Making L&D programmes engaging to enhance effectiveness.
Far from being merely a training programme, The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s programme “Racing Ahead—Powered by YOU” reflects the Club’s determination to create a new culture and an environment of racing passion throughout its 26,000 full-time and part-time staff. Having already won accolades for its success in bringing about a far-reaching impact on the Club’s business and fostering a “customer-centric” approach, the programme has now earned them the Bronze prize in the HKMA Award for Excellence in Training and Development 2010. Kim Mak, the Club’s Executive Director of Corporate Affairs said, “We are proud that this programme was developed entirely by in-house professionals, pooling the expertise of our Racing, Betting, IT and Human Resources teams.” He added, “We also take pride in the fact that we have trained a team of staff members to become trainers themselves, possessing specialised knowledge of the racing industry. This joint effort is a good example of how we are trying to cultivate a cross-divisional culture of collaboration.”
Through the programme’s three phases—Ignite, Excite and Experience—Club staff are encouraged to enhance their knowledge of horse racing and develop a passion for the sport. The wide range of learning sessions and tools includes practical sessions, online simulations of race meetings and an online racing game. The e-learning opportunities enable Club staff to learn anytime and anywhere.
LEAP and learn
This innovative programme was introduced in 2007 and has since then been extended to all Club staff under a “LEAP” learning approach:
Learning
Staff are encouraged to learn anytime, anywhere under an individual learning schedule.
Experience
Staff can practise and strengthen the knowledge they have acquired through various experiential and simulation learning tools.
Achievement
Individual staff are given awards for outstanding performances in the simulation exercises and online racing game, encouraging their further participation.
Performance
The concept of driving the Club’s performance is injected into every stage of the programme.
Sporting knowledge
As a result of the programme’s extensive training opportunities, there has been a significant enhancement in staff knowledge of the sport and enthusiasm for it.
A record high 31,000 training days have been notched up by the Club’s 26,000 staff, creating a number of significant impacts on business:
The programme has inspired other business units within the Club to initiate racing-related activities proactively. One such activity was launched by the Broadcasting Services Department which published a ‘Trendy Idiom Card Set’ to stimulate and sustain its staff’s learning interest. Likewise, the Cashbet Department has also established a dedicated team at the racecourses for sharing racing knowledge with customers.
With their enhanced racing knowledge the Club’s non-racing staff have become ‘Racing Ambassadors’. To illustrate this, front-line catering staff can now share their knowledge with customers at the racecourse dining outlets and better understand the customers’ needs. This has had a measurable impact on ROI and surveys have shown that Club members are now more satisfied with the racecourse services and more willing to revisit the racecourse, resulting in a 17% increase in their racing attendance.
With their enriched knowledge of racing, Club staff are now more capable of developing innovative racing and betting products. New bet types such as the ‘Jockey Challenge’, which was launched in 2008 are good examples of such innovation and have successfully boosted the Club’s business.
Horses for courses
Targeted at all staff from part-time front-line operators to full-time senior executives, the training programme is designed to accommodate the varying needs of the whole workforce and different levels of understanding of the sport. To tackle this complex task, the Club carefully studied different staff working patterns, interests, levels of knowledge and business needs by conducting interviews with both racing and non-racing staff. As a result, training materials have been compiled with navigation tools that are simple, succinct and relevant to all parties. This has earned it high praise from the staff, who have given it a satisfaction rating in excess of 4.5 on a 5-point scale. “In today’s highly-competitive business environment, investment in staff training and development is indispensable for sustaining business growth, uplifting staff quality and retaining their competitiveness,” commented Mak.
“The Hong Kong Jockey Club is dedicated to producing innovative and functional training programmes with an emphasis on creativity, sincerity and effectiveness. We hope more companies will join us in provide training opportunities for their staff, which can help enhance the quality of Hong Kong’s workforce as a whole.”
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
