Progress International Training

Welcome to Progress International Training

2011-10-11T07:45:00.000-07:00

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Progress International Training Presentation

Joanne Georgiou

2011-10-10T05:16:00.000-07:00

Tourism Industry and Training Expert

Joanne brings to Progress International over 23 years experience in the tourism industry with particular expertise in training, customer service, sales, health & safety and tour operations.

Commencing her travel retail career in 1986 in the capacity of Travel Agent, she quickly progressed to Branch Manager and the years that followed enabled her to consolidate the foundation of her travel knowledge and experience from a Management perspective.

In 1993 Georgiou ventured to Cyprus and worked as a senior overseas representative for 4 years and was later promoted to manage the Operations Department at the company’s Cyprus head office. Her responsibilities involved managing the entire tour operation in Cyprus, overseeing the company’s customer service and sales performance, and delivering training to all travel representatives.

Later progressing to the position of Regional Quality Control Manager, she was also appointed as Chairman of the Federation of Tour Operators in Cyprus. In addition, on a regional scale during this time, she was responsible for the quality management, training and auditing of the health and safety of the entire regional operation overseeing the effective management of a tour operations programme that carried over 80,000 tourists.

A highly competent training professional who has built a formidable career in the challenging and innovative world of tourism.

Alejandro Kindsvater

2011-09-29T03:09:00.000-07:00

Training & Psychology specialist

Born in Argentina, with Italian double nationality, and fluent in Spanish, Italian, English and Portuguese, Alejandro is also proficient in both German and French with a degree in Psychology and Languages. His absolute passion for communication and culture, along with his proactive mentality, brought him to the cruise ship industry and to his role within the team at Progress International.

Kindsvater enjoyed more than 7 years on-board, organising and executing multilingual entertainment activities, introducing new ideas and being promoted to lead multi nationality groups. His original psychological approach to the team has provoked a strong co-operative attitude, attaining high satisfaction levels in collaborators and guests, generating exceptional results.

Following intense on-board work experience, having consolidated planning, leadership, team management and training aptitude, he is continuing his career through the Costa Campus Program and Progress International.

As a consultant here, he develops training programs to empower the human resources in the hospitality industry. Meanwhile, his interest in people and enterprises, along with his desire for new challenges, has led him to the discovery of the organisational coaching field, where he excels.

Andrea Nagele

2011-09-18T03:19:00.000-07:00

Andrea brings over 20 years experience in tourism, the hotel business, and on-board luxury cruise ships.

Her career commenced in the Cruise Industry as Tour Leader & Assistant Shore Excursion Manager with Peter Deilmann Shipping Company on-board MS Berlin – the German ‘Love Boat’ during those times. Through a succession of promotions she became Shore Excursion Manager before taking the prestigious role of Cruise Director with the same shipping line and travelling extensively on a global scale with numerous ships. Under her direction was the entire cruise organisation, team management and team training, cost control, public relations and quality management.

Due to her profound knowledge and international range of experience she has worked for Elegant Cruises, Port Washington, New York on-board their luxury small ships MS Andrea & MS Monet, where she has served as the Owner’s on-board representative and the Corporate Cruise Director of Elegant Cruises. In addition to the writing of manuals for the crew and staff, increasing repeating passengers, and exceeding revenue targets, Nagele delivered training on special area and destination knowledge, implemented team building activities and planned the unique itineraries of future voyages and expedition cruises.

Joining the Progress team she delivers tailor-made training units and professional expertise to a formidable Costa Crociere Management and TUI Management Training Project where her fluency in seven languages is an asset.

Amalia Decca

2011-09-08T02:27:00.000-07:00

Fluent in 5 languages, a Masters in Tourism Management specialising in Human Resources from Bocconi University in Milan, and a B.A. in English and American Literature from Florence University; Amalia Decca brings with her an impressive CV and a plethora of enviable skills to Progress’ team.

With several years on-board cruise ships, such as SunLine Cruises, Costa Crociere, and Variety Cruises, and her 15 years spent in publishing as an Executive in Public Relations - responsible for supporting relationships with foreign publishing companies in Europe - she brings a wealth of international corporate experience and a distinct flair for training delivery.

Etiquette, perfection in guest relations, and a special artistic flavour in her training and lecturing skills, she has been continually promoted in her career on-board holding positions as wide ranging as International Hostess, Shore Excursion Manager, Entertainment Staff, Port Lecturer and Cruise Director. She is currently a Certified Instructor for Costa Cruises and a training consultant with Progress International.

Otto von Montfort

2011-08-26T03:05:00.000-07:00

Otto Von Montfort brings to Progress International’s respected team an extensive work experience in the fields of luxury hotels, resorts and demanding cruise ship operations.

Having developed a vast knowledge of on-board Ship Hotel operations, and having often seconded as Hotel Director, his efforts have consistently exceeded expectation and brought marked improvements within the overall operations and, having identified methods of improving the crew training, have experienced dramatic increases in revenues on-board.

Von Montfort is a truly highly experienced hospitality professional; driving forward changes and adapting to new strategies as innovation demands. Mentally proactive, a keen innovator and a hugely proficient trainer, his exemplary standards and personal quest for excellence make him a valued, flexible and knowledgeable asset to the Progress team.

Naturally, he is an excellent communicator and, as such, speaks fluently German (Mother tongue), English, Italian and French.

Alberto Civitella

2011-08-22T23:42:00.000-07:00

Cruise Industry Consultant

With an on-board career spanning over 40 years, if there’s something Alberto Civitella doesn’t know about delivering excellence in cruise ship hospitality we’re yet to find it. Hailing from a sea faring town in Naples, from a traditional Italian family drenched in maritime history, Civitella’s decision to commence work at the age of 18 in the kitchens of a prestigious cruise liner was the start of a rare and highly decorated career.

The 1960’s saw the beginning of the modern cruise ship industry as we know it and by 1967 Civitella was an enthusiastic new recruit working his way up the career ladder as a waiter, progressing through the ranks of service and earning an enviable array of accolades. His breathtaking dedication, outstanding performance and unwavering commitment to one singular cruise ship company, Costa Cruises, was rewarded with a wealth of promotions, taking Civitella to the very pinnacle of his career through until 2010 where he had held, for over 10 years, the prestigious title of Corporate Maitre D’hotel.

This visionary role gave Civitella carte blanche to instil his own personal values of delivering customer service excellence throughout the entire catering services on-board the entire fleet of cruise ships flying the Costa flag; driving the workforce to his exacting standards of unbeatable guest interactions and ensuring that Costa surpassed it’s rivals and gained an enviable reputation in this competitive luxury market. He was rewarded with the honorary title of ‘Knight of the Italian Republic decree 141278 serie III’ in 1987 and ‘Knight Officer of the Italian Republic’ in 1996, both honours by decree of the President of the Republic and for outstanding services to hospitality.

A true gentleman with impeccable manners who embraces change but remains resolutely passionate about traditional attitudes to service; a rare professional with a staggering amount of history and knowledge, whom engages young and old with his aptitude for personal relations; Progress International has secured the ultimate innovator as a specialist Cruise Ship Industry Consultant ready to bring his unrivaled experience to your business.

Viola Lewis

2011-08-22T23:33:00.000-07:00

Viola joined the Progress International Trainers and Consultants team in 2010 bringing with her more than 10 years service and training delivery experience in the international tourism industry, along with a wealth of project management, business coaching and mentoring knowledge.

In 2000 she founded her own tourism and training company in order to get hands-on involved with creating memorable experiences for visitors. Two years later she qualified as a Blue Badge Tourist Guide with the Scottish Tourist Guides Association (STGA) and has since served as a Director of the Association. She is currently contracted as STGA Training Manager - a job that demands extensive leadership skills in shaping and implementing policies and strategies in guide training and accreditation.

Furthermore, Lewis is a Trainer with the European Federation of Tourist Guides Associations (FEG) and a Lead International Trainer with the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (WFTGA) and is accredited to deliver the Cruise Guide Endorsement Course.

Lewis’ work with a diverse spectrum of people from different backgrounds greatly informs her training events. She is fluent in both English and German, is an NLP practitioner and holds an MSc and PgD in Information and Administrative Management in addition to a CPD in Adult Teaching and Learning. She has a passion for sharing experiences and delivering inspiring and motivational training events and has become an asset to Progress’ personnel committed to all round Excellence.

Phanie Siatan

2011-08-22T23:22:00.000-07:00

NLP & Training Expert

Ophanie Siatan has specialised in Human Resources and Organisational Development for 8 years on an international scale.

Having started her career with the United Nations as one of the four pioneering Labour Market Analysts of the Global Consulting Service Group, in 2005 Siatan focused on developing her training and facilitation skills joining Business Works, Inc., a consulting firm in the Philippines, as Associate Trainer.

Honing her skills and training in the science of Neuro Linguistics Programming, she joined Progress International where, as a result of her excellent performance and genuine passion for training, she accelerated to conducting training packages on Communications, Professional Image, Customer Service, Sales and Marketing, and Team-building for a variety of multinational corporations and organisations internationally.

Currently, Siatan is working with Progress International in developing customised training modules, employing its unique trademark methodology for the Italian luxury cruise line, Costa Crociere, and its German sister company, AIDA. Moreover, as Costa is expanding its operations in Asia, she has taken responsibility for the Progress training facilitation to the expanding base of on-board crew.

Ivana Curuvija

2011-08-22T23:12:00.000-07:00

Ivana brings over 10 years experience in tourism, professional training, sales, management, tourist guiding and education.

Following an early career as an International Tour Leader ,and later as Sales Manager, for the largest tour operator in Serbia, Curuvija obtained a Masters degree in Tourism and ventured into the world of teaching, becoming a Professor of Sports and Tourism in 2009.

Further to completing the ‘World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (WFTGA) Train the Trainer (TTT)’ course, she became a National Tourist Guide Trainer where her career took her to the roles of International Tourist Guide Trainer, and, thereafter, Cruise Guide Trainer, following the successful completion of the Progress International and WFTGA TTT Course onboard the Costa Concordia. In this capacity, Curuvija has successfully trained tour guides and students of tourism both in Serbia and on a global scale.

Since March 2011, following completion of the Train the Trainer Course in Costa Campus in Genoa, she was welcomed into the training team at Progress International and has excelled at training delivery.

Sonia M. Bantiling

2011-08-22T23:09:00.000-07:00

Having commenced her career in the tourism hospitality industry in the Philippines (working with and launching a number of hotels), Bantiling’s extensive management experience and passion for excellence were perfectly matched to a career on-board.

Gaining a unique working knowledge of several liners, having worked with Costa Crociere, P&O Lines, Princess Cruises, and AISA Cruises, Bantiling also worked with the prestigious luxury yacht charter company, Fraser Yachts, worldwide and in their offices in Monaco.

A highly qualified trainer, having studied the art of training the trainer at Miami University, Florida, her foray into training continued as she completed leadership training through the renowned Dale Carnegie organisation before taking the role of Hospitality Training Head at Magsaysay Institute of Hospitality and Culinary Arts, Indonesia. This role enabled her to assist the inauguration of maritime schools in two regions before spearheading the project with the Costa Preparatory Campus – leading diverse teams of professionals in training.

Bantiling’s experience is both unique and highly diverse; the wealth of which is shared with all the individuals she trains.

Alejandro Kindsvater

2011-08-22T22:56:00.000-07:00

Training & Psychology specialist.

Alejandro has a degree in Psychology and Languages.

He was born In Argentina and has an Italian double Nationality. He speaks fluent Spanish, Italian, English and Portuguese.

He also has an understanding of both German and French.

His passion for communication and culture, bringing together a proactive mentality, brought him to the Cruise Industry, where he is able to further develop the multicultural teamwork value.

Alejandro enjoyed more than seven years on board, organizing and executing multilingual entertainment activities, introducing new ideas and being promoted to lead multi nationality groups. His original Psychological approach to the team has provoked a strong cooperative attitude, attaining high satisfaction levels in collaborators and Guest, and generating excellent results.

After an intense on board work experience, having consolidated planning, leadership, team management and training aptitude, he is continuing his career through Costa Campus Program and Progress International Business Partner.

As a consultant there, Alejandro helps to develop training programs to empower the Human Resources in the Hospitality Industry. Meanwhile, his interest in People and Enterprises, and his desire for new challenges has led him to the discovery of the Organizational Coaching field, where he excels.

Antonella Varbaro

2011-08-15T00:15:00.000-07:00

Antonella brings over 15 years experience in tourism, sales, customer service, training and hospitality.

Appointed as Festival Cruises Corporate Manager, as a result of her excellent on-board performance, her specific expertise covers all aspects of team management, recruitment, sales, cost control, training and development. Under her management targets were exceeded with significantly improved incentives, excellent team morale, improved customer service and company image, and the all important revenue on-board.

Varbaro further developed her career as a Cruise Business Consultant and Project Manager for the Italian agency representing German Tour Operator TUI before joining the Progress International team in 2005.

As Lead Trainer in Italy for technical training across the board of departments with Costa Crociere and AIDA cruises fleet, she creates and delivers professional training packages and has played an instrumental role in the Progress Cruise Guide Training course – which was applauded by the World Federation of Tourist Guides Associations and raises the international standard of cruise ship training.

Grant Holmes

2011-08-15T00:13:00.000-07:00

Grants background features 20 years of experience in Tour Operations, Hotel, Cruise, Marketing, Sales & Training.

His management experience started in an upscale Caribbean gateway for a leading UK Tour Operator in 1990. Performance resulted in best customer service and sales worldwide. In 1992 he was tasked to manage operations and training for the central region in the Algarve (225,000 tourists + 50 staff) for Owners Abroad.

From 1993 to 1998 Grant divided his time between Venezuela & Portugal. In Margarita Island he gained experience in the Real Estate business and a number of Tourism related projects from Youth Hostals to Posadas and Yacht charters. In the Northern Portugal Grant developed an emerging Tourism region "Costa Verde" for the British market. here he also taught in my at a Tourism school.

In 1999 Grant set up, recruited, trained and developed the First Choice Cruise team and directed operations on the Bolero from inception. Here his team exceeded high budget expectations by 50% for sales and by 25% for Customer service in the first year and a half of operation.

Success led to his appointment at Festival Cruises in 2000. Grants position quickly evolved to Director of On Board Revenue / Marketing, Shore Excursions & Tour Operations. Grant managed a 110 million euro income generation budget and innovated revenue and customer service linked training that delivered a comparative industry best in 2003 for Euro fleet of 8 ships averaging 45+ euro pppd, whilst optimizing customer service in harmony.

Today Grant is proud to spearhead Progress International Tourism & Business Services Ltd, whereby with his excellent team of Consultants, they have built an impressive client list featuring Costa Crociere, Aida Cruises, Iberocruceros, Silversea Cruises, World Federation of Tourist Guides Associations, First Choice Holidays, the Government of Cyprus, Larnaka Municipality and several international ports & Tourism Companies.

Grant Holmes’s Specialties:
Custom training with a unique methodology suitable for Cruise Lines, Hotels and businesses of any nature.

Additionally, Grant haas proven expertise in Sales, Marketing & Revenue generation specializing in the Cruise & Hotels and the Tourism / Hospitality Industry.

Emiliano Kindsvater

2011-08-12T01:26:00.000-07:00

Emiliano Kindsvater began his training career in 1998 with the challenging task of teaching people with learning disabilities in Argentina. This profound experience sparked a lifelong passion for learning processes and the methodology of training which, coupled with a keen interest in culture and travel, led him to the Cruise Ship industry.

Multi-lingual Kindsvater, whilst on-board with the entertainment department for Costa Cruises, was swiftly promoted to Head of Entertainment; a role in which he acquired skills in leadership, the planning and development of activities and, of course, training and inspiring his team and guests.

He delivered and excelled himself on all projects and, as such, was promoted to Assistant Cruise Director where he compounded his management and communication key skills, whilst also holding high profile responsibilities for the inauguration of the Costa Luminosa, Italy; an event which led to a Guinness World Record as the first time in history to see two ships inaugurated simultaneously.

In addition to his considerable experience and ‘record breaking achievements’, Kindsvater holds diplomas in Management, Coaching, Communication and Training. His desire to continually innovate within the hospitality industry led him to join the Costa Campus program through Progress International, in the capacity as both a Trainer and Consultant.

Mary Kemp Clarke

2011-07-19T22:17:00.000-07:00

International Tourism and Professional Industry Consultant

Having spent her youth in Buenos Aires until the age of 20, hailing from Scottish heritage, bi-lingual Mary Kemp-Clarke has been involved in the international tourism industry for 16 years, as both a dynamic trainer and professional industry consultant.

Having commenced training, mentoring and assessing for the University of Edinburgh and the STGA in 2000, Kemp-Clarke is now the University’s Deputy Course Director for the 2-year Tourist Guide course in addition to delivering wide ranging freelance training packages in Communication and Presentation Skills, Working with Special Needs, Cultural Awareness & Sensitivities, and Group Management, amongst many others.

The World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (WFTGA) appointed Kemp-Clarke as Lead International Trainer, under which she delivers seminars and courses in Brunei, Bali, India and Estonia. She is also the overall Area Representatives Co-ordinator for the WFTGA, organising an extensive network of over 20 representatives around the world, having also run the portfolio for Latin America for several years. In Portugal, she is accredited as a Trainer for the European Federation of Tourist Guides Associations (FEG) and delivers workshops within Europe for them also.

In addition to her high profile work with the renowned WFTGA, Progress International has secured her enviable knowledge and demonstrated skills to deliver their unique methodology and training packages internationally.

Louise Wilson

2011-07-17T09:54:00.001-07:00

Tourism Training and Education professional

Louise Wilson brings a wealth of corporate training experience to Progress International, having worked her entire career in the travel and tourism training sector.

Louise’s working life began at BMI where she qualified as a Trainer which led to her creating and delivering courses for BA, and thereafter as a full time Lecturer teaching Travel and Tourism qualifications – creating and delivering learning programmes to meet a variety of curricula for several high profile awards, including City & Guilds.

Her reputation as a proficient and passionate trainer grew to such an extent that after 4 years she was head-hunted by ABTA to join their assessment team nationwide, where she was promoted to Project Manager for the official UK government’s NVQ programme, specifically in the area of Travel Services. This varied role enabled Louise to create and deliver workshops for Lecturers and in-house Trainers to introduce correct methods of applying competence based criteria. This in turn led to a later promotion to the first acting National Chief Verifier, in addition to expanding her expertise into the cruise ship and ferry industries.

The Shipping Trade Bodies, in synergy with Passenger Shipping Association, worked with Louise to initiate training packages for on-board personnel; work that was admired to a degree that it led directly to bespoke consultation work and training matrix design with P&O, Sealink, Hoverspeed and Sally Lines.

Progress International presents a dedicated, results driven trainer with a unique high profile career, specifically in the travel sector, where dedication and competence as both a respected trainer and top level consultant have consistently delivered.

Recommended TTT Resources

2011-06-18T23:31:00.000-07:00

In the event you participated in a Progress International "Train the Trainer" TTT course, here below are the recommended books that Trainers Grant Holmes, Antonella Varbaro, Louise Wilson, Andrea Neagele, Alejandro Kindsvater and Phanie Siatan may have referred to...

7 Habits of highly effective people

by Stephen Covey

The 8th habit

by Stephen Covey

How to win friends and influence people

by Dale Carnegie

The Tipping Point

by Malcolm Gladwell

Outliers

by Malcolm Gladwell

The One Minute Manager

by Kenneth Blanchard, Spencer Johnson

Built to last

James Collins, Jerry Porras

The Secret

By Rhonda Byrne

Claudio Todaro

2011-05-22T23:52:00.000-07:00

Photographer and Photo Reporter, Photo Technique Expert.

Claudio has worked in Photography for over 14 years and 5 of them for cruise Companies.
In 1997 he has enjoyed Festival Cruises, where he has started as photographer and in few months his career on board had a series of promotions, from printer to shop manager and then he become the trainer of the newbies photographers on board, arranging the training and the best role for any team member.
From 2000 to 2006 Claudio has been Photographer for Tourist Magazines and he has worked as Photo Manager on Grandi Navi Veloci, leading teams of six people,
During the last few years, from 2006 to 2009, he has been involved in international work experiences in Fashion, Marketing, Advertising, working with different companies as photographer and consultant, covering different roles and positions and he has been part of National and International projects.
Today Claudio is proud to be part of the Progress Services consultant team, where he can share his experience and his knowledge in a well organized, flexible and professional company.

SMART Objectives

2010-04-11T09:36:00.001-07:00

Every Task, Objective or Exercise that a Trainer executes should be SMART!

So what does it mean to be SMART? For simplicity, the letters of the word SMART indicate how you can test whether a Task, Objective or Exercise is SMART or not:-

S = Specific
Be specific (not vague). State precisely how to accomplish the objective.

M = Measured
Measure whether the objective has been successfully completed.

A = Accurate
Your information must be accurate. It cannot be incorrect or assumed!

R = Realistic
The task must be realistically possible to achieve.

T = Timed
Set a clear time frame for the objective to be completed by.

Understanding Revenue Choices

2009-09-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

For 10 years, Columbia professor Sheena Lyengar has been studying choice for her research paper “When Choice is demotivating”. The following test was created:-

PHASE 1

They set up a free tasting booth in a Grocery store, with 6 different Jams. 40% of the Customers stopped to taste. 30% of those bought some.

PHASE 2

A week later, they set up the same booth in the same store, but this time with 24 different Jams. 60% of the customers stopped to taste. But only 3% bought some!

CONCLUSIONS

Both groups actually tasted an average of 1.5 Jams. So the huge difference in buying can't be blamed on the 24-jam customers being full. Lessons learned:-

1. Having many choices seems appealing (40% vs. 60% stopped to taste).
2. Having many choices makes them 10 times less likely to buy (30% vs. 3% actually bought).

CLOSING ADVICE

Narrow the options you present to the Customer for best sales results!

Progress Approach

2009-07-20T06:18:00.000-07:00

The Training World is overloaded with “Off the Shelf” Training products from Team Building to Emotional Intelligence that after the initial Euphoria often fade away in terms of their impact. Reason being they are square pegs (fixed training products) forced into round holes (a Company’s individual needs).

The Progress approach is dramatically different, as we aim to first understand the needs of each individual Company and then we focus on conceptually establishing the core objectives for training “to begin with the end in mind”. From this understanding we create a structure of Modules that are divided into stages and begin formulating a custom-made training product.

Here below are examples of core objectives that can be reliably achieved.

- Prepare and orientate new hires to work in a new environment.
- Generate loyalty & trust in a Company.
- Transmit Company values, product and procedures.
- Fuel desire & commitment for a long term career.
- Train new skill sets and techniques.
- Ensure consistency for the delivery of a quality product.
- Optimize manning levels, efficiency, productivity and synergy.
- Reduce turnover and speed up the integration period.
- Increase sevice and sales levels.

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Body Language: Techniques

2009-07-20T02:28:00.000-07:00

Body language is the most important part of communication which can constitute more than 50% of what we are communicating. If you wish to communicate well, then it makes sense to understand how you can (and cannot) use your body to say what you mean.

Body language comes in clusters of signals and postures, depending on the internal emotions and mental states. Recognizing a whole cluster is thus far more reliable than trying to interpret individual elements. Herebelow an entire list:

Aggressive body language: Showing physical threat.
Attentive body language: Showing real interest.
Bored body language: Just not being interested.
Closed body language: Many reasons are closed.
Deceptive body language: Seeking to cover up lying or other deception.
Defensive body language: Protecting self from attack.
Dominant body language: Dominating others.
Emotional body language: Identifying feelings.
Evaluating body language: Judging and deciding about something.
Greeting body language: Meeting rituals.
Open body language: Many reasons for being open.
Power body language: Demonstrating one's power.
Ready body language: Wanting to act and waiting for the trigger.
Relaxed body language: Comfortable and unstressed.
Romantic body language: Showing attraction to others.
Submissive body language: Showing you are prepared to give in.

You can send signals with different parts of the body. Here's details of the contributions of each part of the body.

Head: Face, Cheek, Chin, Mouth, Lips, Teeth, Tongue, Nose, Eyes, Eyebrow, Forehead, Hair
Arm: Elbow, Hand, Finger
Torso: Neck, Shoulder, Chest, Back, Belly, Bottom, Hips
Legs: Thigh, Knee, Foot

Remember that body language varies greatly with people and especially with international cultures.

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Ready for Excellence Tours course successfully launched in Genoa

2009-02-24T03:31:00.000-08:00

The new Ready for Excellence Tours course created by Progress International and a Cruise Industry first, was successfully launched on Monday 16th of February in the Costa Crociere Corporate office of Genoa.

The Progress professional Trainer conducting the first training Antonella Varbaro commented that all Students contributed and performed well throughout the course and the pass rate for the first week of Exams was exceptionally high. Congratulations are therefore in order to all participating Students.

The first week of the course is called “Costa Compass” and it is designed to orientate Students towards Costa Crociere as a Company and towards to the challenging life of working on board a Cruise ship.

Subsequent weeks will focus on technical Tours training, Tour Marketing and Sales and Basic Safety Training.

Part of the funding for the Ready for Excellence Tours course originates from the European Union in collaboration with Costa Crociere. There were over 370 applicants for 20 places.

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Understanding Shape Personalities

2008-10-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

Different personality types conflict if they fail to realize that each person operates differently.

The Square, Rectangle and Triangle are all Convergent. They work towards something specific and finite in a logical, systematic way: However, they might be lacking in personal creativity.

The circle and squiggle are divergent. They are creative, expressive and Intuitive. They explore, question and reach out around them into new areas and to other people. They are not however particularly systematic, regulated or consistent.

Convergent people might be frustrated that their Divergent compatriots do not seem to religiously complete precisely what they are supposed to, and feel they are easily distracted from daily tasks and may not care enough for set deadlines.

Divergent people might find their Convergent colleagues cold and narrow–minded, not taking human factors, emotions and new possibilities or developments into consideration.

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Shape your Personality!

2008-10-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

Amazingly your gut reaction natural selection of a shape indicates aspects and tendencies of your personality. Here is a rough guide to help you understand your Personality shape...

RECTANGLE: Structure & Regularity.
You'll establish it via meetings, committees, and by taking all regulations into consideration. You organize Tasks in a systematic way. You need to see how things are organized and feel comfortable knowing that well defined systematic techniques are being used.

SQUIGGLE: Off the wall & Creative.
You feel best doing new and different things most of the time and get bored with regularity. When given a task, you'll come up with bright ideas as unexpected angles are what motivate you. For you, its fine if no technique is followed and every session is entirely different.
4
CIRCLE: Social & Communicative with no hard edge behaviour.
You handle matters by talking about them and smoothing things out with everybody. Communication is the 1st priority. When given a task, you like to discuss it without a plan, but need to talk about the topic at hand. Getting to an overall harmonious situation is more important than getting techniques done right.

TRIANGLE: Planning and executing.
You get motivated by the achievements. You tend to look at long-term issues but might forget the details. You take great pleasure in checking off each accomplished task on a task list. If the direction of an action is clear, you can be quite flexible about how to get there.

SQUARE: Comfortable with a stable environment and clear directions.

You're conservative and like things that are orderly. If given a task, you'll work until its finished, even if its cumbersome and lonely. You need specific work instructions and wont be happy just floating around. No problem if the task is repetitious, as regularity is comfort.

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Who Are You?

2008-10-24T14:55:00.001-07:00

People are different! If you are not able to adjust to different Personality types, you'll probably interact with or attract only the ones similar to yourself and others are just as likely not to appreciate what you do.

If you do recognize and try to understand people who function differently from yourself, then there is no limit to who you can deal with successfully! In categorizing personalities, no value judgments are involved. None is better than the other; each is a fragmented package with qualities good for certain purposes rather than others.

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Progress Training overview

2008-08-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

Learning is a highly personal process and each individual perceives and understands in their own individual way. Based on this principle, Progress has created a unique training methodology to capture all learner types and create, develop and execute training to ensure a target of 85% memory retention. All Progress training can be custom made to suit the varying demands of Companies and individuals alike. In all cases our training is highly interactive and motivational.

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