The provision of thorough training is a crucial technique if you want to reduce turnover rates at your baking company. The cost of continuously hiring and retaining personnel is wasteful and expensive, as any bakery owner is aware of. For this reason, we support continual training as a foundation for a successful and joyful workplace culture.
The first step in on-the-job bakery training is to acquaint new hires with your company's regulations, safety precautions, cleanliness requirements, dress code, customer service standards, and other critical aspects of your brand. When effectively implemented, it clarifies your expectations and instils lifelong positive behaviours in your staff. For our top 7 advice on coaching your bakery staff, keep reading.
1. Make Your Training Recipe
Owners and managers, approach the training of your new hires like you would a recipe. Your squad will require specific "ingredients" in order to succeed. Write them all down in the most logical sequence so that you can follow them with clarity. Using a training "recipe" can help you stay organised and guarantee that you don't neglect any crucial details.
Making decisions about what and when to work on might be aided by a well-organized training schedule. Continue to challenge your trainee once they have a firm grasp on a certain component of their profession so they can learn and develop. For instance, after they have mastered taking orders, show them how to properly answer the phone and deal with any calls that come in.
2. Transparent Training to be Given
When acquiring new material, an employee may adopt a passive attitude if they don't understand why they are learning a specific skill or task. To ensure that your staff members realize the intended outcome, be open and honest about training. You should make it crystal clear that the training is not intended to address a lack of trust but rather to adopt bakery change management, lower employee attrition, boost morale, increase productivity, and boost your bottom line.
Your team will learn that you aren't micromanaging if you establish guidelines and expectations early on. For instance, inform them that maintaining equipment along the road will help keep it from malfunctioning. Describe how their role fits into the overall plan of the kitchen. Since many individuals are results-driven, emphasising the final outcome helps them not only better understand their roles, but also to take an active interest in the process.
3. Combine several training techniques
We believe it is beneficial for bakeries to provide a variety of training approaches because not everyone can read a list of information and retain it right away. Role-playing typical circumstances is a terrific approach to instruct your bakery team. When it comes to customer service responsibilities like taking orders and upselling, this "learn by doing" strategy works effectively. When they have the fundamentals down, let them practise what they've learned on you or another employee before putting them in front of customers. This provides a secure environment for practise, and any errors may be fixed before they are put to use in a real-world scenario.
The usage of video is another beneficial strategy. Training films can save you time and serve as a resource that your staff can occasionally consult if necessary. For instance, you might take a video while demonstrating how to take a custom cake order using your order management system. Keep in mind that videos only need to be useful; they don't need to be beautiful.
4. Maintain Feedback Constructive
Failure gives us a chance to grow and learn, and this is how you should approach customer feedback at your bakery. New team members will inevitably make mistakes, and occasionally these errors will annoy your clients or need you to spend more time than necessary repairing them. Be gracious! Most of us recall how perplexing our initial working days were. Rather than becoming upset, assist your staff in comprehending:
- Why did it go wrong?
- What effect it had on the bakery and your clients?
- How to fix or stop the error from occurring again?
- How to do the task correctly going forward?
It's critical to provide your team the freedom to experiment and fail while learning. Although it could take a new employee twice as long to do a task correctly, this is the only way for them to advance and have a deeper understanding of your bakery's operations. Inform your clients in advance that you are dealing with a new employee who is still in the training process and that there may be a little delay. The majority of clients will be patient and won't mind waiting a few more minutes.
5. Develop your patience
Due to their extensive experience, bakery managers and owners are among the best in the business. These guidelines and rules therefore come naturally to you! Even though a new hire may have previous baking expertise, it is not reasonable to expect them to fully understand how your bakery runs.
Don't get upset when your new hires ask questions regarding subjects you've already addressed; it's likely that they won't retain all you say during their first shift. Help them understand since questions show that they are attempting to learn. If your staff perceives that you have invested time and effort in developing them to be the best they can be, they are more likely to stay with you.
6. Set the Standard
You should set the standard for success as a leader. Your team will constantly look to you as an example whether they realise it or not, so make sure duties like safety, customer service, and cleanliness are always top-of-mind. Your colleagues will pick up your bad habits if they observe you procrastinating on specific duties.
Therefore, it is essential for bakery management to provide an example of what they want to happen at their bakery. Be a thoughtful and helpful teammate, leave your workstation tidy and organised, and make every interaction with customers a success. Employees will imitate leaders who arrive at work with a pleasant attitude and put what they have learned into practise.
7. Keep making investments
As soon as your trainee feels comfortable in their position at your bakery, give them ongoing guidance and support so they may develop and, ultimately, bring value to your business. For instance, perhaps you have a member of your back-of-house staff who has showed some interest in taking calls and assisting clients. Consider giving them front-of-house training so they may step in as needed and have a chance to gain more experience. Your confidence in them and support should give them the confidence to take on more responsibilities.
It might be challenging to manage the many personalities of your bakery's front- and back-of-house staff, but being a successful manager entails more than just making your staff work as hard as they can. You can foster a culture of motivation, appreciation, and empowerment for your team by putting the right training in place.
Take Control of Chaos
We at Bigdbiz bakery POS want to assist bakeries of all sizes in developing a culture where staff members feel encouraged, valued, and empowered. To learn more about how to help your workers and manage the craziness of running a retail bakery, request a demo with us right away.