The Ananda Spa Institute is one of only 41 providers of spa management continuing education globally
There are already many training resources, books and credentials that have been created in recent years that few people know about, let alone are supporting and developing
ment personnel. T ere are approximately 4,000 students on such programmes, while there’s an estimated 130,000-180,000 spa managers and directors worldwide, and this fi gure is continuing to grow. T erefore, the spa industry places very little emphasis on educational credentials when hiring spa managers and directors – which contributes to the gaps in the technical/business skills. Additionally, since most spa management-re- lated degree programmes are fairly new and very small, they’re not as well-connected to the spa industry as they ideally should be. As well as degrees, there are at least 41
providers of spa management continuing education globally which off er workshops, short courses and credentials for people already in the workforce. T e providers are also new, fragmented and constantly evolv- ing, and there’s no one proven model for eff ectively delivering training to employees
SPA BUSINESS 4 2012 ©Cybertrek 2012
already in the workforce. T e greatest chal- lenge for continuing education is to provide meaningful and in-depth training, but also deal with the very limited time and fi nan- cial resources for training. T ere are also obstacles relating to spa
businesses as very few spa businesses invest adequate resources and eff orts into training and professional development activities as staff move up the ranks into management- level positions. This then augments the gaps in hard skills and technical/business skills. Without succession planning and career pathways, employees are not likely to be prepared for management-level posi- tions as they advance. Most training for spa managers and directors is done when people are fi rst hired, but few companies provide training beyond that point. Most training is done entirely in-house. Relatively few com- panies utilise online/distance learning for
their spa managers/directors, even though this model can be both time- and cost-ef- fective. What’s more, few draw on external training providers or externally-developed training materials – even though there’s a growing range of these in the marketplace – and few pay for management employees to take external courses.
DEVELOPING THE WORKFORCE To address the management talent gap, the industry needs a more proactive and partner- ship-oriented approach towards management workforce development (see Diagram 1). Right now, there’s a huge amount of frag-
mentation in the workforce system. Industry people don’t know what schools and training programmes are available, while schools fi nd it hard to connect with industry members. T ere are many training resources, books and credentials that have been created in
Read Spa Business online
spabusiness.com / digital 57
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102