I left on a mission in January 2023 to reinforce our catering apprentices. This mission with Tereo was my first contact with Africa, and even more so with Benin! I was really enthusiastic about the idea of meeting the students, discovering their learning methods, sharing our knowledge and possibly enriching it.
If I had to sum up my experience, I’d compare our apprentices to real “hard drives” because of their exceptional memory! It was interesting to note that their learning was mainly based on rigorous memorization of processes. During practical exercises, the students conscientiously applied what they had been taught. However, as soon as something unexpected happened in the current situation, panic ensued!
For my part, as a former student at EHL (Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne) and although it’s essential to respect procedures, especially in luxury establishments, I was trained to be adaptable and, above all, proactive. That’s why I decided to emphasize these aspects during the two training modules I shared, guiding the young people with the motto: “Put yourself in the customer’s shoes”, because a well-applied process is less important than a satisfied customer!
So we did some role-playing. The students took it in turns to take on the role of customer and waiter, with the customer having carte blanche and the waiter having to improvise a cordial response to satisfy the customer while meeting his employer’s expectations (because saying yes to everything is not the solution!). The results were very encouraging, with most of them understanding the concept I was trying to put across: thinking outside the box in a moderate and thoughtful way.
I got the impression that they appreciated the opportunity to express their opinions, as well as the idea that there is no “wrong answer” as long as it’s the result of logical reasoning. Again, while rigor and process are essential in the hotel business, I think it would be beneficial to incorporate more thinking exercises into the center’s learning modules.
For me, this immersion in the Tereo project has been a wonderful human and solidarity experience, which has reinforced the idea that my presence on the committee is an added value for the future of our association!
