A C H I E V E High Performance Teams

The rewards for the Restaurant Operator are clear. High Performing Teams make money, build sales and retain more responsible and inspired employees. Statistics show that employees stay longer at a job where there is a sense of belonging and inclusion, a united purpose, and personal growth.

Team Building does take work, time and commitment. Use the ACHIEVE Agenda to help keep your team on the winning track.

Aim

Set your target. What is the intent of your team? What exactly is the goal? Be specific and be sure that the intent can be measured in some tangible way. Your team will want to be able to easily recognize if their efforts are getting the intended results. Decide as a team what that result will be and how you will measure your level of success. Remember, if one feather in your arrow is askew, your aim will not be accurate. Make it aggressive.

Change

In order to win, CHANGE will have to be a big part of your overall strategy. Promote and support thinking that is “out of the box”. Maintain the team’s flexibility by encouraging a variety of solutions while staying focused on the teams stated values.

Hope

As Napoleon Hill wrote “What the mind of man can conceive and believe, the mind of man can achieve”. Belief and Hope must ring true throughout your team. The struggles can be hard and for that reason each member of the team must feel not only comfortable in confronting and consoling those that are beginning to lose hope, but also obligated to do so. Hope and Belief alone can move individuals far beyond what they would normally be considered capable of.

I
The word I, so appropriately spelled with one single letter as to suggest its meaning. “I”, unaided and unaccompanied by others. This single letter word must be treated very carefully amongst a team. I in the context of “Individual Accomplishments for the good of the team” is welcome and encouraged. However; I in the context of conceit and self-glorification can not be tolerated on a team. Everyone must commit to checking their egos at the door and redirecting that energy into teaching, coaching and aiding others in acquiring new talents that help the team achieve.

Encourage

The encouragement of team members must be a culture of a successful team. Not only from the Team Leader, but also from all members of the team. Listening, giving advice, inspiring others with individual wisdom and rewarding efforts and accomplishments is healthy and impactful. It creates an open dialog within the culture of the team that is so important to a successful aim.

Values

Every team must agree on guidelines. Parameters within which they are comfortable operating within to accomplish their intended goal must be established. To achieve the goal would be a wonderful accomplishment. But to achieve it by using methods that all of the team is not proud of, certainly defeats the purpose for many team members. It must be a win- win for everyone on the team. Whether you hit the target or miss is not as important as doing it in a way that everyone can be proud of, win or lose.

Empower

Enabling others to act must be the single most productive quality in a team. Once you have the team united and committed to all of the above segments of the “Achieve Agenda” then how could they go wrong? They know the goal and how to get there. They have hope and an open communication within the team. They understand and embrace change. Their decisions will be based on a solid foundation. They are one. Trust them.

There can be no argument. Teams win. Even when teams do not hit their mark they win. Because of the experiences, information and relationships developed on a team, there are no real losers. A well informed, accurately guided team will win every time. Good luck in the development of your team. You and your team will reap rewards from the experience for a lifetime.

Go Team!