IFT and EHL Advisory Services of Switzerland partnered to hold an executive development programme on 6 and 7 August on best practices for attracting, choosing, nurturing and keeping staff. The programme, “The Employee Journey”, focused on how to turn an employee’s time with a company into an opportunity to build up the value of the employee and the company alike.
The 2-day course was taken by 21 executives working in hotels or integrated resorts in Macao, with sessions including discussions in small groups. The programme was taught on the IFT Mong-Há Campus.
IFT regularly collaborates with some of the leading tourism schools around the globe to hold short courses for executives in the hospitality industry. These IFT executive development programmes cover the latest trends in hospitality management.
EHL Advisory Services Senior Consultant Mr. Pierre Verbeke was one of the facilitators of the programme held in August. Mr. Verbeke has 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry, devoted to a wide-ranging career in hotel operations, including making preparations to open or re-brand hotels.
EHL Advisory Services is part of EHL Group, a hospitality management education group based in Switzerland. The group includes the prestigious EHL École hôtelière de Lausanne, one of the top institutions of higher education in the world in the field of hospitality management.
Mr. Verbeke says those that took the IFT executive development programme were active throughout the course. He says they brought to the classroom many examples of experiences they have had in their day-to-day work.
“What we aim to achieve with these courses is to give participants ideas to think about, to make them look at whatever they do today, and see if it is working or not,” Mr. Verbeke says. “If it is not working, they should ask themselves, ‘Should I do something?’”
Even when human resources practices are currently a success, executives should review their policies regularly to pre-empt any failure, Mr. Verbeke says. “If a solution does work today, it is still valid to ask whether it will work tomorrow.”
Another facilitator of the executive development programme was Assistant Professor Dr. Henrique F. Boyol Ngan of IFT. Dr. Boyol Ngan says the course benefitted the facilitators as well as those taking it, it being an opportunity for the lecturers and the taught alike to learn. “It was not just about lecturing,” he says. “It was more about everyone interacting with each other and providing a platform for participants to engage in relevant discussions.”
Share to learn
Among those that took the executive development programme was Galaxy Macau Executive Manager for Hospitality VIP Services Mr. Rocky Huang. Mr. Huang says the course gave him an all-round view of the industry because of the insights of others on the course working for various hospitality companies and with diverse backgrounds.
“The facilitators gave us tips to guide our group discussions, listened to our sharing, and then suggested some improvements that could be made,” he says.
Mr. Huang says the main benefit of the programme was to be reminded that managers should value each employee’s journey with the company from start to finish – even though managers in Macao are under intense pressure just to fill vacancies.
Another of those that took the programme was Ms. Kathy Wong, Hotel Okura Macau Senior Manager of Human Resources. She says the course showed her how to improve communication between employers and employees so they can better understand each other’s needs.
Ms. Wong says things can be done to build up the relationship between an employer and a new employee even before the employee gets down to work. “Before the employee starts working with the company, the human resources department can give him or her a call to convey a welcome message, which can make the employee feel that the firm is warm and values its workers,” she says.
