What do Olympians, students and gather staff have in common?
What do Olympians, students and gather. staff have in common? Training is key for all three of those people. Whether it be on the field, in a classroom or by the bain marie – training is synonymous with success!
When building gather., laying down a strong foundation with our team members was critical when it came to elevating what we provide our students and residents.
Our commitment to training extends well beyond the typical online module that’s a tick and flick activity for most.
We pride ourselves on delivering face-to-face, interactive and genuinely engaging content to learn. It’s not death by powerpoint or people’s screen time going through the roof. Our Learning and Development Specialists, along with key experts throughout the company such as our General Manager of Food, fly to various sites to meet our new team members and deliver a unique and curated best-practice training program.
Rather than just speaking at our team members for a few hours, our trainers take them on a journey in that time so they can wholly understand what gather. is trying to achieve. This is done through collaborative activities, workshopping, demonstrations and insightful conversations with not only the trainers, but each other.
From team members roleplaying customer-catering assistant service scenarios, to setting up and packing down for various functions, to our General Manager of Food utilising materials with different colours, textures and visuals to aid explanations, the gather. training is diverse, hands-on and thorough.
Our Regional Learning and Development Specialist, Lee Day, who developed the training program behind gather. has seen an uplift in positive feedback on the hospitality training, but more importantly, he found that the information is resonating with new team members more due to the engaging techniques.
“Feedback from team members stated that after the customer service training for example, they were challenged to provide more of a personal service to our customers/residents. They found themselves challenging each other to excel in customer service. We wouldn’t have achieved that with online training. In all the sessions run so far, I’ve not had one team member that thought the training was unnecessary,” stated Lee.
Whether it be training front-of-house team members on positive body language in customer service, or supporting our back-of-house team on new culinary techniques, gather. adds a personal touch and excitement into upskilling service staff, two things that can very easily be lost among the paper, compliance and otherwise.
And to close the loop, check-ins, refresher training and updates from experts are provided to our team members on a consistent basis through a monthly training calendar. Firmly setting the team and site up for ongoing success – with our students and residents, as well as our clients being provided with best practice on the ground.
So it can be concluded that Olympians have nothing on our gather. staff…
