Where Leadership Begins

 It’s a simple fact that leadership begins in your own head. It starts with the attitude you take toward yourself and the people around you.

How do you think of yourself? Do you see yourself as someone who tells people what to do and sees that they do it? Or do you think of yourself as a person who helps other people do a better job; who tries to get the greatest benefit out of your combined brains and abilities?

And how about the people who work for you?

Do you think of them as really wanting to do good work, provided of course, that you keep them interested and motivated? Or do you think of them as people who have to be watched carefully and forced to do a good job? Managers who think people have to be made to do a good job, who simply tell people what to do and see that they do it, will never become leaders. They will be nothing more than pushers. The best pushers can reasonably hope for is compliance—passive obedience to orders. If they get more than that, they’re lucky—it happens in spite of them, not because of them. Now some people can be good at this. It’s what makes them a good, maybe even a great manager in the eyes of an organization. But that’s as far as they will go in their careers. When upper management looks to promote someone they will be passed up. Oh sure, they get the work done, they follow procedures, their staff produces good results. Many organizations need managers just like that to keep everything running smoothly. But what about you? Where do you want to go with your career?

Real leaders have to have faith in people. They have to believe that people really want to do good work. Instead of merely pushing harder, they try to discover what the obstacle is and eliminate it. Leaders think of themselves as helping other people do better work. I believe people generally want to do good work and will if they are given the opportunity. Think of the people you manage or “lead”. What obstacles are in their way from making them succeed? If these are obstacles you can eliminate then it is your job to do that. If an employee lacks the knowledge to take on a task that you have knowledge of, then you are the one who needs to give them that knowledge. Too many leaders are afraid to have their subordinates know what they know because the employee might take their job. If you are good at what you do you won’t have to worry about that. Think how easy your job can be if your employees are educated. Think about your own career. Are you holding yourself back because no one can take your place? You don’t get promoted because of that. As you move up in your organization they will look for people who can lead and are self motivating. If you think you’re going to move up into a higher level management position and just manage you won’t be their very long. Believe me.

Did you ever see anyone try to push a horse? That person probably didn’t get very far—and also took a grave risk of getting kicked in the bargain. If you want to move a horse, the sensible was is to lead, not push. When you lead people they have a greater respect for you. You not only establish a good reputation and are well respected but when you lead people they know you want to bring them along the way with you. 

Supervisors who want the best out of people have to lead, not push. It’s harder to do, and it takes a lot more skill. But it’s worth the effort. Next time you’re tempted to push—back off and take another look at the situation. Obviously your job as a manager is to get work done through others. Leading people is part of your job as a manager. You get the work done and accomplish the company objectives.

Try leading instead

For more on leadership click the Performance Management link

Management By Delegation.

Do these scenarios sound familiar? You’re walking into your restaurant and an employee stops you to give a rundown of what’s happening; “Mary called off tonight so we have no hostess, our shipment was shorted the supplies you ordered, I’m going to clean out the stock room and after my break I’ll work on those files you asked me to do. The schedule will be done in a couple of days and,. by the way, the oven is not working right. Should I call the repairman?”

As you get farther into the restaurant, another employee stops you to give a rundown of his situation. This lasts another 5 minutes. Frustrating? You Bet. And you wonder. Why can’t these employees take more responsibility and not drop every detail of every project in your lap? Maybe it’s not them but you. Maybe you’re not delegating effectively. Here are some key points to remember.

Stress results, not details. Make it clear to your employees that you’re more concerned about the final outcome of all projects, rather than the day-to-day details that accompany them.

Don’t be sucked in by giving solutions to employees’ problems. When employees come to you with problems, they’re probably looking for you to solve them. Don’t! Teach them how to solve problems themselves. This, too, can be frustrating because it takes time. But in the long run, you’ll save yourself time and money.

Turn the question around. If an employee comes to you with a problem, ask him or her for possible solutions. If an employee comes to you with a question, ask for possible answers. This is key. When you do this you not only will create an employee who can get the job done, and not always bothering you, you will find out how this employee thinks and what leads them to their decisions.

Establish measurable and concrete objectives. With all employees, make your objectives clear and specific. Once this is done, employees will feel more comfortable acting on their own. Think of this plan as a road map and your employees will too.

Develop reporting systems. Get your feedback from reporting systems. The best way is to set up a pre determined time when the employee will meet with you. This way you can give all your attention and eliminate the bombardment when you walk in the door.

Give strict and realistic deadlines. If you don’t give clear deadlines, employees won’t feel accountable for the completion if their tasks. You can always ask the employee when you assign the job when they think they can have it accomplished. This way they are being accountable to themselves.

Keep a delegation log. When you delegate an assignment, jot it down. You’ll be able to monitor the progress, and discipline employees when necessary. Follow up is a key step. You can always ask the employee how the project is going and if you can offer any help. Giving advice or steering them in the right direction is all they may need to get started on the right track.

Recognize the talents and personalities of your employees. Being a good delegator is like being a good coach. You have to know what projects each employee can handle and what projects they can’t.

Performance Management

For a complete guide to restaurant management I encourage you to view these management videos. 

Click on the links

Discover the 3 little known ways to increase sales from your restaurant menu

1. Training your staff
Increase your average check by training your staff to up sell and to get them to only sell your higher contributing items on your menu. This isn't so hard if you put in place a staff incentive program, design the program so they are targeting the higher profit items and reward them for doing it. This can be one of the best ways to increase your sales, just keep in mind they will want something out of it that is worth while.

2. Promote your Desserts
Promote your desserts, desserts are one of the highest profit items you will sell in your venue so take advantage of it by promoting them. You should also design a signature dessert item, that item will become your most famous item on your dessert menu. Make the signature item something that no one else is doing and then let everyone know you are doing it. You can also have for sale a tasting plate, the plate will have "tastes" of all your dessert items so your customer can taste all your desserts without buying the full plate items. You should also offer dessert wine with your desserts, you will be surprised how many people like to have a dessert wine with their dessert, this will send your average check soaring.

3. Design a table tent card
Design a table tent card to promote your signature items and or daily or weekly specials, this can be one of the best ways to promote and get lots of sales from your signature items. Tent cards are both loved and hated by different parts of the industry, but one fact remains it sells items for you. Design tastefully looking cards in full color and promote one or two of your signature items, ensure that the item can be eaten at any time of the day or night and cover the majority of your market demographics. For further information to build your business click on the following banner::

So You Want To Be A Manager?

Managing people is the art of getting work done through others. It's very similar to that of a coach of a team. The coach can only teach the players. The players are the ones executing the plays. The coach however plays an important role. He has to communicate his thoughts and ideas to the players so they can execute them.

Managing an employee is the same way. Without proper training the employee cannot execute their job effectively. So what can you do. I like to use an acronym TSLOP.

T-Tell. The first thing you need to do is tell the employee what it is you want done. Without that the job cannot get done.

S-Show After telling the employee what you want done you must show them how to do the job.

L-Let Them Do It.  Remember the old saying "practice makes perfect"? Well that's the case here. You need to let them do the job until they get it right.

O-Observe. This is a very important step. If the employee does not do the job the correct way this is where you can stop them and show them the right way. If they are not corrected they will continue to do the job wrong.

P-Praise. This is the step where you comment on their performance. Performance management is a crucial step when managing people.

How many times have you been frustrated with an employee because they continue to perform poorly? Well go back to their training. Was everything done correctly?  I believe employees do not perform poorly on purpose. Mostly it's because they have not been taught correctly and they think they are doing their job right.

So before you decide to terminate an employee for poor performance take a minute to think.

1. Did the employee receive the proper training?
2. Can this employee be retrained?

If you answer NO to number one and YES to number two than put this action plan into place. It is much easier to retain an employee then to go out look through applications, interview, hire, go through an orientation and then start training. You already have an employee who has gone through all of that. There must have been something you saw in this person to hire them. If you hired out of desperation just to fill a spot then your in trouble. If you can keep your employee turnover rate down your boss will be happy. He/she may even look to you to help other managers in your organization, thus increasing your value to the company.

Click on the link below for a management guide that I think all managers should have. It's performance management made easy.

Performance management