“You people….!”
Pre-Shift Meeting
Have you ever watched a new manager run a pre-shift meeting ? Probably not, unless you’re a restaurant manager. A pre-shift meeting is when the manager sits/stands with their staff prior to a shift to explain the specials, determine whether any of the servers are drunk or high, inspect uniforms, and prepare them for their shift. Every NEW manager (new to their position, say, within the past 3 months) …from the server-turned-manager to the graduate from Cornell University School of Hotel Administration…without fail…without exception…blows their first shift meeting and has to back pedal for months to regain the staff’s trust. Why? Because they’re new to the position and are scared…so they puff up and beat on the staff to show their stripes…”I outrank you…I’m the boss!”. In their defense, servers can be a tough crowd. They’re generally very intelligent and on their way somewhere else like law school or medical school …or just ’school’…so getting performance from them can be difficult because, as an occupation, they’re on their way to something better. They eat soft managers for lunch. (I wish more folk in this country would recognize Table Service as a fine career, but the truth is, the majority of those who occupy the position are not going to stay in one restaurant beyond a year and likely will exit the business within three years…despite incomes of $40k to $100k per year)
Shift Meetings are as valuable to your restaurant as any advertisement you can pay for…and they’re basically free…yet so many General Managers either don’t know how to run one or they don’t know how to teach their inexperienced managers how to run one. Shift Meetings are a time to pump up your sales force… to educate them on food product…to celebrate their successes or kick off sales contests…yet without fail, new managers slip into using them as the bully pulpit until they’re taught not to. This isn’t a knock on young or inexperienced managers…it’s my belief that one isn’t necessarily born with an ability to lead others with their words…they may be charismatic, fun loving, natural leaders, but to inspire another person with words is learned through watching someone else inspire with their words. Allowing managers to deliver shift meetings without validating that they will do it in a productive way is not just lazy, it’s negligent. So…new managers are off the hook…it’s the culture from the CEO through to the GM that fails.
“You people” is how they often begin…”I’m tired of everyone doing a half ass’d job on their sidework…you people need to sell dessert…we can’t stand for tardiness…from now on if you’re late you’ll get the bad section”. This one kills me…”How many of you like working with me when I’m happy? How about when I’m angry?…” How about not at all, you jerk. I quit.
A good shift meeting should be:
- informative
- educational
- inspirational
…that’s it. If you or your managers are using shift meetings to vent their frustrations on the staff and to “group reprimand” then it’s simply bad parenting and bad management. Your sales force (your servers) will begin their shift daydreaming about moving on to another job where they won’t have to suffer more fools. They’ll pick up the tempo at which they take liberties with your product (restaurant employees are entitled to your food…at least that’s how they see it…it isn’t stealing to them). They won’t circulate or run food. They won’t gladly de-gum the bottoms of tables unless forced to do it. They’ll offer lackluster service to your Guests, steal your toilet paper, and torture your young manager in 15 different ways without them even knowing who is doing it.
You want your team to up-sell. You want them to build check averages. Most of all, you want them providing your Guests with a memorable experience that will get them to come back again. Group reprimands only break the relationship between teacher and student and they disengage your staff from a job you need them to do. How can they trust you to help them when you just publicly beat them down and tell them they’re wrong…just for showing up to work?
I like to bring out a pile of herbs. Everyone likes to cook so ask them to tell you the difference between chervil and Italian parsley? Can they identify sage or oregano or thyme or basil? What’s salsify? I also like to taste wine with them as often as I can because it makes them comfortable with an “add on” purchase, not an “instead of” purchase. Everyone benefits from a high check average. Teach them how to get it. Educate them on the food they serve. Hold a cooking class on the use of Roux vs. Arrowroot vs. Corn Starch or on the importance of brining pork loin for a day or so before cooking. Use Shift Meetings to share a guest comment on a server or quiz them on product knowledge (with prizes for right answers…preferably money…no one is insulted by money but most can be insulted by a Jack Daniels umbrella). Bring your cooks out of the kitchen to participate in shift meetings so they can be appreciated for what they know and to build the team…let dialogs between a server’s curiosity and a cook’s depth of knowledge spontaneously occur. Pick out the server with the best looking uniform and praise it. Give your service staff the know how and support they need to make your Guests, themselves, and you happy. They should walk from your meeting energized and supported, not unlike the way the Lakers feel when they step on the court after a Phil Jackson pre-game meeting.
And when you do reprimand, make sure it is in private, it is with the individual (not the group), it includes specific examples, it is documented, it is without emotion, it seeks to understand before seeking to be understood, and it includes action steps to avoid recurrence. Oh…and your young manager will love you for teaching them how to earn the staff’s respect and run a smooth shift.
