Progress is made one step at a time. A house is built one brick at a time. Football games are won a play at a time. Every big accomplishment is a series of little accomplishments.” ~David J. Schwartz
I met Mr. Dominic Costabir way back in 2002, when he had started the Hospitality Training Institute, HTI at Mahim in Mumbai. I had gone for a guest lecture at the institute; had joined as a faculty at IHM Mumbai after having spent 4 years in the industry. I was very impressed with the centre. Found HTI to be a very need based and demand based set up providing short term skill based hospitality programs for students; making them employable. HTI wasn’t affiliated to any university or educational board but provided skill based training before others thought of it. Today there are many programs some of which are provided by the government.
HTI has evolved over the years being one of its kinds. The ‘Outsourced training department’ to the hospitality and tourism sector. With a vision of having. ‘ At least one person in every hospitality outlet worldwide must have benefitted from HTI’. That’s a very powerful vision. Their mission statement says, “Improving hospitality through training”. They conduct technical and soft skills training for hospitality and allied industries. The training aims to increase efficiency and productivity, it raises staff morale and lowers staff turnover. Overall, interpersonal skills and team work receive a boost along with customer satisfaction. Due to the above, profitability rises and the ROI of training is achieved within 3 to 4 months is what they have focused on and delivered over the years.
Hospitality Training Institute India Pvt Ltd (HTI) is an outsourced training department. Spread across India, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Mauritius and the UAE. They specialise in training hospitality and service industry personnel (waiters and customer-facing personnel) in soft and job skills service. It’s the lowest paid employees (waiters, bell boys and housekeeping attendants) who make the biggest impact on customers. How they handle customers brings in sales which in turn makes or breaks a brand. But often they are not trained to convert walk-in customers to loyal patrons and they deal with customers in a non-standardised manner .This is where HTI adds value by creating customised programs that are developed by taking all the specifics of the client into consideration. In the 18 years of their journey they have created many benchmarks and noteworthy practices. It is a delight to interact with Mr. Costabir- there is learning in every conversation you have with him.
It is said that one must do more, must take time to think as thinking is a premium skill today. If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it as being busy forces an individual to find extreme efficiency and prioritization.
Recently when we spoke, we discussed lockdown and the impact it has had on businesses and individuals both at personal and professional levels. In the last couple of months I have been writing on these issues. At the IWH ( Indian Women in Hospitality) we have had many sessions on knowledge sharing and collaborating. Building ourselves and our competencies; keeping in mind the present employment scenario. We are also sharing job requirements for the ones who may be seeking them. Trying to help each other cope with the situation the best way that we can. It is rightly said that the tough situations do not last but tough people do. It is our time to be just that.
‘Colaborate’ by HTI
Employee-employer engagement has inherent complications. Organisations must commit ‘guaranteed’ annual salaries, bonus, gratuity and welfare. Staffs may feel insecure, neglected, underpaid, overworked or restricted by company policies. Covid-19 has added uncertainty and volatility to this cauldron. How can organisations commit salaries, benefits, job-security; when they can’t predict sales, profits or their own survival? While staff realise that it’s impractical to rely on one organisation to plan their entire life – career growth, investments, children’s education and loan EMIs.
The Parliament has recently passed the Code on Social Security, 2020 and has recognised Gig and Platform Workers as person(s) who participate in work and earn from such activities outside of traditional employer-employee relationship. This is great news for HTI considering that it has designed an App ‘Colaborate’ that facilitates a direct link between Companies and Liberated Associates (Gig and Platform Workers). Highlights being:
It is further stated in the positioning of their app Colaborate that connects Companies / Entrepreneurs with professional individuals looking for temporary / freelance work (Internationally called the Gig Economy). It will boost the economy by helping organisations restart by shifting the Fixed Cost of staffing to a Variable Cost and lowering break-even point. Simultaneously, families would be helped to tide over the current economic stress as retired professional, stay-at-home moms, or a student (above 18) could get temporary work and earn pocket-money or sustenance. Out-of-work professionals could use Colaborate as a stop-gap arrangement till the economy picks up and full-time jobs are available.
HTI has many trainers working with them and as a strong believer of the next big thing that will work for the job market, IWH as a forum will collaborate with HTI’s Colaborate that will support the fraternity in a big way. We wish them the very best and hope they continue to deliver superlative training programs to the hospitality and tourism industry.
Hop on and don’t just go through the day; grow through it. Capture every new thing you learn making it a part of your valuable collection then organise, reflect and engage in the new learning. The times now are not of competing but for collaborating.
Are you ready to collaborate with Colaborate?
HTI website: http://hti-india.com/
PS Pictures are taken from Google with due credits
