Training people – continued

Chapter 5 – Brian’s ChangeBev Brightspark, the owner/manager of Brilliant Travel was back on track.   Her web site was up and running, thanks to some time spent researching the best option, and the invaluable help she had received from Brian Best, her longest serving consultant.    

Things had been busy at Brilliant over the last couple of months – the usual rush with Earlybird bookings meant that some of her plans to develop the staff had been put on hold as her team worked together to get through the bookings.    

Through all of the busy time, Bev had been amazed at the change in Brian’ behaviour.   The process had started after Bev took over Brilliant Travel around 18 months ago.   She was aware at that time that Brian was not happy – his body language on their first meeting had been extremely negative and defensive, though the words that came out of his mouth were incongruent with this.    

Bev was keen to retain Brian and his client base, so she decided to take Brian on as a project, to see whether, by offering him additional roles in the agency and really listening to what he wanted, she could turn him around to be part of the team.  The process had been lengthy and sometimes Bev had felt like giving up, but in the end her tenacity and willingness to listen to what Brian wanted, paid off.    

She’d put Brian in charge of updating the web site at regular intervals and, last year, had  paid for him to do a coaching course to enable him to coach and mentor all new staff.   Sometimes Brian complained that he had too much to do and she’d heard him whingeing to other staff.  

However, his attitude over the busy period was a huge improvement on the same time last year and, though he still kept himself apart from the other consultants, he was obviously becoming more of a team member as time went on.    

In particular, Bev was amazed at the way Brian had taken on the role of coaching Mandy, her newest consultant.    Previously, Brian’s non verbal signals would have turned off any staff member from asking him a question, but now Brian was actively encouraging Mandy to seek advice from him.   The coaching course had obviously taught him two way communication and feedback skills, along with the importance of empathising with Mandy’s position.

On the other hand, if Mandy asked a question that Brian had previously given the answer to, he was quick to point this out rather than re-telling her over and over again.   It was obvious that Brian was employing tactics to ensure Mandy was able to stand on her own two feet as soon as possible.  

As she reflected on Brian’s behavioural change, she sent him an email requesting some time with him at the end of the week, to talk through the process he used to coach Mandy, and how he felt she was progressing. 

Next week – the meeting to discuss Mandy’s progress. 

Training People Worldwide is a consultancy offering a wide range of training to meet the precise needs of the travel industry.   We have all worked in the industry, so know the challenges.   Our web site is STILL not active but we can be contacted on the following:

Jill Doctor – 0403 807 819

[email protected]