By Richard B. Secord
“If you wish to achieve worthwhile things in your personal and career life, you must become a worthwhile person in your own self-development.”—Brian Tracy
You have all heard the philosophy that in order to stay ahead of the competition you have to continue to learn new techniques and focus on selected ideas others have utilized to succeed. Training yourself and reinforcing the techniques by training others is a process that will not only enhance your marketability, but also ensure others around you will increase their successful climb up the corporate ladder of life.
If you take a few minutes each day to learn a new technique or technology and then share this information with your team and other associates, your company will prosper. But most importantly, this will strengthen your value within the company and motivate you to increase your knowledge.
As we go through life and learn from our missteps and experiences, we store this knowledge to guide us over hurdles and challenges that cross our career paths. Each step we take up the ladder of success is fortified with this accumulative knowledge. It is this continuous foundation that lifts us to new heights in our relationships, both personally and professionally.
As I travel around the country speaking to hotel and resort associates, the topics range from the lack of training offered in new technology, new hospitality concepts, customer service strategies, shared missteps made by associates in life’s experiences, and new methods for capturing market share from our competitors. Many employees state they have not developed in their career paths due to little or no training or not having a strong mentor in their lives. The focus must change to guide our personnel toward their career objectives.
When you have the opportunity to mentor people and guide them over a few hurdles or suggest a path along the road that will lead them to greater heights, it will enhance your own self-esteem, and you and the associate will both prosper. Mentoring is a skill that is developed by your own experiences, overcoming obstacles and training that far too few individuals understand as a true value to be shared.
Lastly, setting goals for your personal and professional life on an annual basis is a trait I believe is critical to our success as an individual. If we set five to seven goals each year and achieve a minimum of three, than we will continue to climb the ladder of success of personal fulfillment. The goals you set may be augmented or rolled over as is to the next year if they are still regarded as a challenge to be faced or a skill you want to accomplish. If your goals include training others and mentoring, than this process will increase your associates’ achievements and enhance internal and external gratification.
Richard B. Secord is a hospitality professional-sales consultant and trainer and a U.S. Army veteran.
