Tourism and Hospitality Talent Development Programme

Dale Aitken - Gleneagles

At HIT Scotland we aim to provide opportunities for hospitality professionals to learn and grow within the industry. Our Tourism and Hospitality Talent Development Programme (THTDP) offers individuals learning experiences to learn new skills and knowledge to practice industry best practices across a number of modules.

Each year, we offer a number of workshops, funded by the Scottish Government through the National Transition Training Fund (NTTF). Mary Hemsworth, from Caterer.com caught up with one of our recent THTDP participants, Dale Aitken who works at Gleneagles luxury hotel, spa and golf resort. Dale worked at the resort as a Housekeeping Supervisor, until being promoted to Housekeeping Trainer earlier this year.

Dale works in a fast paced environment with a large team, managing people from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities. Dale shared her experience with us and explained how taking part in our mental health training programme has impacted her outlook of managing a team.

Value of personal training and development

“I came here three years ago from South Africa and had never worked in hospitality. I started as a room attendant and worked my way up. Due to COVID and staff losses, I was made a supervisor quite quickly and I found that I didn’t have enough skills because I came from a completely different environment.

I think I had a very different way of management and I found this course has helped me so much to understand the people that I'm managing. You know, things have changed. I'm in my 40s and I had a bit of an old-fashioned way of managing people. This course has made me see how our youths and young people think.

Mental health wasn't a thing 5-6 years ago and it's helped me to understand the people I'm managing with mental health issues, and I've learned to be able to delegate.

As a leader I didn't trust anybody, but now I’ve learnt skills to be able to delegate after having been on this course. It's been life changing for me. It really, really has; it's given me the confidence as well to go to work every day and be able to lead the team and not feel insecure or worried.”

Managing mental health and wellbeing

“The programme has definitely given me confidence when it comes to mental health; in the past, it was a very old-fashioned way of thinking.

Nobody knew about mental health and if somebody came and said I'm feeling anxious, I've got anxiety, or I'm not coping, you would sort of say to that person ‘ just pull yourself together and get on with the job’. Whereas now you know there are a lot of the young people I work with, COVID has had them stuck at home for many months. They just can't deal with suddenly being put into a job and having pressure on them, so I've been able to take a breath, take a step back. I stop what I'm doing and spend 10-15 minutes just talking to them. ‘How are you?’ You know, just going back to basics.

It's helped me and it's helping them. I'm seeing that difference. I'm seeing people not anxious, you know, they were having nightmares about coming to work, that they would do something wrong and I've felt I've been able to encourage them and give them confidence as well, which has been wonderful.”

Unconscious bias at work

“One of the things we touched on was unconscious bias, which was a very interesting week for me, and it made me really think.  The way you look at somebody and you might not like the way they look, or their attitude and you make a decision. 

Whereas once I learned about unconscious bias and was able to see that from an outside point of view, it made me realise everybody deserves a chance and we can't just make the decisions on the way someone looks or doesn't look.”

Finding solutions

“One week we did ‘finding solutions’. What's important? What's what? What we should be focusing on - the 4Ds - do, decide, delegate, delete. That was a really good week for me. Just taking the time to prepare in the morning, getting to work maybe half an hour earlier, writing down a few notes and saying, ‘OK, today I'm going to do this and try that and that's not as important’. 

I've trusted them. They felt confident. They did a great job. And it's also giving other people the opportunity to grow. We should give other people opportunities and that's a huge thing. 

I want people who are in a different position to me to have the opportunity to grow and develop and you know, what people don't realise is what a wonderful place it is to work.

If we could reach out to the younger kids, who are still at school and let them see what opportunities are out there and that there is a chance to grow, you don't have to stay in one position. And I think I've been a good example of that, having started at the bottom and working my way up.

I'm hoping that one day I'll become an assistant manager, and get into a management position within hospitality. There are so many opportunities.”

Recruitment and retention

“The programme is for hospitality because we're all being trained professionally and it can only have a good outcome, and our guests will be happy because we've been trained correctly and we're offering them a professional service.”

And finally…

“There are some little things that have made a big difference like organising my daily routines. unconscious bias is another one, how to focus when you’re given a whole lot of tasks to deal with within a day.

I've learned the tools to manage that stress and just sit down and work through things so you know what's top of the list and what can I delegate.

I would say if you are given this opportunity to go into the programme, don't even second guess it. Just say absolutely yes, accept it. It is just so worth it. Just putting aside that time to focus and being on the course I have met so many people in different parts of hospitality. 

I'm in housekeeping in a hotel and you don't realise these people who are working in bars and pubs and who do public relations, or front of house, you see all the different aspects of hospitality, and meeting them and hearing their challenges has been very interesting. 

The opportunities when you go on this course are truly amazing.”

We aim to provide as many development opportunities as possible for those who dedicate themselves to the hospitality industry. Find out more about our courses and scholarships and how they can help you and your business flourish.