Right is Might in your Business!

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Roger

Find people doing the right thing.

My articles start with self-evaluation and team reflection. Reflection is the first step to making change. It initiates the awareness that keeps you in tune with your performance. So take a moment and evaluate how you spend your day:
Do you seek out opportunities focusing on errors to correct?
Do you and your team leaders focus on poor performance in order to correct it and eliminate it? Do your employees constantly focus on how not to screw up?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you most likely feel tired and exhausted, mentally drained or frustrated at the end of your day. Using these steps outlined in this blog will change that.

Auditing performances (team, groups, and individual) with the intent of seeking to correct weaknesses and mistakes is a negative approach to leadership. It does not accomplish a Can Do Will Do environment, instead it creates a fearful environment where people are not invested and will not take risks. While this approach yields results initially, in the long run it will not promote and sustain the positive, self-empowered, team member driven process that result in long-term evolving success. Positive recognition and reinforcement of great performance, paired with coaching and trust however will.

So instead, rewrite the script, change the rules of play, create a new mindset for your team and evolve into an environment that catches people doing things correctly. The following exercise will set the foundation to transform you and your team.

Every game has rules, so first make sure they are clearly defined and the team is given educational and support materials designed to help your team members achieve positive results. (For more tips on how to do this, check out my previous blogs on how to hire the right individuals and how to lead your culture, establish your story, and create open communication).

Try this simple exercise: This exercise is for you and your leadership team to utilize. As a matter of fact, I advise clients not to inform any of the non-management employees about the exercise while you are implementing it.

1. Each manager is to take a 3 x 5 index card and write the following statement across the top. “I will find at least 5 people doing something right today.”

2. Divide the card in to 4 equal quadrants beneath this statement.

3. At the top of each column jot down one the following: Praise, Self Praise, Reprimand, and Self Reprimand. See example below.

4. Here is how it works. It starts with the leadership. Each leader, manager and key employee that is participating will carry this card with him or her every day while they are working. The goal is to catch each other correctly praising team members for good performances. When you see your fellow leader praising a team member, request to see their card. Place a hash mark in the Praise column. If you praise someone and no one is around, give your self a mental pat on the back and put a check in the Self Praise column.

5. If you observe a fellow leader that misses an opportunity to Praise correct performance, you would give them a check in the Reprimand column. If you are by yourself and recognize a missed opportunity to Praise someone, keep track of it and give yourself a Self Reprimand.

Now remember it is important that you do not tell your team employees what you are doing. Doing this practice helps change the leadership mindset and spreads positive feedback to your team. What I enjoying seeing is the peaked curiosity of the team members. Some may even ask what you and your team are doing. Just let them know that you are working on a project.

The reason for the secrecy, it allows you to build credibility through your actions and performance. Your team learns subliminally by observing what you do and how you act. It must align with what you are communicating to them. It must be in sync and consistent. This is where your leadership credibility is derived from. Imagine having a meeting and you tell your team that you are going to change your dynamic and find people doing things right and praise you. The initial reaction will be, “sure we will see how long this last”. Initially this praise will be received and have more impact when they are not expecting it.

One important note with regard to praise, it has to be genuine and specific. Stating to an employee “You did a nice job” is vague and does not reinforce a great performance. A much better way to apply Praise would be “I really appreciate and like the way you handled that project. The details were spot on and captured exactly what we required. Excellent job!”

Play this game and/or exercise for a minimum of 60 days. Start with new cards each day. The result will be very apparent amongst your team. I guarantee their performance will improve and you will feel better about your team, your personal performance and more excited at the end of the day!

When you have success utilizing this information, please write me a comment and let me know how you are doing. If you can’t figure out how to begin this process, or would like to refine your current process, then please contact me now at www.restaurant-innovations.comand let us help!

Effective Leadership Requires Reflection

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Roger

Hey Business Leader it’s time to look in the mirror. The reflection staring back at you is the pivotal driving force of your team’s cultural environment. What does the reflection reveal? In this blog, we are going to reflect upon your team and your leadership. Thoughtfully review the following categories of successful leadership to make an impactful change on you and your team’s cultural environment.

Culture: Your team’s culture is a collection of shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterizes your organization. It is the moral and intellectual faculties of your brand. It provides the innate ability for how you and your team will act. What does a measurement of your culture say about you? An honest, open and thoughtful review will clearly provide the answers.

Leadership: There is an old saying: “The speed of the captain is the speed of the ship.” It is your vision that establishes and reinforces the culture. Your ability to communicate, model and provide vision sets the framework for your team to do the right things. It is required to sustain and drive your business to be successful. If your company, business or team is currently not charting the proper course then ask yourself: Why is my team not as successful as I would like it to be? As you gaze in the mirror the individual responsible is revealed.

The Story: Every great company and team has a story. This story is the motivator and the glue that unifies your team. The story captures the legends of your organization and is the compass that guides and impassions every member of your team; it is the fabric that that your team adheres to and will vocally support. You must have an engaging story that will provide the vision and embrace the moral compass of why your business exists. Explain what each team member’s role is in the company story and how their performance is essential to success. The story creates “Raving Fans” of your employees, your customers and your vendors. Raving Fans excitedly share your story consistently to others!

Trust: The pivotal litmus test for any great company, business and/or team culture is Trust! Ask yourself: does your culture provide confidence to your employees so they will be willing to embrace it 100%? A successful culture demands that employees rely on and support each other to achieve results, while recognizing the team’s individual and collective efforts. Successful teams trust each other to take risks with out fear of repercussion. They treat unsuccessful attempts as learning opportunities and are then shared by all. Is this the environment that exists under your direction?

Open Communication: A direct result of trust is open communication. Does your culture encourage open communication that challenges or questions the status quo? Do your employees feel they can question the leaders in a professional manner in public settings or does your team remain silent and nod in obligatory approval? If you believe it is the latter, then I would guess the real discussion is taking place in private grumbling sessions that yield only impediments to the team focus. They have the potential to crater your ability to drive success.

Preach the Gospel: Do you promote your culture and vision, constantly reinforcing the message to all of your team members? Do your team members continually reinforce their actions by aligning with your message? Take a lesson from a time honored practice by religious leaders and reestablish your message consistently in a meaningful and impactful manner.
Here are some useful exercises you may employ to impact your organization:

Evaluate the current obstacles and opportunities that are preventing your team from improved performance and create a list on a column of paper. Identify which category above might be able to rectify and correct it and create a plan to address these areas of opportunities. Evaluate if you are seeing a trend?

Ask yourself if you are creating obstacles that are preventing your team from being successful? Identify a plan for self-improvement to compensate for this.

Review your culture; identify what is great and what might be lacking. Envision the ideal culture you would like to have and then compare it to what currently exists.

When you have success utilizing this information, or would like to share your views, please write me a comment and let me know how you are doing. If you can’t figure out how to begin this process, or would like to refine your current process, then please contact me here and let’s work on this together!

Building a Results-Oriented, Focused & Unified Team Starts with the Interview Process

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Roger

It is essential to identify team members that will successfully move your organization forward, deliver results and fit in with the team dynamics; you have to begin with the end in mind. Every new employee should have the potential to improve your team’s dynamics and performance in order to ensure that you succeed.

Recently I was discussing with a colleague the methodology of hiring and retaining a team of company-focused employees capable of achieving the desired results—something that many employers struggle with. My colleague had described how he wanted to start off with a team that would actually execute a job in the manner that he desired. I outlined the following 6 steps to aid in him in his process to transform his team dynamics.

As with many things in life, the process begins with a change in mindset.

“We hire people to help us fulfill a specific service in the manner that we decide. We don’t hire people to fulfill a specific service in the manner that they decide!”

Roger M. Kaplan, Founder Restaurant Innovations.

Step 1. Identify both the job and success criteria for the positions that you are looking to fill—What does successful performance for those positions look like? Just as in sports, if you cannot first envision the end result, and then communicate this vision to the candidates (your soon-to-be-team), how will you and your prospective employees deliver the end result?

Step 2. Prepare for the interview and review the candidate’s background information and work history. Make notes and list questions on a separate sheet of paper. Have a plan of action!

Step 3. Use an effective interview process that incorporates at minimum 3 separate interview processes. Always start with an interview that consists of a Screening Questionnaire of 10-12 “yes or no” questions, and go from there. The candidate must yield affirmative answers. If any question yields a “no” response then the process stops!!!! They “do not pass go.” Respect the candidate and your team—don’t waste anyone’s time passing on an individual that is not correct for the position. If the candidate isn’t right for the job, provide them with quantitative information as to why they are not “a fit” in a respectful and empathetic manner. If they pass the screening process, then move them on to Interview # 1 and Interview # 2. Both of these interviews should have very specific and very different sets of scripted questions. Do not perform “back-to-back” interviews; if at all possible, the interviews should be schedule on separate dates. Your questions must be job-specific, and should be designed to aid you in ascertaining the candidate’s ability to yield results, execute the position, and positively impact the team.

Step 4. Identify the following 4 traits in the candidate: Can Do—Does the person have the competency and ability to execute the skill sets and job description for the position? Will Do—Is the person willing and excited to perform the position you are hiring for? Fit In—Will this person complement your team and improve its performance while positively influencing or cementing the existing team-culture? Of course, considering compatibility does not mean you hire only one type of person—diversity is the catalyst for an evolving, positive culture. Will Improve-Is this person committed to driving their own development and eagerly looking for opportunities to develop within your organization?

Step 5. Plant the seeds of your culture—Sow your performance expectations while simultaneously nurturing a desire within the candidate to become part of your team. It is during the interview phase that you start to not only clearly communicate your expectations (about accountability, etc.) to the candidate, but also when you impart to them the awesome reasons why they should want to be part of your team culture. Furthermore, it is during the interview process that you build a foundation for advertising your brand to other candidates. How you handle your interviews reflects on how you run your business.

Step 6. Making the offer—Once you have made your decision to hire the candidate, the offer phase is when you get to have their full attention and focus. It is important to use this moment wisely; prior to presenting the offer, the team leader or stakeholder must explain the expectations, outline performance, and clearly identify the employee’s obligations, commitment and conduct. Be sure to explain the importance of the position to the organization, as well as the reason that the job exists. The most important step here is to get a commitment from the future employee. Have them explain to you in their own words that they will fulfill the job as outlined, that they clearly understand what they are responsible for, and confirm that they are excited to ensure their ability to execute the position. Then and only then should you present the offer!