Stewarding – Training and Planning

Training in the stewarding department is very vital to the success of any hospitality establishment or restaurant. This is why training and planning is important to the facilitation and efficiency of workflow.
The primary responsibilities of the Departmental Trainers in the stewarding department are as follows:

1. To help in the identification of the department’s training needs.
If the training department sees any inefficiency in the system of workflow, then they are obligated to help out anyway they can to come up with new training material to address the malfunction in the system.

2. To plan the training activities to satisfy these training needs.
The inefficient system in the workflow should then be addressed via training activities that will help in correcting the old system and supplanting it with a new and better one.

3. To spend at least two hours per week preparing for and conducting training.
Two hours per week is the best time to spend. Two hours is a burst of time that is efficient for employees and will not exhaust them to carry out their duties afterwards.

4. To carry out their department’s orientation training for new employees.
Orientation is really important. Since you are dealing with new employees, your task is to correct any bad habits that the incoming crew may have. Your lectures will be invaluable to the proper workflow and system of the new employees.

5. To meet with the head of departments every month to:
a. Discuss training progress in that month
b. Outline and plan future training activities for the following month.
This activity is to facilitate the inter-departmental workings of the establishment. Agreement    should always be reached between the head of the departments and the training department.

6. To monitor the standards within their department and give corrective training to the employees if the standards fall below the agreed level.

The agreed level of standard is the highest one that should be upheld at all times. If the Stewarding Department falls behind the standard, it is the training department that should be tasked to correct them via training programs.

Why so strict?
The training and development of the stewarding department is very important. Since you are the backbone of the food and beverage department, there is no way for you to lag behind in the standards, especially the cleanliness standards.

Inter-departmental cooperation is necessary for everyone’s success. Everyone should request assistance, support or feedback from the head of Department or training department whenever needed.

Stewarding General Attitude Guidelines
As a hospitality worker and a consummate professional, you are expected to always be on top of your game when it comes to dealing with the customer and your coworkers. The best reminder to put to heart is the golden rule of service: Treat anyone as you would like yourself to be treated.

This adage does not only apply to customers and guests, it also applies to your coworkers and your superiors.

Listed below is the general attitude that you should take when dealing with coworkers and superiors.

1. Respect your supervisors and managers and they will respect you in turn.
This is a derivation of the golden rule of service. This adage is really the rule of thumb to live by if you are a hospitality worker. The law of reciprocity applies even to people not in the hospitality business.

2. If you disagree with a management proposal, do the job first, discuss it later.
Management give orders to the betterment of the establishment. If you somehow disagree with any decision, you are still responsible for implementing the tasks at hand. You are notcensored or prevented from voicing your opinions, however.

3. The guest comes first – therefore personal considerations take second place at all times during the rostered duty.
This is another rule of thumb for hospitality workers. Customer comes first before any of your own needs. If you are thirsty, you still need to serve the guest his or her own water before you can drink your own.

4. If you have a suggestion on improvement of the department – channel them through your supervisor.
Suggestions for improvement are always welcome by your establishment. You can always give suggestions to your supervisor and he or she will relay the suggestion to the proper channels.