The Kilmore Racing Club has officially entered a new era of digital innovation as the organisation (inclusive of Kilmore Trackside and The Bendigo Club) launched the Racing Above technology ecosystem across all venues.
The launch coincides with the busiest time of the year for the Club, with the upcoming Kilmore Cup quickly followed by end of year celebrations and events, with staff performance at its most crucial during this period. The changing face of welcoming new staff to the hospitality industry, as well as the reset required for existing staff post pandemic shutdowns means the launch of Welcome to Kilmore Racing Club has landed at the perfect time.
Emma Burchett, Head of People & Culture at Kilmore Racing Club, has led the learning and development strategy for the organisation over the last five years and explains the importance of leveraging technology at this phase of business growth.
“We are seeing less experienced people coming into hospitality and we want to provide them with every chance to succeed when they arrive in venue. Welcome to Kilmore Racing Club allows new staff to learn more about the business before they arrive for day one. With this prior knowledge, they can come in with greater confidence and accelerate their learning and overall performance.”
Emma Burchett, Head of People & Culture
The timing of the launch has also been strategically manoeuvred to coincide with the run into the busiest period for the business and its venues.
“From September onwards our staff are all hands-on deck with the delivery of the Kilmore Pacing Cup and Kilmore Cup (gallops) followed by end of year celebrations which have both venues at capacity. We believe that the one hour staff put into their professional development by completing Welcome to Kilmore Racing Club will have significant return, developing efficiencies and enhancing performance across the business. The timing is perfect and we’re already seeing great results and interesting data just a few days after launching the portal.”
For Playbk Sports Co-founder Damian Hecker, this launch realises the execution of a strategy that had been formulated years earlier only to be scuppered by the onset of Covid and the devastating impact this had on the hospitality industry.
“We have worked with Kilmore Racing Club for many years (previously as Leaders of Evolution) and the idea of scaling learning through tech was discussed regularly. The launch of Racing Above is a sign that business, and sport, is recovering and identifying new ways to improve performance.
More than that, we have metrics in place that can measure the impact we are having and how these metrics correlate to efficiencies, connection to the organisation and overall performance. These outcomes have significant value and we’re exploring how we devise a model that identifies what this return to the business is in financial terms.”
Perhaps most critically, planning is underway for the next suite of learning resources – The KRC Masterclass Series.
These short micro courses will better prepare staff to carry out the fundamental, yet critical tasks of their role and delivering on the Club’s vision to be the best entertainment venue in Regional Australia.
Emily Milwain, Head of Compliance & Training has been close to the planning process and explains how the organisation intends to blend digital and face to face education to accelerate staff learning and development.
“The Racing Above technology ecosystem provides us with the platform to deliver consistent education in a digital setting, that will be supported through on the job coaching.
Emily Milwain, Head of Compliance & Training
We have a high benchmark associated with how we provide hospitality and the ability for all staff to consistently deliver on the basics of their role is critical in that. The Masterclass series will establish a clear and concise framework, leveraging engaging video that we will then follow up in person, within 48 hours as staff complete these short courses. This will help us combat the forgetting curve and invest in our people to be experts in what they do. There’s an exciting buzz around the team since the launch of Racing Above.”
As phase one of the project focuses on the skill set of internal staff there are plans to explore outward facing content and commercialising this, building an education arm to the Kilmore Racing Club which is powered by Racing Above.
Within the sports business sector in Australia, Kilmore Racing Club continue to push ahead of the curve in the development of their people, realising commercial opportunities and now embracing digital to tie these areas together.
Expect more content and technological innovation from Regional Australia’s best entertainment provider into the future.
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