ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - September 1, 2000

HIT THE ROAD, JACK
I received this comment from Paul Martin regarding my comments in the EHC of August 18 (www.restaurantdoctor.com/ehc/ehc133.html):

What I found amusing about your "My way or the highway" adage was the fact that it defines turnover. There are an increasing number of increasingly attractive highways luring people to ever more lucrative careers. Why not try a highway that's more fun, pays better, has better hours and treats me with respect? Most folks don't need much of an invitation. Most friends, families and colleagues will applaud a move.

Your comment mirrors a comment from Peter Langlois who was discussing industry image in his e-letter. I suggested that image campaigns sound nice but can never overcome 800,000 businesses telling 10 million employees for 8 to 10 hours per day about the industry's image as an employer. Peter suggested one of the problems seems to be that a lot of managers and owners still expect young people to come up the way they came up. Growing past that will be tough medicine to swallow.

A note from the Doc:
It helps to remember that it is a different world for our workers than it was for us. Even though the basics elements of success in the hospitality business have not changed, we have to achieve our goals in different ways than we did in the past. There is more than one right answer and those who are not willing to solicit and embrace right answers other than their own will eventually find themselves working alone. Don't let your ego get in the way of getting the job done!

WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US
Steve Speck writes: "As a corporate restaurant manager, I find myself always trying to find ways to ease the training overload. Today, I asked a service trainer the following question.. "What one thing can we do to get servers to want to attend more training classes?" Amazingly enough the reply was that the servers all feel that they are being talked down to by the training supervisor. She went on to ask, what would happen if she talked down to the guests? My reaction is that we are not making the classes a place that people want to be. What's your gut feeling?"

The Doc replies:
Sounds like a classic case of asking the right questions and listening to the answers -- congratulations. If the trainees' perception is that they are being talked down to, then they are right, no matter how the training supervisor protests. Before you can proceed, you need to ask a lot more questions? ("Do you feel that the material is relevant but just being presented poorly?" "How could we do this so that it would work for you?" and so on.) The less you "know" the more you will learn. When the next step is obvious, just take it. You will be amazed at how easy things can get.

[ Home ] [ Top ] [ Email Restaurant Doctor ]

© 2000 Restaurant Doctor