Hospitality Standards of Operation

Why Standards are Important

Consider the new employee. They are, typically, young, enthusiastic and just wanting to prove themselves. Let’s say that they are working in banquets. On their first day of work they have a simple task of laying out tables for a conference.

They are teamed with an experienced team leader we will call Tracey who shows them how to complete the task. Because thy are bright and pretty much a self starter, when they are given the same task the next day and the new person they are paired with arrives late, they start laying out the tables as they ere shown yesterday. They are surprised then when their new buddy for the day arrives and says:

"Why are you doing it that way? That's not how we do it."

"But that is how I was shown", comes the reply.

"Oh that's Tracey's way of doing it. When I worked at The Hilton this was the way we did it. It’s much better."

"OK, that's cool"

Fast forward a week.

Our young, still enthusiastic employee is setting up tables again and in walks the Banquets Manager on a get to know the new employees mission.

"Well, I can see you have settled in well. I've hear good things about your attitude. Can I ask you though, why you are setting up the tables that way? That's not how we do it."

Fast forward four weeks and our young enthusiastic self starter now waits for instructions on not only what to do but how to do it.

I have recounted this story to new starters who have had three to four weeks work experience at a popular five star destination and I get knowing smiles each time.

In a business which must be efficient and must set and then surpass customer's expectations, a lack of enforced standardsis a drag on customer perceptions of service and hence, sales.

A lack of enforced standards is also a drag on staff enthusiasm and empowerment which dargs supervisors and managers closer to doing line duties all the time to make sure that things are done right.

How should standards of operation be written?

Most standard operating procedures hospitality industry that we have seen mix policy, process, standards, work instructions and occasionally key performance indicators or targets in one. They are, therefore, difficult to read to understand to what standard an employee must do something.

In most cases they are text based, ignoring the communication preference of the majority of people.

Change Factory believes that standards of operation must be separated into:

1. An overall process flow, to show me any relationships between what I am doing and others are doing.
2. Standards to show me WHAT I have to do to what level of QUALITY and TIMING.
3. The competencies I should have to complete the task (optional).
4. Work instruction to show me HOW I should do some tasks that are not self-evident by the standard
5. Tools and references I may refer to from time to time.

Standards of Operation should also have as diagrams, pictures and screen shots as a default rather than text.

Standards of Operation written this way are easier to read. Standards can be laminated and put up on the wall to remind people. Checklists can be made of more involved standards to make sure tasks have been done on time and to quality. Work instructions can be left with new employees to follow step by step instructions on how to do things.

All of the components are built into one document, but in sections with each section having a separate purpose.

What should each standard of operation be about?

Most standard operating procedures we see are written around a department. The risk is that departments write standards which work for them without consideration of other departments. The important point is not that other departments may have some difficult, but that customers may have difficulty or at least experience great variations in service levels between departments.

We recommend, therefore, that standards be written around the customer's moments of truth, independent of departments. A responsibility matrix is all that is required to be clear for what each department has responsibility and accountability.

Call us on +61 3 98138198 or email us to arrange a discussion about how good standards of operation can improve guest satisfaction scores, employee retention and sales.