Who’s Manning the “Leader-ship”?

Who’s Manning the “Leader-ship”?

            When time permits I jump onto my Linkedin account to review what’s happening in the hospitality industry and how my contacts are keeping busy, sometimes I even post there myself!  Not a day passes when a contact or someone they “like” posts a message regarding the different management styles within their respective industry, not all apply to hospitality. So no surprise but we’ll address the management techniques and styles in current adoption and allow the reader to make their own determination of “who’s pushing” the leadership needle in a positive direction. 

            The measure of any hospitality operation as a business isn’t online guest satisfaction scores or the company’s social media presence and number of “likes” or re-tweets.  As a business the true measure of, in this case restaurants, is the bottom line which is directly affected by repeat business.  So looking long-term, ownership and their management should be aware of the rate of their return guests, sorry no “magic” algorithm to offer here but suggestions will be forthcoming.

            The old-school restaurant manager was very “top-down” in their style and often exuded a “my way or the highway” style that is still present today especially if staffers don’t have other employment options.  Let’s assume that’s an extreme and while it still currently exists, its’ day has mostly gone.  At the other end of the spectrum is the “group leadership” management model whereby managers attempt to include line staff in operational decisions.  Without some very strong rules in place to maintain guidance this could do more harm than good and might appear more of an attempt to make sausage than create a path for moving forward.  So perhaps the best way forward is somewhere down the middle again with some firm but flexible guidelines so everyone arrives at a smooth work environment.

            While we always attempt to offer our clients multiple options we’re not averse to reviewing the trades to learn what industry insiders are sharing.  A recent article (Nation's Restaurant News, 3/28/18) offers that leadership may be evaluated by the consistency of unit level operations in the absence of the general manager. A quick formula to evaluate unit performance while the GM is away suggests how to measure their effectiveness to determine if any issues exist to potentially drag on store revenues.  As experienced industry operatives we all understand the image portrayed by marketing and the dining public’s perception may be worlds apart.  The challenge is to ensure both match up, the author offers a ten point list suggesting how to identify unit-level performance issues potentially affecting revenues.

            Fast-forward, we agree with the outlook of the pro-offered checklist; however, we would suggest a deeper dive into training at both the management and line staff levels.  Both programs should be developed by the same team that includes a diverse group to include senior company leadership, previous unit managers and company staff with entry-level experiences as well.  This approach allows for a variety of work and life experiences throughout the employment spectrum to cover all the “what if’s” and true-life situations that occur daily in a people business.  On my way up a past manager said that training never stops and that was in the day of “hands on” training, nothing digital then.  We offer a three key points, determine the training program, create an effective evaluation tool and determine the criteria that indicate when re-training is necessary and/or if the program requires a refresh.  If we may be of assistance please contact us at www.themenuspring.com and best of luck with that new hire!