Quality #1 – Treat Others as You’d Like to Be Treated

Speaking from almost 30 years of managing employees, the most important thing to remember when you think of how to become a great manager is to treat them exactly as you would want to be treated. That’s step one, and while it may seem obvious, it can be very easy to ‘forget’. So, just be sure that you are always consciously aware that you are interacting with your employees in a manner that you would want, if (when) you were the employee.

A Little Story

I once went through C.H.A.M.P. (Chart House Administrative Management Program), the restaurant management training program run by the Chart House Restaurant Corporation. I was in over my head. During my training at the Boston Chart House, I was a very young management trainee getting ready to be in charge of a large staff of people older, and wiser, than me. (And several loved to let me know that on a regular basis.) It was a stressful position and training. However, I never forgot the positive energy and pure joy this one manager would bring – every single shift…

I mean, if you think about it, the bottom line for every hospitality employee is to ensure that each and every guest has a wonderful experience. To do that while you’re possibly getting screamed at behind the scenes by a Chef or Manager for various (usually ridiculous) reasons… can make the entire job unnecessarily, overly stressful.

But this one manager I worked with, no matter what was going on, always had a smile on his face. Whenever you needed something and would ask him “I have a question” or “I have an issue/problem.” His reply, with a giant grin, would always be “Well, I have the answer. :)” And just that – that simple response was so disarming, so needed in the heat of a stressful service, and it put everything into perspective. Another manager at a different restaurant would always say “It’s not hearts and lungs, people! It’s just dinner!” Again, bringing a much needed perspective and a quick reminder of our true purpose.

Quality #2 – Have Systems in Place

Systems are extremely important for so many reasons but the most important reason, in my opinion, is to create consistency. And here is another important thing about systems. YOU SHOULD NOT BE THE ONE TO DOCUMENT THEM OR MAYBE EVEN CREATE THEM. You want the person that you have in that particular role to create and/or document that “system” of doing their job. 

Trust Their Strengths

Even if it’s just a starting point and you can tweak it later – having the person who is actually responsible for performing that job should be the one who has the most say in how it is constructed and implemented. Doing it this way has so many positive side-effects as well… 

1. You don’t have to do it. 
2. They take ownership of their work-product and results!
3. They become truly engaged in the work and presumably will find purpose in it.

Quality #3

What’s the Outcome?

I would say that there is a bottom line with working with any employee, or even with working in any part of your business. This is to make sure that the final outcome is very, extremely, crystal clear to YOU and your employees. I believe this is the starting and ending point for all systems and jobs. 

The Customer Experience

For most, I would assume, it is to create a wonderful customer experience so that they keep coming back and tell all of their friends – right? With that in mind, there should be some latitude, some wiggle room, in how you and your employees perform their jobs because in the end: creating an incredible customer experience is all that matters. 

If you arm your employees with this – that at the end of the day – all you care about is having customers become raving fans – then I feel that gives them a lot of autonomy to create a job they love coming back to every day. And then document THAT.

A Final Recommendation

Finally, I am currently reading the book “Lunch with Lucy” which is all about creating a strong, employee-focused work environment. So far, I love it and it is very much how I already run my business. But there is always more to learn.

• Becoming an empathic leader.
• Creating and fostering an employee culture of honesty.
• Compassion and mutual respect across all positions.
• Setting clear expectations and backing them up with regular, candid employee reviews with productive feedback.

These are all ingredients of having an incredible staff.

Other Book Recommendations:

Who Moved My Cheese, By Dr. Spencer Johnson

Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility, By Patty McCord

Good to Great, By Jim Collins

Start With Why, By Simon Sinek