Exciting education experiences

A good hospitality consultant has to know how this is done, too! Look at www.chn.nl (English version)

Yesterday I cycled in my waterproof rainsuit the usual route to and from my work, through some tropical showers, the outskirts of the flood that was poured out over the UK at the same time. It was an exciting experience thanks to my waterproof clothing. The disadvantage of it is that after half an hour firmly pedaling, it gets wet on the inside, not by rain but by sweat. So you have to relax on your bike to avoid this as much as possible, which is difficult when you bike against a strong wind, but this wasn’t the case yesterday. It’s a weird week, this morning I’m supposed to prepare for presentations that will be held this afternoon by 3d year students. In a team of four to six students they have been working on improvement projects at small and medium-sized companies in the hotel- and restaurant branch, the so-called “hospitality industry”, I will asses them together with a colleague, after having coached them during six months. I did this before for three times so I more or less know what’s expected from me. It’s amazing how medium- and small sized businesses are so busy with their daily fuss that they are not able to retreat from time to time to reconsider what they are doing: is my concept still working, or is it outdated? What is the competition doing and how will I respond? What novelties and innovations are important for me? How do my customers feel about my services? What menu items are much asked for and what could I abandon or do I have to change for better profit? Etc.

I think it would be good for employment and for training / education purposes, as well as for service quality, if this kind of improvement projects would be made standard for all small businesses. It’s not difficult or complicated all you need is a group of coached students, working along a systematical path:
1. diagnose company and its business-environment by talks and research;
2. establish a point of improvement, measure its output at that moment;
3. design a way or method to improve;
4. implement the improvement;
5. measure the output after or during implementation.

In 9 out of 10 cases this will yield success, as our series of projects clearly demonstrate. It’s also exciting and motivating for students who are in their roles not as trainees or as learners, but as true experts, and in comparison with many entrepreneurs they are experts because they just ended and/or are in the middle of theory- and model building and analysis methods courses, whereas their clients are of course more experienced in running an real-life business. If you would follow theory and booklets in everything you do in a small business you would be bankrupt within a couple of weeks because you are supposed to immediately select the possibilities of your situation that suit you most and which could be totally different from what the books pre-suppose. But retreat and read is necessary to check whether you indeed selected the right available possibilities. Checklists and models are the diagnosing kit, bookkeeping and administration are the dashboard of the engine, customers and money are the fuel.

I have four teams this afternoon, in total there are 32 teams presenting their projects to an audience of students, lecturers and client companies in different rooms of course. Before and after there are keynote speakers and other celebration activities. I’m sure it will be a success just like the previous times.