Root Cause

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kristen Siqueiros on March 11, 2008 at 8:27am

I think just a small part of it is the lack of desire. The main problem is the lack of motivation to drive results together!!

Permalink Reply by Jeff Tenut on March 11, 2008 at 12:11pm

Hi Jeff,
I am a friend of Melissa's. We worked together at the NRAEF for a short time. Thank you for your service!!! We were getting Melissa's email updates. Glad you are home.

Teamwork:
I worked at Cracker Barrel for 17 years, before starting an E-Learning company, and teamwork was part of the culture, but traveling from store to store, I still found different degrees of teamwork. You either don't have teamwork at all, you might have teamwork in clicks, you might have teamwork but have a few superstars that don't think they need to be part of it, you might have teamwork with the back of house but they fight the front of house. Ideally, you might have a management team that understands the value of teamwork to the Guest, the co-workers and to the company. They are the ones that sell it to the staff in pre-shift meetings, they model it, challenge and coach the team members when there was a missed opportunity… they reward the ones who are doing good.

The cultural message to help teamwork manifest itself is, “More can get done with less people and less work”. “If I see something wrong, I need to take ownership of the problem whether it is in my area or not”. “It's about the good of your co-workers the guest and company profitability”.

Like that contagious commercial where someone sees a person doing a good deed, they turn around and do a good deed themselves. A host might see a guest looking for their server and ask the guest if there is something they can do for them. The host might get refills. The server sees that and with the extra time, is happy to coffee and tea surrounding tables while doing their own tables. The second server might prebus extra so the busser doesn't have as much work. The busser might see that and help with trash in the server isle...It can be contagious but it has to start with the manangement team!

Permalink Reply by Kristen Siqueiros on March 11, 2008 at 6:55pm

Getting people to take ownership is another issue at my store and as well as other stores that I have been to.

Permalink Reply by Steve Totillo on March 13, 2008 at 10:10pm

I have to ask, does your management team reward, recognize and celebrate teamwork? What positive comes from an associate in your store demonstrating teamwork? I agree with Jeff, there are many people out there who find it hard to believe, but teamwork and ownership starts at the top. In the T&K culture, WoW awards are completely underutilized, and often utilized incorrectly by the managers, but are still a quick and effective tool to reward teamwork and plant the seeds of ownership. I always prefer to write a personalized thank you note that I purchased on my own, so it was more thoughtful. I continue to recognize people this way, and it is proving effective in my new restaurant.

Permalink Reply by Steve Totillo on March 13, 2008 at 10:14pm

Also, you mentioned that there is a lack of motivation to drive the results together. Does everyone know what the results are in relation to the goal? Does everyone know what the goal is? How many people know what they are going to war for?

Permalink Reply by Kristen Siqueiros on March 15, 2008 at 10:30am

You are so right Steve. We need to get a focus situated!

Permalink Reply by Kristen Siqueiros on March 15, 2008 at 10:30am

Actually, it is very hard to keep the management up on recognizing teamwork right now. They are so under staffed, and they have been given a ton of projects that they are trying to keep up with. I try my best to help them keep up a positive tune! I just heard a new associate last night tell a newer associate that this place is not fun, because the management doesn't take care of their needs the way they were promised and etc. I was very disappointed but I couldn't say anything to her because she was right. So I need to talk with my managers about the situation and see if we can do a recovery.