I thought about writing how to say Servant Leadership in Latin as a way to show off my intellect and knowledge on the subject. Enough of that. I don't know how to say it in Latin but I do know how it works. Let me just say that this form of Leadership, when utilized in your restaurants, not only works but creates a culture in which people thrive. Usually young restaurateurs like writing their core values in which Integrity, Honesty and Passion become three out of five in importance. Rarely do you ever see going all out for your team and supporting operations where ever we operate in their core values. It should be. Lets face it, we see it all the time. Disgruntled team members wishing "I had a little help OUT here" or you cut the floor and then leave to go do whatever you do in the back. How about the Sous Chef who gets it done by deriding team members for ten hours a day and then comes back just to do it again the very next day. How about the busboy who steals tips because he/she doesn't feel there needs are not being met.
How about you? You know, the star of this little play. You want to run it and captain the pilots seat but you are buried under mounds of expectations reasonable or not by the Corporate support team who always manages to call you for something they need in the middle of your shift. So you play around with that masterful spreadsheet you created not really knowing that the real action is outside of the office where you are losing and degrading the business 360 days a year. We rapidly become the culture and are such creatures of habit that closing yourself off from the business becomes natural to you. Skating to where the puck is going is impossible. You are always dealing with turnover, constantly hiring and have a different management team yearly. You work yeoman's type hours trying to get ahead only to be carrying the load all by yourself. You never had the time to develop your managers because they don't stick around long enough to do so.
In the back ground you hear the phone ring and intuition tells you its another team member calling in because of car troubles that will miraculously be cured by tomorrow. Which means you only have five servers tonight. Within five minutes you will make a fateful decision to go with it because you have no time to make phone calls to willing employees who want to work and save the shift. At least Labor will be low! The shift as it turns out was a unmitigated disaster because a party of 40 came in. Unfortunately it was never recorded because your staff is not very good on the phone. The phone rings again and it is your Regional wanting an explanation while sitting on his couch in the comfort of his own home. He wants to meet with you today at 2:15 but calls and cancels until next week. He is your fourth Regional in two years.
You know you didn't last in this environment. It eventually took its toll. Hours of lost sleep, arguments with family and you started to care less. Now that you have had sometime off you feel passionate about the business again. You miss it and you start interviewing for positions. You are lucky enough to be sought after and you swear things will be different this time. You learned so many things from your last position.. Guess what? You are destined to do it again! On my my next post I will introduce you to Restaurant Leadership that not only works but empowers people to match your passion every day. Read on!
J Michael
