ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - March 11, 2005

In the past six weeks, Robert Kausen and I have interviewed over five dozen applicants for the Super Summit. Those conversations have triggered numerous insights for me and moved my thinking to some interesting new levels as you may be able to tell from the tone of this week's EHC.

If I seem a bit evangelistic about the Summit this year, it is because the notions Robert and I will introduce in New Orleans totally changed the course of my own personal and professional life twenty years ago. So I know first-hand the incredible results that await those with enough courage to make the leap. It isn't safe. It might be fun.

For years I have been talking FROM this perspective -- and by now you know that I do not look at things in the same way that most people do -- but this is the first time I have been in a position to effectively pass that perspective along to others. To be doing it with the man who has been my friend and mentor for twenty years makes it even more exciting and humbling.

So my intent in keeping the Summit in front of you is an attempt to get past the protective crust that people build around themselves -- the one that tends to exclude any ideas that challenge current thinking -- and have you at least consider some ideas that can rock your world as completely as they did mine.

You may not be ready for it, but it would be a disservice not to at least let you know that there are other options available. Besides, you must be a bit of a maverick to subscribe to my weekly rants in the first place!

Don't be afraid to shake things up. The status quo can be deadly. At the least, it is deadly boring.

IS ANYBODY LISTENING?
The February survey question dealt with the amount of one-on-one time that managers typically have with the staff. While the sample was not statistically valid for the industry as a whole, it was probably a good snapshot of what is going on with the type of operator who subscribes to the EHC. Several interesting patterns emerged from the responses:

The majority of staff members got attention from the manager at least once a week, but in 40% of the cases, it was less than 15 minutes ... and I suspect a LOT less than 15 minutes. If I had offered a choice of "less than five minutes" or "less than 60 seconds" I wonder what the results would have been ...

You told me that 40% of your workers got 15-30 minutes of time with you each week ... but who was it that got the attention? Not surprisingly, screw-ups got nearly twice the attention that the average worker received and 50% more than was given to great workers.

This, of course, educates the staff about how best to get your attention. What do you think would happen if the better the job they did, the more attention you gave them? People do what they are rewarded for ... and your attention, approval and appreciation are one of their most-prized rewards.

New hires got 50% more management time than long-term staff. Not surprising, but it raises a question about whether you are taking your more senior staff for granted. Does your training program stop after someone has been on the job for a few months? If you want to keep good people engaged, you have to keep them challenged and growing.

If you think that you don't have enough time in the day to take time out for quality one-on-one time with your crew, start to keep track of what occupies your time. If you are in a perpetual state of fire-fighting (and many managers are, despite what they would like to think), you can either continue battling the flames ... or you could keep the fires from flaring up in the first place! It all depends on where you want to spend your time.

Who do you think starts all those fires?

THE MARCH SURVEY
In March we are looking at  service -- how you define it, how you train it and how it figures as a competitive factor.

Click here to add your thoughts to the March survey. 

NO THIRD CHANCES
The room is filling, the clock is ticking ... and you could get left out!

As you may know, we had to add a second section of the Super Summit on June 5-7 because we could not accommodate everyone who qualified for our first program in April. However, at this point there is no such plan for the expected June overflow, meaning that if you miss out on this second chance, you may be stuck for awhile.

There is another compelling reason to get your name on the invitation list for the June program -- money.

Based on the results we expect attendees to see following the Super Summit (and we do intend to document it), any future programs of this nature will demand at least twice the tuition we are asking this time around. Why? Because we know that the insights you gain will have such a profound impact on the profitability of your operation and the quality of your life that the investment -- even at twice the price -- will still be a very wise business decision.

For example, when I applied these principles and understandings in my own operation at the US Olympic Training Center, volume nearly doubled, food cost dropped 22.9%, labor cost dropped 16.7% and turnover went from 300% to 25% ... all in less than a year. At the same time, I worked less than half the hours I had ever applied to a foodservice job in my life!

What would it be worth if YOU could see results like that?

You may wonder why we would offer a program this powerful for less than it is worth. Good question. We think that because the outcomes that we promise are so far outside the realm of what most people think are possible, we need dozens more restaurant success stories to document the "impossible" results that can come from just a simple shift of perspective.

Once we are able to show the bottom line results achieved by operators just like yourself, the tuition can -- and should -- reflect the true value of the breakthrough. Would you rather wait until your more visionary peers have made the transition ... or act now and minimize your investment? As the saying goes, "You can pay me now or pay me later" (... or never make the extra money to begin with!)

If you are tired of business as usual, if you want to have a real sense of satisfaction at the end of each day, if you have been to enough seminars that were just a string of "good ideas" and want something that will truly (finally!) make a lasting difference in your personal and professional life, you owe it to yourself (and your family) to discover how to create an Effortless Organization of your own.

Follow the link below to learn more about the Super Summit. If you are intrigued by what we have to say, complete an application and we will take it from there. Do it before March 31 and if you are invited to register for the program, you will qualify for a $200 early registration scholarship.

But hurry. We can only invite 44 people to the June session in New Orleans and half those seats are already reserved.

Click here to get the whole story on the Super Summit.

THE PERPETUAL QUESTION
What did you learn from your staff today?

I learned that the staff as a whole are concerned about layoffs and the possible closing of the local Mill. They have for some time only made millworkers feel welcome. So we started discussions on how to attract a new group of guests, helping them realize there are more than mill workers out there. Now it is starting to settle in that the rest of the county are potential guests, too. --Bill Landenberger, Penobscot, Maine

A Note from the Doc:
If you cannot answer this question every day, you are not listening. If you are not listening, you are not learning and if you are not learning, you are dying! When was the last time you sat down one-on-one with your staff to really listen ... and learn something new?

From the answers I have received, it seems like many operators are confused by this question. They tell me what they learned ABOUT their staff ... and that is certainly better than learning nothing ... but the power of listening lies in its personal nature. The key is to put yourself in the role of student and let your crew make you aware of something that you did not know.

So this question is about what you learned FROM your staff today. Understand that what they tell you is less important than making sure they feel that you truly listened to them. If you are not deeply interested in what they have to say, it is disrespectful ... and disrespect will do more harm than good. The value for you is in the learning, but the value for them is in the quality of your listening.

I am continuing to collect your answers to this important question. Just click on the link below for a short coaching session on listening and a chance to contribute your answer for the common good.

What did you learn from YOUR staff today?
Click here to answer the perpetual question.

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