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EFFORTLESS, INC.
PO Box 280
Gig Harbor, WA 98335 USA
(800) 767-1055
(253) 858-9255
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| EHC #562 Insights for the Professionally Curious | November 7, 2008 |
Good Morning!
Regardless of your individual political leaning, you have just been privileged to be an eyewitness to what I predict will be regarded as a turning point in history -- certainly in the US and perhaps in the world.
You may think it is a turn toward the light or you may feel we are headed over a cliff -- nobody will really know until events play out. The significance of the presidential campaign of 2008 will be documented more eloquently by others because there have been many important "firsts" that signal a change in direction for us all.
I find myself moved by the week's events in a way I have never experienced before. So please allow me to share a few thoughts ... and to draw an important lesson from it that you can apply to your business.
Before I offer that comment, though, let me be clear that the EHC is primarily dedicated to discussions of hospitality. Unfortunately our country has become so polarized that almost any comment about the times we live in can be taken as a political statement if you choose to look at it that way. Please don't go there.
Just as your staff will never see things exactly the same way you do, your view (on almost anything) will always be slightly different from mine as well. Seeking to understand another person's point of view is part of becoming a good listener. You don't have to agree, disagree or have an opinion one way or the other ... but you DO have to respect that their thinking has value to them. A difference of perspective is not a personal attack.
Today's articles are a little longer than usual and I really don't want to cut any of them out for the Comp Edition. As a result there is just one version of the EHC this week. Next week I will be back to more businesslike topics ... and return to two separate editions of the EHC.
Bill Marvin
The Restaurant Doctor
PS: If you start to get irritated by anything I am saying, just stop reading it. I won't mind. I'll have something different to offer next week anyway.
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 I Am SO Proud Of Us!
New Direction, New Possibilities
Even if your candidate didn't win this week, you have reason to celebrate. We all do. Because Barack Obama's impressive victory says a lot about America and Americans.
Forty years ago, the potential of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy ended tragically and prematurely, casualties of hate and intolerance. To one extent or another, the history of our country since then has carried an undertone of that same sort of division and fear.
On Tuesday the majority of US voters decided that enough was enough, that we wanted to cast aside the fear and the labels ... that we were ready to step into an uncertain future with a different mindset.
We turned out in unprecedented numbers to make sure that no amount of confused voter rolls, malfunctioning machines, endless lines, or ballot shortages would block our way. Regardless of how you voted, the fact that you took the time to do it makes you an American hero ... and the results of your courage and determination shook the world.
Personally I believe we are back on track toward realizing our full potential as a country and as a people. I am so proud that enough of us had the courage to say no to negativity, fear and divisiveness and move beyond the issues of race, religion and gender. I think we will rediscover that the "Real America" -- the ideal we all hold in our heads about what this country is all about -- was there all the time ... it has just been scared into hiding, waiting for this moment.
I am not naive enough to believe that Obama's election marks a magical solution to all the serious challenges that we face right now, but perhaps it tells us that we are at least at the beginning of something better. I am most excited that people are excited about being part of the process again -- that in itself is a huge change for the better. (See my comments below about killing enthusiasm.)
America's history has always been marked by great breakthroughs followed by decades of consolidation and eventual regression. It's certainly time for another American breakthrough. Let's hope that this is it.
In the end, perhaps the "race question" once feared to be Obama's potential undoing, will turn out to be the factor that makes him the perfect leader for these uncertain times. Our new president will have the chance to prove to his detractors that wisdom, vision and leadership are not the exclusive properties of one ideology or one race.
If he can do that -- and I pray that he can -- then perhaps we can start to look at each other with new respect and move past our fear of "the other" to embrace our shared humanity. There is nothing we cannot accomplish and no future we cannot create ... together. We will all have to work for it, though.
There is so much to do and so little time to do it. Let's get busy.
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 Killing Enthusiasm
Applying The Lesson to Hospitality
You deal in a business of perishables. I am sure you have had the pain of tossing out hundreds of dollars worth of product that had spoiled because of poor handling so I know you are sensitized to the perishable nature of raw ingredients.
But there is a more precious commodity you may often toss away without knowing it -- one that can represent an even more devastating loss. I am talking about the enthusiasm of your staff.
- Have you ever had a staff member come to you with an idea ... and shot them down because you knew it would not work?
- Have you ever thought an employee was "stupid" because their way of seeing things didn't match your own ideas of right and wrong?
- Have you ever resisted ideas from your staff because you didn't think of them first?
- Do you think the manager's job is to have all the answers?
(Reflect on these questions before answering. If you are really feeling brave, ask your staff if they have ever observed these behaviors in you.)
If you can answer "yes" or even "maybe" to any of these questions, you are probably guilty of killing enthusiasm. When it happens, your operation loses, your bottom line loses ... and you frequently lose a good worker along with it. Can you afford any of these costs?
I often suggest that the real job of management is not to run the joint, but rather to teach the staff how to run the joint! Your job as a coach is to develop the talent of your players, not to prove what a great talent you are yourself.
When someone on your crew gets excited about an idea that they think can make things work better, your job is to embrace their enthusiasm and help channel it in a productive direction before it spoils. This doesn't mean that every hot idea will be workable, but you will get farther by encouraging their excitement than you will by bursting their bubble.
The valuable commodity is the enthusiasm itself, not necessarily what it is that they are enthused about.
People are always more invested in their own ideas than they are in someone else's so whenever possible, give them a chance to give their ideas a try. If the notion is truly unworkable, they will quickly find out for themselves ... and they will have learned something. But you might be surprised at how many times they can make something work that you never thought would fly.
You got to where you are today because of all your "great experience," most of which is probably derived from lessons you learned by trying out ideas that didn't work out quite the way you had planned. If you do not give your staff the ability and support to test their ideas -- on their own, without a net -- they will never find out how good they are.
The more you help your staff discover their own unique excellence, the more you can harness their enthusiasm and use it to the good of your operation, the less time you will have to spend on the job, and the more profit you will see.
Never kill enthusiasm. It is your most valuable -- and perishable -- commodity.
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 Keeping Your Sanity
Finding Balance In a Tipsy World
Are you feeling campaign withdrawal? For so many months it has been all about politics -- candidates, commercials, charges, counter-charges, "debates" and the like -- and then suddenly it is all over but the shouting ... or the crying ... or whatever you may be feeling right now. You may want to take a rest.
But there really is no time to regain your balance because Thanksgiving is coming up fast, followed immediately by the sentimental craziness of the holiday season. Until the end of December it will be all holidays all of the time. The restaurant will (hopefully) be hopping and you will have to balance the demands of the business with your family's needs to have you home to share at least some bit of quality time with them.
Then suddenly it will be January. When you finally have time to catch your breath you will realize that sales have tanked and you have to scramble to keep the ship afloat because you didn't have any time in December to put the programs in place that would prop up sales during the January slump.
And so it goes, month to month, year to year. Do you recognize a pattern here? Hugh Prather once said, "Often the way I am working on a problem is a clue as to how I am keeping it a problem."
Of course you need predictable sales and a profitable restaurant ... but if you are working to make a living and you have no time to live ... or if your quality of life is a source of constant stress ... what's the real point of it all?
I love the hospitality business and I love the people who are drawn to it. They are well-intentioned hard-working people who genuinely want to take care of others. What I don't love is the needless struggles so many operators endure because they can't see a better option to the rat race they find themselves caught up in.
The frustrating thing is that I now understand that most the problems you wrestle with are not inherent problems of the restaurant industry. They are just very predictable symptoms of the way you are approaching the problem ... and you are doing it that way because that's the way you were taught to do it.
This is what led me to offer The Birthday Bash for the past four years. This is why I have been so high on the work we have been doing in The Project to Create the Effortless Organization ... and this is why the rest of my life will be about integrating all these resources into a simple support system that will allow you to truly become A Place of Hospitality.
Am I being a bit philosophical here? Well, yes ... but only because I want to see you put the joy back into your work and the experience of hospitality back into your business. Are you ready for that?
Do you have the courage to let your life be easy?
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Copyright ©2008 William Marvin. All rights reserved.
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