TMG – After disruptions due to the pandemic, Thien Minh Group has restarted its training program since last year. Leading this initiative is the Group Training Manager, Ms. An Avina, who has succeeded in training members and contributed to the Group’s development.
1. Hello Ms. An, can you please introduce a little bit about yourself and the training activities at TMG?
Hello everyone. My name is An Avina, I’m currently TMG Training Manager, leading the learning and development strategy for TMG Hospitality. I started my career in hospitality over 20 years ago in Adelaide, Australia when working at a suburban Vietnamese restaurant. After two decades of experience across multiple countries and different departments, it has helped me identify my current calling – to impact people by developing them for the future.
Regarding the training activities at TMG, it was restarted in all hospitality entities after a long postponement due to COVID-19 with standardized training topics such as induction and soft-skill. Besides rolling out training from the group level, I also help in training and certifying trainers who use gained knowledge to upskill their teams at each entity after the “Inspirational Trainer” course.
2. Could you share more about the purpose of this program?
This program is carried out online and offline across TMG’s tourism system, helping associates update their knowledge about tourism and hospitality in general, and TMG and each entity as well.
More specifically, for example, we have standardized training topics like induction to ensure that our associates, no matter where they are working, the Emeraude Cruises in the North or Victoria Chau Doc in the Mekong Delta, can be well-acknowledged about our company’s mission, culture, and values as well as well-applied hospitality communication basics.
Joining training courses, they can also engage in practical activities to improve their professional skills, developing themselves in both personal life and work performance.
Notably, in each entity, three outstanding members/leaders have an opportunity to join the ‘Inspirational Trainers’ course to become one of the group’s ‘Trainers’. After this intensive training, not only enhance their skills, they can also be able to host a training workshop on their own.
We will follow up on their performances and provide detailed observation feedback and coaching during and after the workshop to guide them to success.
3. In your opinion, what constitutes the greatest success and challenge in the training process?
In my opinion, success, I’m sure others same as mine, is the result of that training. For me, there are 2 types of success: direct and indirect results.
Direct results, personally, are when the 3-step learning process goes smoothly – how learners can receive information (1), absorb it (2), and apply it well to form a new behavior, a new habit, or competence (3).
Meanwhile, indirect success can be seen as associate satisfaction, guest satisfaction, department performance, and so on.
Regarding challenges, I think the first one is the third step of the learning process which I can hardly control. However, it also stands as a chance for me to work with GMs and leaders at each entity to help them reinforce their team by leading by example, evaluating and coaching.
Another challenge lies in reshaping their perspective on training which is not merely about presenting content to learners but requires tangible results. The result I mention here is that learners truly grasp the expertise and apply it effectively in both the learning and working realms.
4. Personally, what is the key to a successful training program?
As Mr. Tran Trong Kien, TMG Chairman & CEO, emphasized: ‘What we train our people needs to have a sense of purpose and an underlying philosophy to be truly effective’.
I think the key is showcased in the training program’s benefits and its relationship to desired outcomes which include its profound impact on the members and the company itself, particularly for a diversified travel group like TMG.
Once our associates are well-trained and possess professional expertise and skills, they can confidently satisfy our guests with high-quality services and products. Thus, customers can have genuinely distinctive and meaningful experiences with TMG.
This aligns seamlessly with the motto of ‘customer centricity’ that TMG has put on top priority over the past 30 years.
5. Could you share with us more of the training direction for this new year?
This year, we will focus on continuing the implementation of soft-skill training not yet rolled out, supervisory and leadership training, and hopefully introducing to our teams an online platform for e-learning.
Established in 1994, TMG has grown from a company with just three employees to an enterprise with more than 2,500 employees worldwide. Thien Minh is now Asia’s leading package travel provider, founded on the mission of always putting our clients front and center. With five business pillars: Destination Management, Hospitality, Online, Aviation, and Transportation – TMG is the ideal host for distinctive journeys featuring truly memorable travel experiences.
