Training is key to McDonald's recession success

Recession is almost certainly a time for change, but not necessarily failure – as the astonishing growth in sales for the fast food chain, McDonaldís, over the last few months would indicate.

With over 30,000 restaurants operating in 119 countries and with over 1m employees McDonalds is a truly global success . But, what has made the company successful during one of the toughest economic environments for decades?

McDonaldís senior team put the companyís resilience down to an on-going investment to its customers – including improving the restaurant experience and expanding its menu. The company has also maintained a massive commitment to its people and their training, which includes making apprenticeships available to all eligible employees and a cohesive and comprehension management, leadership and coaching programme.

David Fairhurst, Senior Vice President – People at McDonaldís UK said: ìIn these challenging economic times, it is more important than ever for employers to invest in their staff.î

With around 1200 restaurants in the UK and serving over 2 million people every day, it makes sense for the business to be customer focused.

With each restaurant employing an average of 56 people – how does McDonaldís achieve this?

Carole Williams, Corporate Training Manager for McDonaldís UK, said a key component of its success is through strong leadership and communication Carole is currently working with Herts-based training specialist, Delta TCC, to set up a number of programmes which are principally aimed at mid-management and with managers who are responsible for motivating and leading large teams of people.

Delta TCC is unique in its approach to business training because it specialises in using NLP (neuro linguistic programming) - a study with foundations in personal development -for business outcomes.

Carole Williams says: ìI attended one of Delta TCCís courses after getting a new role at work which meant I managed six departments with six very different Team Leaders. I felt I would definitely benefit from the approaches and techniques I learnt in being more adaptable and flexible with better communication skills to persuade and influence people. I quickly saw that the application of NLP techniques would be beneficial to all areas of the business.î

Essentially, NLP is a study around how the mind works – looking particularly at communication both internally and externally. It allows people to discover how others ìtickî and gives people the ability to effect change in how they think and how they achieve their own results.

In terms of how this fits with McDonaldís, Carole explained that the Companyís overall business culture makes great emphasis on providing opportunity and therefore social mobility.

Carole explained: ìMuch of our training provides an arena in which individuals are encouraged to develop their own style of leadership whilst honouring the Company valuesî
ìDelta TCCís style of training provides a safe environment which facilitates careful consideration of how best to achieve an outcome which has integrity, remains focused on the positive and constructive.î

She continued: ìSome of the activities do challenge traditional thinking and may get folks out of their comfort zone – and thatís great. Whatís even better is that once they realise that the way they have always done things is not always necessarily the best way, Delta TCC give them the tools to build a better vehicle for successful relationships.î

Delta TCC is now featured with McDonaldís Personal and Team development prospectus, offering programmes such as Advanced Business Communication, Achieving goals and planning for results and Influencing and Communications Magic.

Carole added: ìWe are continuing to work with Delta TCC because of their ability to translate how our business needs can be addressed by NLP. They understand business, are not bound by theoretical models and work hard to understand the client and the outcomes they require. They also understand the culture of the organisation which means they are flexible and continuously strive to provide a bespoke service.î

The relationship fits well with the overall training road maps for Operations and Office people, which include core curriculum courses plus a range of 40 personal development courses.

ìThe underlining strategy of the Company is to upgrade the customer and employee experience and central to this is in ensuring all customers receive great service in every restaurant, on every visit. McDonaldís vision and aspiration is to provide career opportunities that allow all employees to develop their full potential.

It has also been recently announced that Apprenticeships will be made available to all eligible employees across UK restaurants – with up to 6,000 offered in 2009 and this rising to 10,000 in 2010 – which will give staff the opportunity to gain a nationally-recognised qualification equivalent to five GCSEs, grade A-C.

ìWe rely on good quality customer service to be successful. One way we will continue to achieve this is by investing 14m each year in training our people.î

This, claims Carole, makes McDonaldís more resistant to difficult economic conditions than many.

ìWe want to provide the skills and training that enable individuals and teams to undertake their responsibilities and exceed expectations. We want to give people opportunity through training to reach their potential, to act as a springboard – and to provide motivation for risk taking and high aspiration.î

And so far, the model seems to be working.