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Hotel Security: Be Our Guest—Safely
January 28, 2010
By Margery Weinstein
When you stay overseas these days, you have more than language barriers and varying cultural differences to consider. In the wake of hotel terrorist bombings in countries such as Indonesia and India in the last few years, travelers need to be assured the place they call home for the duration of their stay won't result in injury or death. To reduce the risk of such incidents, and ensure staff will be ready should the worst occur, global hotels are boosting and modifying their security protocol training. Here, learning vendor OutStart Inc. shares with Training how its hotelier customers are finding innovative ways via mobile learning to make security lessons stick.
OutStart counts an Asia-based resort, a cruise ship line that travels international waters, and a hotel in the Middle East as customers. None of these companies could go on the record to discuss how it trains staff since it might compromise security, but Bob Sanregret, vice president of mobile solutions for OutStart, says they all are looking for new ways to train employees. He says that means they're doing more security training via mobile learning. Sanregret says these organizations have used OutStart's Hot Lava Mobile to develop training security content once, and then they deploy it to multiple handheld devices and mobile phones.
"Hotel managers can encourage staff to take their mobile phones on breaks and have small 'snacks' of training throughout the day," says Sanregret. "Dur-ing these breaks, hotel staff members can learn about security protocols such as emergency evacuation procedures." Tracking the training for compliance purposes is facilitated because as employees complete the "bite-size" training sessions, the technology sends their results back to a main server where employee usage and results are stored. "If a local authority, where a hotel or resort resides, creates an evacuation plan, then the hotel or resort can use Hot Lava Mobile to distribute that evacuation plan (with links to training) to the staff's mobile devices," he explains.
Sanregret says mobile learning is well suited to the needs of security training because it doesn't take learners (security personnel in many cases) out of the environment they are charged with supervising or patrolling. "It introduces staff to a stricter security protocol in the environment in which they'll have to enforce that protocol," he points out. "Also, staff may be less resistant to learning about new measures (and remember more details) if they can do it in small chunks versus a single, day-long course in a classroom off-site."
Mobile learning becomes a quick-reference guide, as well as providing learning, Sanregret points out. "It's like a GPS for training," he says. "When you find yourself in a 'place' you haven't been before, your mobile device can deliver a learning 'map.'"
Quick Tips
International hoteliers aren't the only ones focused on improving security. Companies all over the world, in all industries, face the same challenge. Here are some tips on training your workers to create a secure environment for your business.
• Explain why there is a need for the training, says Michael Rosenthal, CEO of Consensus, a negotiation, conflict resolution, and communication consulting firm that worked with governments and local organizations in Indonesia following terrorist attacks there last year. "Justify with data what the training is expected to do. Bring examples, use film clips, and discuss success and failure factors of other initiatives both within and outside your organization."
• Find out from staff whether they think there could be resistance to the initiative, and why. "Be empathetic to difficulties in enforcing new measures by including staff in the dialog, by having them contribute ideas," Rosenthal says.
• Segment your audiences so training around specific skills and policies is focused on the audience's tasks and responsibilities, Rosenthal advises. "Neglecting to do this could send a message that certain staff is responsible for learning and implementing skills and taking on responsibilities that they generally aren't expected to nor capable of," he says.
• "Training has to be culturally sensitive," says Neal Goodman, president of Global Dynamics, Inc. "Take into consideration cultural nuances that exist in each country [the training is delivered in]. Clearly, there are different approaches to training, and training has to incorporate cultural differences in learning styles. All training has to be localized."
• "The communication you use to let customers or staff learn about safety procedures should be clear and should indicate this policy is being implemented for everyone's safety and protection," says Goodman.
• Ask the decision-makers who asked you to roll out the training what "the vision" of the new security protocol is, advises Peter A. Cavicchia II, founder and president of Strategic Services International, Inc. He says it's best if that plan is proactive rather than reactive. For that reason, it is essential learning professionals work with executives to plan strategically for how staff will be prepared. Says Cavicchia: "The more strategic planning you can do to prevent something from happening, the better."
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