of the new training program. The new information gathered through the employees could then be used to alter the training program to be more and more successful.

Training Metrics

Below are possible training activities and metrics which could be measured to show their value.