Maria Muir, Museum Manager at Hidden Treasures, Museum of Lead Mining tells us how learndirect scotland for business provided her with the resources to ensure that her staff put forward the best service possible.
Q: Can you give some background on the museum – what kind of audience are you trying to attract?
The museum was founded in 1974 and has grown from a small cottage Museum to a larger site including; a visitor mine, 2 period cottages, the second oldest subscription library in Europe and a Visitor Centre with a gift shop and tearoom. We aim to attract all manner of visitors including; tourists, locals, families with children, individuals, groups, coach parties and schools.
Q: How many employees do you have?
At the moment we are in peak season so we have 17 employees.
Q: What do you most enjoy about your role in the business?
I am actually a really odd person because I absolutely love my job. One of the most enjoyable parts is receiving feedback from our visitors – it’s great to hear that we are getting things right for them and providing an experience they can really enjoy.
Q: What do you least enjoy?
As I said before, I love everything I do at work.
Q: What are your top priorities?
I have a number of priorities; during peak season my top priority is making sure every visitor receives an excellent experience at the Museum.
During closed season my priorities are to ensure we have enough funding to open the next year and that all of the necessary maintenance and upgrading is carried out.
Q: What made you decide to contact learndirect scotland for business?
I knew that some kind of training for the staff would be a good idea and I wanted a skills assessment carried out but I had no idea how to go about either of them. That is when I contacted learndirect scotland for business.
Q: What happened next?
An adviser arranged an appointment to come to the Museum. When she arrived she went through all aspects of the business in detail. She covered what had been done in previous years, what the current situation was and what we aimed for in the future. She then came back to us with a full presentation of courses that would be of best advantage to my staff.
Q: What features of the service did you find most valuable?
The fact that an adviser came out to see me and catered the services directly to what we needed made the process easy.
Q: What kind of training needs have you identified through this process?
Everyone was in need of some level of training but it was highlighted that customer service would be a priority along with first aid.
Q: Did learndirect scotland for business manage to source providers or courses that you wouldn’t have thought of?
Absolutely. They introduced the ‘100k Welcomes’ course which helped staff to provide an even better level of customer service. I did not realise before that someone was able to come out and give everyone the training at the one time. This made it more fun for the employees.
Q: What other information did learndirect scotland for business provide that was particular useful?
They linked us with other agencies that could be of assistance to our business including; Health & Safety, Healthy Working Lives & Policy Development. Our business has benefitted from contact and assistance from each of these agencies.
Q: How well was all of this information presented?
On the advisers next visit she presented us with a folder containing all of the contact and information details for courses she had sourced for us. She explained thoroughly how to access the information.
Q: How do you think this training will benefit the business?
I can see the differences already; these are reflected in customer feedback which shows that our level of customer service has improved, investing in the staff has shown them that we value them as well as our customers.
Q: What are the next steps – how will learndirect scotland for business continue to support you?
When we close for the season, we hope to work with learndirect scotland for business again. We have plans to further the tearoom training to offer even more than we do currently and this will of course require a higher level of training for the staff.
Q: Would you recommend learndirect scotland for business to other businesses?
Absolutely, learndirect scotland for business offers a fantastic service that has definitely helped improve our training.