A little sunshine on an April morning

Following up on a February Service Best workshop at South East Regional College, facilitated by Tony Kayter, I noticed this comment from participant Gayleen Gurr, of Langbank, Saskatchewan: "...very worthwhile - should be mandatory in schools."

Thanks, Gayleen, for taking the time at the end of the workshop to provide some wonderful feedback and comments (and for providing permission to share them with our readers).

Several schools in Saskatchewan offer our Service Best in High Schools workshop. When you consider that most young people get their first jobs in tourism or hospitality businesses, the training effectively prepares them for summer employment, part-time work as students, and ongoing work in jobs where good customer service counts, including retail. (So, tell me of any job that doesn't require some kind of customer service, whether that's in a retail or "selling" business or in an office that requires you to interact effectively with colleagues!) Diefenbaker Destination Developments recently organized our Service Best Teacher In-Service workshop to certify high school teachers to provide Service Best in schools throughout the Lake Diefenbaker Tourism Destination Area. We even had one teacher travel down from Blaine Lake to take the training so that she could deliver Service Best in her high school.

Would we like to see more schools deliver Service Best? You bet! Consider how most of us learn about how to behave on the job. We learn mainly from experience, by watching how others are treated. If you can remember how you were treated as a high school (or younger) student when you went into local businesses, then you know that our youth don't often experience exemplary customer service. So, how do you learn to provide good customer service if you never experience it? That's why we've got Service Best in High Schools.

Let's hear it for our friends at Diefenbaker Destination Developments: Service Best steal of a deal

For a limited time, you can sign up for STEC's award-winning customer service workshop, Service Best, for just $40. We'll even buy you lunch.

Diefenbaker Destination Developments Inc. is sponsoring this special deal on our February workshops held in the Lake Diefenbaker region, allowing us to reduce the price to $40 per participant, plus GST.

Any business or organization located in the Mid Sask Enterprise Region service area is eligible to receive the sponsored rate. This is part of Diefenbaker Destination Developments’ initiative to achieve Service Best delivery to 60% of employees in 60% of businesses in the Lake Diefenbaker region. But act quickly. This special rate is available only for the workshops listed below, and participants must register no later than five days before the workshop date.

Workshops available:

• Whitecap, February 22.
• Outlook, February 28.
• Davidson, February 29.
• Elbow, TBA (March).
• Central Butte, TBA (March).

You can register on-line, or by calling Christian at (306) 361-5845 or Patty 1-800-331-1529. Registration in advance lets us bring enough lunch and materials for everyone attending.

Mid Sask Enterprise Region, Diefenbaker Destination Developments Inc, Whitecap Dakota First Nation, and the Saskatchewan Tourism Education Council, a division of Tourism Saskatchewan, are working to designate the region as a Service Best Region, with 60 per cent of the businesses and 60 per cent of the staff in those businesses participating in STEC's Service Best program. The region wants to create a "culture of service excellence" that draws more visitors.

Regular prices for Service Best are $109 for Tourism Saskatchewan members and $129 for non-members, so we really appreciate what Diefenbaker Destination Developments is doing to make the workshop more accessible to businesses in the region.

For more information about Service Best, Service Best Management, and Service Best Business recognition, visit www.stec.com.

NOTE: February 10, 2012, updated dates for Elbow and Central Butte workshops.

New year, workshops gear up

I've just posted new workshop dates, such as HR Essentials and Starting a Fruit Winery. Now that the holidays are behind us, workshops and programs are getting into full swing. Check out the full listing, updated regularly, on STEC's Training and Events Calendar or Online Learning portal.

Starting a Fruit Winery

Five-day workshop, January 23 to 27, 2012

Led by Dominic Rivard, internationally-renowned and award-winning wine master, this five-day program is an excellent source of training and information for those who wish to make fruit wine. Lectures, assignments and tests as well as the textbook will be presented by qualified instructors (Dominic and two others for the regulatory and funding programs).

Dominic has been a consulting wine maker for the last 15 years, specializing in making wine from fruit. Dominic’s training and experience have led to his involvement in successful fruit wine startups worldwide and dozens of medals for the products he produces. Visit Dominic's blog, The Daily Fruit Wine.

Date: January 23 - 27, 2012. 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. daily
Location: Saskatoon, SK
Price: $995 + GST / person
Register by: January 15, 2012
Register online: www.steconlinelearning.com

Contact: Tim Ouellette, Industry Consultant, Industry Development, tim.ouellette@sasktourism.com
Phone: 306-933-5900
Toll Free: 1-800-331-1529

HR Essentials for tourism business owners and managers

HR Management - for people who aren't HR Managers

STEC is holding two workshops on human resources management for people who aren’t HR managers. HR Essentials provides a five-step process that shows you in less than six hours how to find reliable employees, create a productive workplace and reduce expensive staff turnover. With your own copy of the emerit HR Toolkit, you’ll learn how to prepare job advertisements that get results, create application forms that ask the right questions, and conduct interviews that weed out unqualified candidates. The workshop shows you how to build a winning team that keeps your business competitive and lets you plan for a secure future. The workshop also covers occupational health and safety, employee orientation, and staff training. Your HR Toolkit contains all the forms and templates you need to get started right away.

Two HR Essentials workshops are scheduled: in Saskatoon, Tuesday, February 7; and in Regina, Wednesday, February 8. Cost is $175/person, plus GST. For more information, visit www.steconlinelearning.com.

HR Essentials workshops, Saskatoon and Regina, February 7 and 8

Human Resource management for those who don't work in human resource management

The Human Resource Essentials Workshop provides essential tools and templates to help you with:

• HR Planning
• Staffing and Orientation.
• Training
• Performance Reviews
• Retention

All participants receive an emerit HR Toolkit, designed to give business owners, managers, and supervisors a starting place for building a more effective workplace. The emerit HR Toolkit provides a wide array of tools and templates for organizations to customize. Our facilitator guides you through the topics and tools, helping you gain the confidence to apply these concepts to your own organization.

What did participants say they took away from the workshop?

"A whole new outlook on HR."
"Information shared and exchanged among facilitators and participants."
"A toolkit and action plan."

February 7, Saskatoon; February 8, Regina
Length: 6 hours
Cost: $175/person + GST
Register online: www.steconlinelearning.com
Contact: stec.training@sasktourism.com for registration information
Questions about the workshop: Jan Rodda, STEC Manager of Industry HR Development
Toll Free: 1-800-331-1529