Been a month of getting back to work?
How to support your staff after you’ve opened your café doors again.
Recently in the UK cafés and other hospitality venues were able to re-open for outdoor service.  For many staff this has meant coming back to work for the first time in several months. After unprecedented levels of uncertainty surrounding employment, health & socializing in the last year; this is undoubtedly a big deal.  So how can we manage the transition between furlough and returning to work in a way that supports our teams and maintains feelings of safety, support and camaraderie? 
1) Check people’s availability
Before bringing people back to work on their previous schedule it’s a good idea to check their availability.  Chances are it’s been a long time since they worked those hours and, if you’re able to; it would mean a lot to your team & probably be a good opportunity for you to make sure the rota works for everyone.  Rather than bringing a small number of staff back full-time, consider phased returns with flexible-furlough to give the whole team the chance to ease back into the rigors of the job and the ‘new normal.’ If you’ve already bought staff back make sure you do regular check ins with them. After all, staff are the core of your business and their happiness is paramount.
2) Ensure safety measures are in place
It’s essential to make sure you are adhering to government guidelines to keep both staff, and customers safe.  Not only will you want to do this from a legal standpoint; it’s also essential to show your staff that you’re taking their safety seriously indeed.  In all likelihood they have legitimate concerns about re-opening and its impact on their health so take time to explain measure you have put in place, and reassure your team.
3) Address mental health as a priority
It’s well-documented that Covid-19 and its related restrictions is having a detrimental effect on the nation’s mental health.  69% of adults report feeling somewhat or very worried about the effect Covid-19 is having on their life.  This heightened anxiety is affecting people of all ages and  backgrounds and it’s only the tip of the wellbeing-iceberg. So it’s fair to assume that your staff’s mental health may have taken a battering during the last year and that you will need to take this into consideration when re-opening.  Mind, the mental health charity have a great resource for helping employers support mental wellbeing in the workplace but the most important thing you can do is to create a culture where staff feel supported and safe to discuss their mental health openly.
If you don’t already have regular chats with staff, them make sure you schedule the time to sit and listen to them. Providing a safe space can be as much about holding metaphorical space for people to freely speak as about a physical area. If people are anxious, having a supportive manager/owner will go a long way to help them ease back in.
4) Always have a backup plan
If we’ve all learnt anything from the last year or so, it’s that when plan-A doesn’t work out we’ll need to run through a few more letters of the alphabet before we reach a plan that does!  Optimism for the future is great, and we definitely need it, but it’s also necessary to be realistic. It’s likely one or several of your team might need to take extra time off for illness or to isolate in the next few months, this might be at very short notice so always make sure you have a subs-bench ready to step in. Have several back-up plans in place for things like staffing, procedures and marketing so that if something goes awry; you’re not clutching for a solution. After all, if Covid-19 has taught us anything, it's that you never know what's coming next...

In my last blog I wrote about how I’m embracing collaborative working with other freelancers in order to get more done & offer a better service to my clients.  The thing that has struck me while talking to my network of colleagues & fellow freelancers is just how tough the last year has been on solo-workers. The beauty of freelance work is the freedom it allows us; to work where & when we choose, to network & collaborate with a wide variety of colleague & clients who share our interests & drive.  But this year has really challenged the working dream!

Humans by nature are sociable creatures so it’s frightening to think about the long-term impact that this forced isolation will have on society as a whole.  This most recent lockdown is taking its toll on everyone with large numbers of people going several days at a time without human connection. This is no good for our wellbeing. 
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I think it’s totally understandable to not be feeling at the top of your game right now. There’s a lot going on, and it gets even harder if you’re trying to home-school too whilst keeping an income rolling in. Support for self-employed people has been minimal, and for those newly self-employed due to losing their jobs it’s non-existent, so the pressure for peak productivity is high!

As freelancers we’re used to working on our own iniative and self-motivating but after almost a year of isolation in stressful, uncertain times with constantly changing rules, even the most stoic character would feel the effects.  A lot of fellow freelancers I talk to are finding increasingly that they’re feeling the cumulative effects of the last few months on their wellbeing.  I’m having weekly conversations with my network about fighting feelings of frustration, loneliness, low-motivation and uncertainty. And it’s not just a couple of people – it’s EVERYONE I talk to.

So I had an idea. My network is full of interesting, funny, warm and wonderful people so why not make some connections & offer these people the chance to cheer each other up!  It’s easy to think you’re the only one feeling the struggle if no-one else is talking about it. So I’m introducing ‘Freelancer Fridays’ as a chance for fellow lone-workers to connect with their peers and give a little moral support for the crazy times we’re all living in.  

The event is a monthly, informal zoom meet-up for anyone who wants to chat with fellow freelancers about the joys of home-working, home-schooling, finding motivation or new clients in a pandemic & anything else that springs to mind.  Use it as a networking opportunity, or just a way to see some smiling faces & take 40 mins out of your day for a wellbeing boost.

If you want to join in send me a message to [email protected] and I’ll sign you up!

The aim is to run them the last Friday of every month, from 2pm but keep an eye on Caffeina Socials for any extra updates! 

Happy January folks!

Over Christmas, I'll admit I not only got to rest, but I managed to switch off to such a degree I actually got to reflect on things (a rarity when you are often working 60+ hours weeks every week). One of the things I was really reflecting on was the impact of the past year on those of us that aren't employed by others.

Running a business or being self employed is hard work. 2020 and the Coronavirus pandemic seemed to push that to a whole new level, leaving people feeling completely isolated and unsupported and also adding a whole new raft of 'newly-unemployed-so-finding-myself-going-it-alone' freelancers.

When you’re running your own business you get used to mastering a lot of different skills all at once.  While my first loves are coffee and education, in order to make my freelance career work I’ve had to pick up a raft of new, unrelated skills.  
Any self-employed person will understand that there’s a lot of plates to keep spinning. Some of them will help pay the bills, some of them don’t, but they must be done nonetheless .
It’s a difficult balancing act to know where to expend your energy, which tasks require the most attention & in what order of priority.  One of the wisest things a freelancer can do is recognise when it’s time to accept their own limitations and collaborate with an expert instead.
I am a  firm believer in supporting fellow freelancers and am lucky enough to know a network of skilled professionals I can call on for collaborative working.  Since Covid-19 has caused a dramatic reduction in face-to-face contact with colleagues or clients; this year I have decided that I will aim to fully embrace collaborative work with my fellow freelancers and where better to address it than here in the blog?

Throughout my working career it sometimes feels like I have signed as many NDA's (Non-Disclosure Agreements) as I've had hot coffee, so sometimes it can be really tough being a 'silent' member of the team. Plus - lets be real, how can you showcase your talent if you aren't allowed to reveal the work you're doing?

So, in the spirit of celebrating collaborative work I would like to introduce some extra members of the Caffeina team who have worked with me, lending their abilities, support & skills to the Caffeina cause. You'll also find some gorgeous pics of them on the 'Meet The Team' page here.

 
Brooke Collins
Brooke is the resident design guru. A qualified interior designer, she helps with café layouts and interior styling as well as branding & graphic design for clients.  
Brooke is a fellow freelancer, running her own business Brooke Harmony Design and we’re grateful to have her to call on for design work and collaborations.  She’s learned lots about coffee but still prefers tea & when she’s not glued to her computer, you’ll find her on a site visit or exploring the wilds of South-West England.

Jess Palmer
Certified word-nerd Jess is our go-to writer.  She works on our blogs, articles for trade-publications and social media content.  Before setting up her copywriting company Neon, Jess spent a few years working in the coffee industry, building her knowledge & sampling as many different coffees as she could get her hands on.  Also a qualified teacher; Jess shares the Caffeina dedication to high quality coffee education & inclusivity.
When not busily typing away, Jess can be found at the beach with her dogs curled up with a good book.

Rachel Rees
Rachel is a coffee lover & barista based in South Wales and is lesson planner extraordinaire! 
She has a biology degree & 15 years of secondary school teaching experience, so the coffee industry really doesn't scare her.
She is also mum to two young boys.
When not working or being mum, you'll usually find her enjoying (more) coffee, baking, travelling or blogging about any number of those things!

​So, here I am introducing some members of the broader Caffeina team. The people that listen to my crazy ideas, encourage me to crack on, and support me with their skills so we can deliver the best possible outcome available to clients all around the world.

May 2021 be the year of collaboration, community, support and guidance and feel free to reach out if you want to join the team or just want a fellow freelancer to lean on!

Emma x

When teaching adults vocational skills, it’s absolutely vital to have a secure grasp of the material you’re teaching, that’s a given.  However, something that is all too often overlooked in adult education is the trainer’s understanding of pedagogy. Yet it’s just as crucial as being an expert in your field. 
Pedagogy is the theory & practise behind all good teaching.  For me, as a coffee skills trainer it’s not enough to just know a lot about coffee; I also need to understand how to best get this knowledge or skillset across to my students. 
In its simplest expression ‘teaching’ is the delivering of knowledge and ‘learning’ is the intake of knowledge.  They are closely linked, but distinct processes. An ineffective teacher will inhibit the success of the learner and an un-engaged learner will not retain information, no matter how passionately delivered by the teacher.  The student’s success is dependent on an effective teacher, and also how well they’re able to engage in the lesson.
The proof that the learning process has been successful is almost always in the form of a test, or a demonstration that the student can apply the new knowledge independently.  This is a universally accepted model of assessing the efficacy of teaching and learning, no matter the age group or the subject.  So far so simple, right?
The challenge for teachers arises from the simple fact that no two learners are built the same.  What works for one, may not necessarily equal success for another. So how do we, as trainers, ensure that every student we teach is set up for success?  
It’s all about inclusion.  That means for EVERY learner you may encounter.

How to facilitate success for ALL learners
The students I teach are a diverse bunch; coming to their learning with lots of experiences, strengths and limitations that make them unique.  For me, inclusive teaching is not just a box I try to tick, it’s a responsibility to each learner who has the right to be given the opportunity to excel. It’s something I’m passionate about, and I make no apology for holding our industry to account for inclusive practises. 
There should be no physical, mental, cognitive, linguistic or any other difficulty that can’t be overcome with some adaptive, inclusive teaching. And it’s easier than you might think.
The simplistic approach to teaching & learning in the introduction makes the journey of successful learning seem straightforward: Teacher spouts out some knowledge, student takes notes & regurgitates the information during the test. Voila! Learning has occurred!  
However the process we go through to get a successful outcome can follow any number of patterns or identities. Delivery of knowledge tends to default to spoken or written, and demonstration of knowledge tends to take the form of a written test.  But these are not the only ways to achieve successful teaching & learning.
What if your student understood every word you spoke, but was so severely dyslexic they couldn’t read or write well enough to perform for the test? Have they truly failed or could there be another way to demonstrate how knowledgeable they now are? 
Being an inclusive trainer means using a variety of supporting resources and adapting your teaching style to meet the needs of your learning.  It’s worth investing some time in creating resources or thinking about the structure of your lessons.  Imagine the variety of students you might come across and the barriers to success they may need to overcome: Is your current teaching style up to the challenge?
As an educator and a human being I would hate to think a student felt marginalised, unsuccessful, or excluded during any of my courses.  Being an inclusive trainer is a mindset we must all take on.  It’s an acknowledgment that a human’s default state is not able-bodied & ‘normo-cognitive.’ It’s a dedication to sometimes uncomfortable reflections on my own performance, prejudices and provision; and being open to learning & adapting my teaching style, lesson content & physical environment to better advocate for students’ achievement.
 
Accessibility
Once you have adopted the inclusive mindset you will already be thinking of some of the barriers to success your students will bring with them to lessons.  Accessibility is the practise of ensuring that, wherever possible you make provision to help the learner overcome these barriers – At the very least we should pledge to not make the difficulty worse through an unsympathetic teaching style!
Accessible lessons are ones where the trainer provides learning materials or resources in different formats, styles or languages. Your students may have difficulty with auditory processing, written language or understanding more than one instruction at a time.  But if you have pre-empted and provided for each type of learner your lessons will be accessible through written, visual, auditory & kinaesthetic delivery and activities – all can flourish in this environment.
Students with Physical difficulties may need the environment adapted to promote their success.  For example, I taught barista skills to a student with impaired motor skills, (potentially a big challenge to his success as a barista).  We overcame a lot of difficulties simply by changing the layout of the equipment on the bar & finding some ancillary items to support efficient workflow – simple steps to success!
 
Representation matters
Now that your lessons offer the possibility of achievement for all learners it’s important that your students see themselves reflected in your teaching resources.  As I have said; there is no ‘default’ human so representing all types of learners in your materials is a clear signal to students that this is a space where all are valued and all can succeed. Whether it’s through pictures, names, anecdotes you use to support your teaching: Show up for BAME, disabled, LGBTQ+ people. 

A little louder for the people at the back: I cannot stress how powerful it is to represent minority groups!  
 
Paving the path to success
As a vocational trainer I have a passion for my subject & the industry that has encouraged me to this point in my career.  I want to see the coffee industry thrive, despite the difficulties we currently face.  The absolute key to our growth & success is in attracting and promoting talented people into the field and this can only be achieved if the route is clear.  As a trainer it is my job to pave the way & ensure that success is open to anyone with the drive & passion to succeed, no matter the challenges they face. As a coffee lover it is important that I help support and build up our beautiful industry. By holding people accountable and providing support to inclusion for everyone, right through the value chain, we can strive for a better, more inclusive learning environment for everyone.