Watching her staff make better decisions and provide improved guest services, Alison Dakin is committed to providing training that improves communication skills at her backcountry lodge.
The greatest winter hazard for adventure tourism operators in BC's backcountry is avalanches. Public scrutiny calls for governments to fund agencies dedicated to wilderness safety measures. Operators must then assure the public that they meet, or even exceed, recommended operating standards.
How can operators ensure that the public perceives their business as satisfying all safety concerns?
Treating people well and fostering teamwork
Alison Dakin, who runs a small backcountry lodge in the pristine environment in Golden, BC, will tell you that "working with my staff and treating them respectfully is what makes my operation run well. If you can do that as a manager, you can bring the best out of people."
Alison has created a positive work environment at Golden Alpine Holidays (GAH) because of the way she interacts with her staff. She expects them to work together and to treat each other, and guests, the way she does. Improving teamwork at GAH hasn't been the result of one initiative, but has evolved over time through better communication.
The importance of setting goals
According to Alison, making sure staff know GAH's common goal has helped improve teamwork. To provide a quality, backcountry experience, Alison and her employees at GAH collectively:
- Work toward achieving the company goal
- Respect each person and the talents he or she brings to the workplace
- Keep an open mind and encourage communication
Focusing on core values
Alison also recommends that operators identify their business's core values, incorporate them into staff training, and then run their business by them.
As far as Alison is concerned, her product is largely determined by the remote location (with access by helicopter only), and the rugged terrain, making accommodation standards rustic yet comfortable. Within these parameters, management and staff strive to achieve three core values:
- Conduct - Be honourable and maintain a professional, yet friendly level of interaction with each other and with clients
- Aims - Work toward implementing the highest product standards possible
- Quality - Provide the best quality in professionalism, safety, adventure experience and hospitality
Improving backcountry standards
With the encourgement of the professional backcountry associations of which she is a member, Alison makes sure her employees meet the required certification. GAH goes further by providing staff with added-value training through:
- Personal pre-season participation, which encourages staff to ski for fitness, become familiar with the new snow pack, and practise required skills
- Jobs skills training, which provides training to fine-tune individual needs
- Interpersonal skills and awareness training, which brings in educators for training sessions on human relations
Innovation produces results
Alison has been implementing improvements by drawing on her own experiences and those she has observed over the years in other parts of the ski industry.
For this small, simple, yet cosy, backcountry accommodation company, where repeat business is its lifeline, improving employee communication has seen an increase in GAH's safety margin and its repeat business by 70 per cent.
