A UK-wide employee career development course run by Starboard Hotels, has celebrated its latest graduates in a special awards ceremony hosted by Starboard’s managing director Keith Griffiths.
The graduation, held at the Best Western Carlton Hotel in Blackpool, saw the cohorts, all Starboard Hotel employees, receive their certificates and congratulations after completing this innovative, year-long training course, known as SHAPE, Starboard Hotels Accelerator Programme for Employees.
The course, now in its second year, is aimed at developing the future leadership skills and careers of team members from Starboard Hotels.
SHAPE provides ambitious and talented team members from across the company’s multi branded portfolio of hotels, which includes world leading brands IHG, Ibis, Days Inn, Best Western and own branded properties The Windermere Manor and The Cliffden in Devon with the opportunity to enhance their leadership qualities and maximise their growth potential.
The ‘students’ including SHAPE cohorts from Sarboard’s revenue office in Chorley, hotels in Gatwick, Tamworth, Derby, the Lake District, Crewe and Birmingham, all completed an intense year of training, making their final presentations to the Starboard senior directors Keith Griffiths and group operations director Kerian Barnes at the Best Western Carlton hotel last week.
Through a series of set modules, workshops and different training tasks, the SHAPE course, delivered by trainer Sarah Fountain, covered every aspect of what it takes to run a hotel and be part of a thriving hospitality business including valuable insights into the supply chain, hotel revenue management, housekeeping, food and beverage, marketing and other vital operational functions.
This year’s SHAPE team also learned first-hand how to handle the media, through a training module delivered by Flex Media, with some of the team experiencing what it is like to be interviewed live on air during a visit to the BBC Lancashire studios.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Starboard managing director Keith Griffiths told the SHAPE graduates: “We put leadership right at the heart of our business. We can’t be successful without great people and great leadership happens in our hotels everyday. It is amazing to see how much you have all achieved on this programme and how well it works. All of those on SHAPE have shown amazing commitment and have learnt a great deal about themselves as well as the business. Congratulations to everyone.”
As Kerian Barnes explains: “This is the second tranche of our hotel teams who have participated in the SHAPE course and it has been another full-on year for them. Working in partnership with many of our suppliers has been insightful as they too have a vested interest, sharing their knowledge, driving best practice, building relationships and sharing in our quest to keep great people within our business.
“Encouraging people to work in the hospitality industry and to see it as a long-term career has never been more important. We want to be the employer of choice and have had to look to enhance the training available through the brands, which is excellent but is very specific. SHAPE is designed to broaden our team’s horizons and is a blend of leadership, personal development and high-level management training.
“There are 4.5 million workers employed across hospitality and tourism, and it is the fourth largest industry in the UK contributing 10 per cent of GDP. Training and developing our people is vital.”