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Reprints From The Professional Skier

Fall 1999 - "The Care And Feeding Of New-Hire Instructors" by Johanna Hall

This article is reprinted from The Professional Skier. All copyrights apply. Please see our copyright and disclaimer notice page.

The scene plays out with dismaying frequency at ski schools each year: You open the season with a batch of bright-eyed employees eager to launch their careers as ski instructors, and by early February they're jumping ship to wait tables or go back to the family print shop.

Unfortunately, with so much attention placed on the experience we create for guests, we often overlook the environment we create for our new hires. Too often the main emphasis for new instructors is solely to give them enough "ammunition" to lead a beginner lesson. They are trained in the progression, given a few exercises to teach certain skills, and then turned loose to work with valuable guests. We go right to the nuts and bolts of the job, often overlooking very basic human needs that, if met, can help make job satisfaction and performance soar.

Banking On New Recruits

Without instructors, a snowsports school has nothing to sell. Growth and profitability for the school is directly related to having enough of the right people to handle the daily workload. Every class that goes out with 10 or more students and every private lesson that is turned away has a direct, negative impact on the area's bottom line. When classes get too large or when guests can't purchase what they want, their experience is compromised--and turning students off or away means more than reducing the day's receipts. Indeed, this situation can lead to future revenue loss because guests who have a negative experience may never return for another lesson, or they may take their business elsewhere.

Good instructors, therefore, are worth their weight in gold, and replenishing an area's staff with new hires each season is critical for a ski school's health. Another key to establishing a profitable snowsports school is to have a solid core of faithful, experienced instructors who can provide a backbone of spirit, school culture, and camaraderie. The knowledge and experience of veteran instructors contributes to the profitability of the snowsports schools on many levels. Not only are the seasoned instructors the ones the guests return for and request, they are the ones new hires will look up to. A core of experienced instructors can serve as mentors to help nurture the new hires to become a part of the school and experience success in the job. And it's likely that this educational environment will encourage the new hires to stay on the job for more than one season!

The New Hire-Archy

An excellent model to consider when approaching the development of new hires is the "hierarchy of needs" developed by psychologist Abraham Maslow. Although experienced instructors often review this model while working with students, it can also be a valuable and reliable tool when used in new-hire training. By paying attention to a new-hire instructor's needs, you set a tone of caring that can easily transfer to the instructor's dealings with students. Within such an environment, the new instructor will feel that he or she is a valuable, contributing member in something larger than a beginner progression.

The pinnacle of Maslow's model is "self-actualization," a concept that implies an individual's creative fulfillment. In terms of a snowsports; school, this might describe the metamorphosis of a hesitant and nervous new-hire instructor into an able and confident teacher. Before we can help a person achieve self-actualization, however, we must help him or her deal with a variety of motivating necessities, such as addressing security issues or experiencing a sense of belonging. Maslow's hierarchy includes five levels of human need, and the list below presents them in order of the most fundamental (physiological) to the most refined (self-actualization).

Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs:

Physiological Needs

When a fresh crop of new instructors shows up for their first day of training, it is important to spend some time considering what Maslow refers to as the "physiological needs" of the individual. This would involve making sure that the instructors are comfortable and that their physical needs are met.

It may sound simplistic, but by providing basic things such as water and coffee, a bite to eat, and warm and welcome surroundings when they arrive for training you can show new hires that they are valued as individuals within the ski school. Instead of herding the group out to the snow to begin instruction in "the progression," it's best to start the program off by treating each instructor as a human being. This thoughtful treatment can be one of the most powerful influences in the training process, and it can ultimately set the tone for an individual's overall experience at the school, the decision to remain in the field, and the way customers will be treated.

Safety Needs

Individuals naturally seek out order and routines. You can inadvertently create a sense of uncertainty for your new hires if you fail to let them know what to expect during the early stages of their employment.

Providing new instructors with a simple written outline covering the events of the day or the week will not only address their expectations, it can also put them at ease with the entire training process. Most training programs already do this, but it's important to assert that this schedule is as much for the new employees--so that they'll have the security of knowing what to expect in the hours and days ahead--as it is for the trainers who must plan the events for each day.

Affiliation Needs

Many snowsports schools provide new hires with an introductory orientation that focuses on different aspects of the company. These presentations typically take the form of a mini pep rally led by the upper crust of the company's management. They often provide an annual message designed to boost enthusiasm and team spirit for the upcoming season.

A new-hire instructor should attend this training, but he or she should also look into how instructors fit into the company's big picture. The company handbook can help with this, but the annual training should also provide answers to new hires' questions. The following are just a few examples of some of the thoughts that run through new employees' brains when they first show up for work:

aWhere do I start?
aWho are the main players in the company and what are their roles?
aHow did those people get those jobs?
aHow many employees work at the area?
aWhat type of training do groomers need to drive a snowcat?
aHow do ski areas typically rate in the business world in terms of profitability?
aWhat does it take to do a run of payroll checks?
aCould a career at the mountain be for me?

Some questions undoubtedly will center on such key points of operation as the area's staff, financial performance, interdepartmental cooperation, and even resort values and visions. Although many people initially want the job simply because they love snowsports, there will be those who will want to see how their work fits into the larger picture of the ski area. By providing these individuals with perspective on the instructor's value and relationship to the company, you can create a sense of belonging and affiliation that will generate added meaning to their work.

The underlying idea is to give new hires a sense of the mountain as a cohesive entity, with their contribution as a significant addition to the whole. This idea can be incorporated into standard training without taking a huge block of training time, and it can be a vital component to a new hire's positive image of him- or herself within the work environment.

Because instructors are generally famous for their gregariousness, "social" needs such as a sense of belonging probably wouldn't be your first concern for new hires. However, new employees typically want to feel as though they are "affiliated" with the group, and the quicker they find comfort in their environment the better it will be for everybody.

An easy place to create affiliation is in the new-hire training. It's important to make sure that training includes lighthearted group activities and other opportunities to help employees bond. Trainers for new hires should be coached to pay attention to this first and foremost when they walk out the door to meet their groups. Too often there is so much to cover and so little time in which to cover it that the program can get dry and tedious. Trainers who feel pressure to get the content covered may forget to focus on the people. By coaching the trainers to handle social needs as a priority, the tone for the training may shift from businesslike to nurturing. The content of the training will not suffer from this emphasis; if anything, it will enhance its impact because a caring delivery in training will make new hires feel more a part of the school than mere receivers of information.

Another step in attending to the new hire's social needs is to provide avenues in which the employee becomes part of the existing "ski-school family." Early season get-togethers are one way to send a welcoming message, but what's more important is making sure that returning staff knows that it's everyone's responsibility to nurture the new hires. Encourage returning instructors to "buy into" the value of new instructors and learn how to become ambassadors for the school. All it takes is showing some interest in the new hires; getting to know them as individual people rather than the "guys who take the beginners so that I don't have to." There may be social barriers to cross, generational differences, or other hurdles to overcome, but everyone on staff can benefit from an emphasis on mentoring new hires, learning about them as individuals, and understanding their role in the overall health of the ski school.

It is a big leap from being a passholder to being an employee, and most new hires are very anxious about having enough skills to teach their first lessons successfully. They also want to become "insiders" at the school and the ski area, and the key is to make this transition painless, easy, and fun. In turn, new hires will feet welcome, important, and valuable. Having positive feelings about their work environment from the start may help in their long-term commitment to the job, the school, and the area.

Esteem Needs

The need to know how to do things occurs higher in Maslow's hierarchy than most ski school directors realize. But while new hires need to learn the subtleties of how to teach a lesson, the reality is that there typically isn't enough training time to work in anything but the basics of instruction. Before you know it, Christmas vacation hits and new hires have to be ready to teach. By paying attention to the more basic human needs on the lower rungs of the Maslow ladder first, you can create an environment that makes new hires more comfortable and prepared for instructing new students. The importance of paying attention to the new instructors' physical, safety, and affiliation needs ultimately makes the next level--self esteem--easier to attain.

For new hires, the desire for knowledge is the need to know the "what" and "how" of teaching a lesson. Understanding the "why" usually comes later. Keeping this in mind, a ski school needs to stagger the layers upon layers of content that get heaped onto new instructors in their training. Most of the content gets lost because there is simply too much for new employees to remember, and most likely they don't have the background or experience to internalize and understand all of the information given. Pacing new-hire training can be a key to their success and a major factor in how they feel about the experience.

Giving follow-up training to new instructors after they've led their initial lessons is a good way to bring knowledge toward understanding. The new hires may have been trained in a beginner progression, told how to introduce themselves and the lesson, handed a few games and exercises for their bag of tricks to make it fun, and given the knowledge of what run or lift to use. But actual learning doesn't take place for many new instructors until after they've led a few lessons with real students. Once they have some lessons under their belts, these individuals will probably have a million questions simply because they now have a little experience and background to help them make the connection between knowledge and understanding. This is where mentoring programs with experienced instructors can be extremely valuable. Seasoned instructors can provide new instructors with a direct contact to help guide them through their first teaching experiences.

Unlike the knowledge passed along by trainers, the understanding of each new instructor is a personal matter. Individuals grasp the connections and meaning of things in different ways and at different rates, and then there are varying levels of understanding as well. Gaining experience is the most powerful way to bridge the gap between knowledge and true understanding. That is why it is so important to pace new-hire information and provide new instructors with teaching experience along the way.

For example, new hire training may cover the ski concept indoors and then focus on how to develop basic skills with on-snow exercises. When new instructors apply what they know to a class, the application of knowledge can lead to a deepening of their understanding of the subject and can make instruction more personal and relevant for students. When instructors have confidence in their skills thanks to an increasing understanding of the skills they are teaching, students will pick up on this and will have more confidence in their learning as well.

Following the basic premises inherent in Maslow's hierarchy of needs may help us place more realistic expectations on our new instructors at a humane pace. The key is to never let the training stop. Training dollars should be allocated throughout the season to help new hire instructors grow in the job. Too often the training money is used up by Christmas, thereby forcing too much training on new instructors before actual experience is allowed to sink in.

Self-Actualization

The final need on Maslow's list involves "self-actualization." After meeting the needs of experiencing success on the job, having a sense of value and accomplishment, and belonging to a cohesive, supportive group, there is potential for personal growth. This gives an instructor a sense of accomplishing something more than simply teaching people how to ski.

Such a positive outlook can begin with a caring, nurturing environment that helps new hires learn how to be valuable contributors to a snowsports school. When people are happy in their jobs, they are happy in their circumstances and with themselves. It's not at all unrealistic to think that a new-hire instructor can enjoy the kind of self-actualization that would make Maslow proud. By meeting new hires' needs from the outset of their development as instructors, we can help individuals attain the highest levels of satisfaction in their work.

Conclusion

New-hire instructors are clearly the lifeblood of the snowsports business, and by addressing their needs you help them become valuable contributors. A humanistic approach to training and development can set the tone for a new instructor's career. When new hires show up at your area for the season, why not do what it takes to help them stay for a lifetime?

Johanna Hall is the director of The Learning Centers at The Summit at Snoqualmie, located near Seattle, Washington.