ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - November 7, 2003

For the next few days, it is all about the Year of the Guest workshop in Gig Harbor on Monday. I am so thrilled to actually have a program in town that I hardly know what to do first. We are close to being sold out -- quite a feat for a program in this corner of the country. If you can make last-minute plans, we would love to have you join us.

De-Junk Your In-Box
If your e-mail box is clogged with junk messages and you are fed up to the eyeballs with it, you might want to think about ditching your old Outlook or Outlook Express in favor of Eudora 6. This latest version of the original "killer ap" e-mail program has a superb junk filter that identifies and segregates about 99% of the spam messages I receive ... and I get a lot of them.

You can easily train it to catch the ones that it misses and you can also train it to clear messages that are erroneously flagged as junk. Eudora has always had a filter system that was excellent at this but this new version is light-years better at it than any of its predecessors. (Can you tell that I love it?) When it comes to de-junking, don't get mad – get a solution!

Where Did The Staff Go?
The only good part of the down economy is that there were more people out of work than ever, creating a bit of relief for foodservice operators ravaged by the labor shortages of years past (remember those?) Futurist Roger Herman predicts that many folks in the current workforce are already sniffing around for their next job and will bolt as soon as companies start hiring again. In a recent newsletter he wrote:

"Thousands of employees are searching for their next job opportunity, and their employers have no idea what is happening. A significant number of workers is highly dissatisfied and ready to jump to a new job as soon as something – anything -- is available. Others are not quite as dissatisfied, but are interested in what is happening in the employment marketplace. All these employees shopping for possibilities are targets for corporate recruiters. They are restless, willing to change employers, and often locations."

Research conducted over the past few months suggests that between 30 and 40 percent of today's workers are ready to leave their employers ... and I suspect that figure could be a lot higher in the hospitality industry. If Roger is right -- and he usually is -- where will that leave you?

I have repeatedly said that you must be doing everything you can to get your current staff locked in and loyal before they are tempted by greener pastures. This means personalized training, individual counseling, giving them a voice in the decisions that affect their lives and generally treating them like intelligent adults. I know that we are coming into the holiday season and you are busy ... but if not now, when?

Click here if you would like some ideas on how to improve your staff selection.

Stop Training
Along this line, I am reminded of something I heard at a CHART Conference (Council of Hotel and Restaurant Trainers) awhile ago. I was impressed to hear that the awareness was shifting from TRAINING people to DEVELOPING people (of which training might be a part.)

The difference is at once simple and profound – rather than focusing just on job skills (which is what most training does), we need to be providing with what each individual needs to reach his or her fullest potential. This takes us past just job skills to people skills, even life skills. It signifies an acceptance of each staff member as a total functioning human being, not just a flesh-and-blood machine to be programmed. It requires a high degree of respect and a deep sense of service. This notion is worth a bit of reflection.

The Perpetual Question
What did you learn from your staff today?

[ Home ] [ Top ] [ Email Restaurant Doctor ]

© 2003 Restaurant Doctor