Southern Ekurhuleni Chamber of Business (SECOB)

3 Sept 09

The big rat in the chicken barrel... Identifying management as the problem in today’s companies.

• Presenter: Jakes Fennie
• Venue: SECOB

83 Joubert Street
Germiston

8 Sept 09

Brief history and introduction to the BBBEE codes of Good Practice

• Presenter:
Pansy Morapedi from Honeycomb BEE ratings. Accredited by SANAS
• Venue: SECOB

83 Joubert Street
Germiston

15 Sept 09

SMME-committee
"Growing your business in a recession"

• Presenter:
Dhaven Kisten
• Venue: SECOB

83 Joubert Street
Germiston

18 Sept 09

Centered Leadership

• Presenter:
Ronel Vermeulen
• Venue: SECOB

83 Joubert Street
Germiston

View SECOB’s 10 new Portfolios:

1.	Enterprise Development
2.	Safety, Health and Environment
3.	Human Resources and Development
4.	Good Governance & Leadership
5.	SMME's
6.	Women in Business
7.	Youth Desk
8.	BBBEE
9.	Tourism and Travel
10.	Procurement and Tender Advice

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to our First newsletter. We have been working tirelessly in the past month to have our website (www.secob.co.za) up and running successfully & a very professional newsletter that goes out in time for Spring. A fresh new beginning for SECOB. We have established committees for our members - with experienced and excellent anchors. You are welcome to attend the committee meetings - mostly held at the SECOB offices.
"BEGIN YOUR THIRTY - DAY TRAIL OF EXPECTING THE BEST OF EVERYTHING" - JOHN C MAXWELL. As John says in "The Difference Maker," the happiest people in life don't necessarily have the best of everything. They just try to make the best of everything. A person's attitude has a profound influence on his approach to life. Life often gives you whatever you expect from it. I don't know why it works that way, but it does. If you don't believe me try it out. Give yourself thirty days in which you expect the best of everything: the best parking place, the best interaction with clients, the best treatment from service people you'll be surprised by what you encounter, especially if you give your very best to others in every situation as well. download full document

This Week's Articles

ON LEADERSHIP-A MODERN PERSPECTIVE

“I know I am the problem, but I do not know of any other way to lead.”
(A Christian CEO of a NASDAQ –listed company)

The above probably sounds very very familiar.Leaders today face their greatest

challenge not in defining strategies or getting updated information but in getting diverse human beings to pull together without pulling their respective companies apart.The old styles of leadership we did learn are no longer working.

THE NEW DYNAMIC THAT EXISTS IN GROUPS TODAY

a)	High expectations.. We are seeing this daily in trade union activity as well as in the trend of young highly skilled people as they trek to the euro, pound and dollar paying markets almost on daily basis.
b)	The ever-changing demands of customers
c)	Increasing diverse work force, etc.

The old model of doing things have been turned into dusty pyramids of the past-they are interesting to look at but incapable of motion.

THE CALLING MORDERN OF LEADERSHIP

The calling of leadership is not just to lead, but to excite!.Leaders today are expected to turn work into a cause. This will make the team passionate about what they do.

Leaders must seek and foster successful mergers and acquisition among team members, so they will work together.

They should stay positive about issues affecting the market, their industry, globalisation and international competition.

As leaders they should retain a proactive look to the future and anticipate and plan for change.

SOME HELPFUL HINTS (FOR TODAYS LEADER)

•	Make sure everyone on your team knows exactly what business you are in.
•	Create your own opportunities. Stop blaming and passing the buck.
•	Go after new business
•	Partner with your key vendors
•	Write down your plans, maintain them with your team, industry organisations, and potential customers.
•	Have a three year vison,but a one year action plan

NB:GOOD ENOUGH IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH TODAY OR EVER

ON THE WRITER; Jakes Fennie

Jakes has degrees and post-graduate qualifications in Social Science, economics & Business administration.
He has over 25years international business experience having worked in both public and private sectors both as International consulting professional and corporate executive.Jakes specialises in Executive Coaching and Mentoring Economic Empowerment, Business Development, Business Strategy and Professional Facilitation,

THE NEED FOR A DIFFERENT APPROACH IN THE TRAVEL AND TOURISM INDUSTRY SERVICE DELIVERY

This article on service delivery was written for Tourism, Travel and Hospitality, by Gloria Mothibi,

who is the coordinator of the Travel & Hospitality sector at SECOB Owner & Managing Member of her Accredited MGM Tourism Training Academy, She is a teacher, accredited facilitator, assessor and moderator She has post graduate qualification in management and many years experience in the Tourism, Hospitality and educational industries. Held senior management positions in companies like SAA and a five star Sandton Intercontinental Hotel and below she outlines ways of improving skills development.

BACKGROUND

In order to provide the international standard and customer experience as it is expected within Tourism, travel and hospitality sector, service delivery and business efficiency must be benchmarked against International Best Practice.

The research shows that the industry in South Africa tends to lack behind in people development across the number of spectrums:

•	Understanding the business
•	Managing responsibilities within the job function
•	Understanding International Best Practice
•	Business Management Skills
•	Customer Service/Customer Service Excellence
•	Operational Efficiency
•	Sales and Marketing

Industry specific problems and challenges identified are:

•	Rising competition leading to tight and smaller margins
•	Lack of empowerment of people at the point of sale/customer contact.
•	Standards dropping at the customer experience level.
•	General absence of international benchmarking—each doing their “own thing”
•	Rising cost of doing business…the need to manage productivities.
•	Management of market efficiencies. E.g. finance, goods, services, customer contracts, competitive edge, etc.

THE WAY FORWARD

NOW IS THE TIME TO TRAIN AND EMPOWER

In the world of Travel and Tourism, service perception is key to a customer's repurchase decision.

1.	There are hardly any industries in which the quality of service is as instantaneously noticeable to the patron and therefore as essential to the sustainability of the business, as the hospitality sector. I recollect a few weeks back I asked a prominent hotelier what he is doing to prepare for 2010 and he answered indifferently and in a confused manner, “What must I do?” Hopefully his response is the exception to the rule. Our industry has a just-in-time norm. In the hospitality industry, service perception surely is key to a consumer’s repurchase decision. What industry leaders and executives need to comprehend is that if service production is missed today, we cannot catch up tomorrow. You cannot check in a guest who arrives on Tuesday on Wednesday or serve dinner when they needed breakfast.
2.	With the FIFA World Cup looming large on the horizon it is worth taking a serious in-depth look at how hotels and restaurants are likely to cope with the anticipated influx of visitors, given the current state of the industry. From a media point of view South Africa is at present measured on readiness by the percentage in the completion of the stadium, but we forget visitors see the stadium as a given and will assess our success on quality of service.
3.	The challenge in the weeks and few months ahead is to assess and train employees in soft skills such as business etiquette, customer care and service attitude. I daresay that reports in the media speak about up-skilling of staff in service excellence, where most employees need a powerful structured intervention on basic technical skills, behaviour change and attitude alignment towards service.
4.	I believe that the industry is going to face vast problems in meeting expectations, as training in the industry is woefully inadequate. Being in this industry one tends to assess every hotel or restaurant even in leisure time. My view is that basic elements such as table setting and food and beverage service are far off the international standard and correct procedures. 2010 is one of the peculiar situations in which one event can make or break our tourism industry. We have to start months ahead of the event itself in training, educating, enlightening and empowering our staff.
5.	One of the fundamental issues facing the burgeoning hospitality industry is the provision of professional, skills focused training, not only bartender, waiter or housekeeping training, but especially in the various management disciplines in hotels and restaurants. We are the only industry that promotes an efficient waiter to a managerial position by handing him a POS card and a bunch of keys, but critically don’t train them in management skills.
6.	We need to align processes, people and technical skills with corporate and service goals and guest expectations. Poor service undermines productivity and harms brand value and has an immediate and abrupt bottom line impact. With large projected visitor volumes, the premeditated imperative for South Africa and specifically the Western Cape is less towards stimulating travel demand and much more to manage these flows and ensuring that satisfaction levels with the multiplicity of experiences encountered are maintained at a fittingly high level. Service quality and delivery will be the key differentiators between products, services and also selected destinations of the future.
7.	In the hospitality sector feedback is often instantaneous and disgruntled clientele can effortlessly walk out of the front door and cross the road to a very willing competitor. It is vital that we preserve our competitive edge. It is fundamental that we continually invest and re-invest in our personnel, thereby insuring that our staff has the skills and knowledge to maintain our vision.
8.	In terms of tourism hardware, e.g. the airport, roads infrastructure, hotels, restaurants and guest houses etc we are on a winning streak, but in terms of our software – our staff – we seriously lag behind. This is a grand opportunity for the country to uplift unskilled and unemployed citizens to teach, coach and empower them in conjunction with existing staff. Modules they are trained in will allow them credits towards grade 12 or even a formal hospitality certificate or diploma if executed by an accredited training academy.
9.	The interaction between the service provider and the quest is the core of the service experience. We need to acknowledge the important role of managing behavior, skills and emotions in the delivery of superior service. Service employees need to have skills in performing physical tasks (carrying a tray, making a bed), mental tasks (calculating change, noting guest’s preferences and requests) but also emotional labour skills (demonstrating a sincere and genuine sense of concern for their guests).
10.	All of the above rest heavily on demonstrative behaviour and are immediately recognisable to visitors. Frontline employees must often conceal their real emotions when guests give them a hard time and continue to smile even when tired.
11.	Now is the time for us to manage the multifaceted mixture of strategies to advance technical, managerial and emotional skills to ensure that employees are enthusiastic and proficient to deliver quality quest service, over an extended period of time and remain motivated and energized. The time is also now for general-, operations- and food & beverage managers to lock up their offices, get hands-on, get onto the floor and ensure tactics are in place for (1) assessing, training and support (2) recruitment and selection, and (3) empowerment strategies.
11.	By undertaking the above we shall be geared up to provide extraordinary service in 2010 and beyond and employees will gain a sense of satisfaction from their ability to act out desired or necessary behaviour. It is a mammoth opportunity but not devoid of risks. With able-bodied, trained, experienced, prepared and empowered staff, we will be set not only to meet the challenges of the FIFA World Cup, but also to position South Africa as a compelling and forceful tourism destination well beyond 2010.