Blog
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Nurturing Talent
Most organisations have a focus on development, training and progression – but, how does one really nurture talent and how do you continue to do so, not just in a classroom environment or scheduled one to one, but daily, as part of our culture.
In my role, people are obviously at the forefront of my thinking, ensuring our people are looked after is very important to me. I do, however also have a responsibility to ensure the company gets the best out of our people in order to be successful and profitable. To have a happy workforce, along with a profitable and successful business, collaboration is key.
For there to be collaboration, there needs to be trust. How do we create a sense of trust between the employee and the company? Transparency, providing the tools to succeed, empowerment, kindness and regular communication are a few to mention. Nurturing talent does not only come from training and development but also behaviours and culture. At Genuine Dining, it’s not only about nurturing talent but also retaining talent.
Right from the on-boarding process it is imperative to make the potential new employee feel important, like a key player and not just another numbered candidate. I encourage for all new candidates to receive a phone call to get the stream of communication going in an open, friendly and informal manner rather than arrange interviews or trade tests/trials via email. Hearing a friendly voice prior to embarking on a new potential partnership with a new employer could help calm the nerves. The next part of the journey, should the candidate be successful, will include a one to one induction, with the inductor scheduling time solely for that person, then training takes place with more than one person from the organisation, giving the new employee exposure to all that Genuine Dining stands for, as well as giving our other employees the opportunity to feel empowered and show-off their skills and talents while training someone. A review takes place half way through their training to have an open conversation and highlight any issues or concerns either party may have, also not to be forgotten is praise for work done well. Once the training is completed this is noted with a letter to the employee. A mention and kind word about the successful new candidate in our weekly email never goes unnoticed and helps them feel valued.
With the employee up and running in their new role, it is onto development and progression with quarterly one to ones, which we refer to as ‘Hang-outs’, and the opportunity to speak to any of us from the Support Office (we avoid referring to a ‘Head Office’) who are in and around the units daily observing, talking, sharing information and generally being available to our employees. Our Operators are hands-on and do not shy away from getting involved during service or doing small group training.
In having this type of culture and outlook we have been successful in employee progression, with managers on board who started as General Assistants, Senior Chefs who have worked their way up the ranks, Operation Mangers who before ran units of their own… the list goes on.
We do not ever stand still and are always looking for new ways to nurture our employees’ talent. We are about to roll a new and bespoke training platform which will enable us to monitor our employees’ development online, as well as allowing them access to their personal profile to view their journey.
With an employee turnover of 9% over the last 5 years, we are immensely proud of our teams and our ability to retain the wonderful people who make Genuine Dining a lovely place to work.
Candy Van Antwerp, Head of People
