British Library
Telling the Story of a Gazillion Stories - Upskilling experienced tour guides whilst onboarding new recruits to ensure consistent excellence throughout.
“The team have been working well with the tours, and bedding in the new techniques. The feedback from everyone has been really positive.”
Visitor Experience Manager – British Library.
Beginning.
The British Library exists to stimulate the creation of new knowledge. It holds a copy of every book, newspaper, magazine, podcast, pamphlet, manuscript, map, patent, stamp etc. produced in the UK and Ireland (and many more besides) for research, inspiration and enjoyment.
The Library had ten experienced and twelve new tour guides, none of whom had received training for their roles. This was seen as an opportunity for the Library to create a new highlights tour whilst upskilling their current tour delivery team and giving the new recruits the confidence and ability to engage the incredibly diverse groups they would be showing around with the history, purpose, collection and architecture of the British Library.
Middle.
Teams were taken through a 3-day programme that introduced them to the new route and content they would all be using. Each used one stop as their source material on to which they learnt the storytelling skills needed to adapt and personalise their content and delivery to connect with their visitors on any given day.
Alongside the workshops with us, those with greater experience buddied up with the new recruits to mentor them in a supportive, skills sharing capacity.
End.
We left the Library with an enlarged group of confident guides who were more than able to meet the growing demand for tours. There is now a collective high level of quality and content from all, whilst each guide brings their own voice, individuality and specialist interest/knowledge. This now ensures that return visitors who are keen to go on a tour again not only get to cement their knowledge of the Library, but also pick up new secrets and insights along the way.ld. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
