Bill Baumgartner's Blog (40)

New Jobs Trends 2012 – Prediction

Happy New Year!

With the beginning of a New Year, I challenge you to take stock in your business career. Where have you come from, where are you right now, and where would you like to be 3 months, 6 months, or a year from today?

Where is the economy today, where is it headed in the near future, and how will it affect your decision making?

Are you employed, unemployed, underemployed?

Do you like your job, tolerate your job, or hate the job you have right…

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Added by Bill Baumgartner on January 3, 2012 at 4:30am — No Comments

Put Away the Carving Knife : A New Main Dish is Now Being Served

A New Main Dish will be featured in the next few weeks at my restaurant.

I'm working on beefing-up my service with some back-to-the basics training techniques that have somehow fallen from the plate over the last few months.

With Spring in the air, it…

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Added by Bill Baumgartner on April 20, 2011 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Poor Time Management Skills holding you back?

Have you ever felt that you have more management talent than you're being given credit?

You may be the leader in sales production, the most effective trainer, the one everyone comes to for the answers to the tough questions, but not the manager who is getting the recognition.

From my experience, judging a person's leadership talent is often overshadowed by the same person's ability, or lack of, to master time.

Continually being late for work, late for meetings… Continue

Added by Bill Baumgartner on December 1, 2010 at 2:00am — No Comments

Business Ethics : Customer or Client?

It came to my recent attention, that successful businesses and business men and women possess a certain quality that emanates in all of their undertakings.

That quality or brand is Caring.

* We CARE about You.
* YOU are the reason we are in business.
* In our business you are NUMBER 1.

There is nothing magical about excellent service. We all want to be respected, valued and treated fairly by the people with whom we do…

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Added by Bill Baumgartner on July 27, 2010 at 8:30am — No Comments

Claiming Your Leadership Position : Achieving Success Beyond the Team

After reading Kathleen Wood's inspiring post, "Are you on a job or a career journey?" I was motivated to add my own continuation to the calling I had heard earlier in my career.

It is as true now as it was then,

"To claim your stake as a successful leader, it's not good enough to be, just part of the team."

1. You may be part of the most productive and… Continue

Added by Bill Baumgartner on April 6, 2010 at 7:24pm — 7 Comments

Management Skills : The Shocking Truth about Delegation

If you're like me, no one can do the job quite as well as I. I know what I want and I don't feel like wasting a bunch of time trying to show somebody else what I need done. So of course, I DO IT MYSELF.

Well, it's easier. At least I used to think so.

So, what's the harm?

Who will know?

Who really cares?

I can think of at least 5:

1.) Me. While I'm running around trying to accomplish… Continue

Added by Bill Baumgartner on March 15, 2010 at 4:26pm — 4 Comments

A Valentine's Diamond- Could be worth millions

I recently discovered a rare and much sought after diamond

among the other precious gems in my care.

I am by no means an expert in the field of precious gems, but I believe I have found a diamond that will rank high in every aspect of comparison.

The clarity and sparkle seem to fit together perfectly to dazzle even the

most amateur eye.

Yes, this diamond outshines all of my other gems.

This… Continue

Added by Bill Baumgartner on February 14, 2010 at 5:26pm — 4 Comments

3 Fatal Questions Your Employees are Asking

Are your employees confused?

I've had a lot of time to think last week, and I have come to the opinion that the modern culture of today is making my job as a restaurant manager, harder. Employees of today are very different from those a generation ago.

They come to the job with a different set of beliefs and a different set of needs.

I also feel as though my newest employees have a tough time adjusting to… Continue

Added by Bill Baumgartner on January 31, 2010 at 2:00pm — 7 Comments

An Important Management Skill : Accepting Differences

I guess I have known this for quite some time, but last week I became increasingly aware of the fact that people are quite different in the way they think.

Let me explain how I got this wake up call.

Last week I celebrated my wedding anniversary.

Amazingly, my wife has put up with me for all these years. Anyway...

As my wife… Continue

Added by Bill Baumgartner on January 17, 2010 at 11:56am — 7 Comments

Save the Date - Monday January 18

I'll be Baaaack !

Save the date, one week from tomorrow, Monday 1-18-2010, I'll once again be putting my name and reputation on the line.

Thank you to Michael Biesemeyer,
Assistant Community Manager, and all of the executives @Fohboh.com
for allowing me another opportunity to contribute as a Feature Writer, (FohBohist).

Until then,

Bill

Added by Bill Baumgartner on January 10, 2010 at 12:46pm — No Comments

A Wise Woman Once Said...

I was privileged to know a wise woman who lived a long life, well beyond 100 years. She also just happened to be my grandmother. I remember something she had told me as I spoke to her about the restaurant career I had chosen.

"You're a wise young man. Times will get tough and people will find it difficult to find employment, but you and your family will never have to worry."

"If you feed the public, house the public, or cloth the public, you will always have a… Continue

Added by Bill Baumgartner on September 20, 2009 at 6:43pm — 4 Comments

The Customer is Always, Well, The Customer

The customer is always ~~Right~~.

Well, maybe not always, but how about at least treating them as such.

I would first like to apologize to the Fohboh Community for disappearing for the last three or four weeks. My mother had been diagnosed with liver and pancreatic cancer a few months ago and rather quickly regressed from a fairly healthy senior, to a hostice patient, to her eventual death the week before last.

She was not only my mother but my best… Continue

Added by Bill Baumgartner on August 30, 2009 at 7:57pm — 9 Comments

How to Win at the Game You Call "Work"

I see the same people every day.

They come to work, they clock in, they routinely go through the motions, they clock out and they go home.

Five or six days a week, the same thing, nothing ever changes.

What is going on people!

Is this the American Dream?

Does it get any better than that?

No wonder it's so hard to train some of my associates. They bring a negative mindset into the work environment.

How do you motivate this type of… Continue

Added by Bill Baumgartner on August 2, 2009 at 7:21pm — 6 Comments

Are you Addicted? - 7 Tips to Free Yourself from Becoming a Workaholic

Do you ever feel like your management career has moved from a well intended passion, to some sort of out of control addiction?

Do you feel that the quality of the work that you produce, defines who you are as a person?

Do you feel that your conversations always center around work-related activities?

Is your social life and are your friends limited to those with whom you work with every day?

Do you frequently feel stressed at work and experience… Continue

Added by Bill Baumgartner on July 19, 2009 at 6:37pm — 9 Comments

Managing your Time - 3 P's of Restaurant Management

As the Opening Manager, I walked into my restaurant last Friday morning to find the general appearance of the store to be somewhat disheveled.

After making a list of the misplaced smallwares, the understocked paper items, and a half hearted attempt of proper cleaning, I reviewed the schedule to see who closed the prior evening. As I had thought, the newer assistant manager had been in charge of the shift.

I had worked with this gentleman for a few months and it has become… Continue

Added by Bill Baumgartner on July 5, 2009 at 3:20pm — 3 Comments

New Rules of Engagement for Today's Restaurant Managers

It's a new day for the individuals that aspire to long term careers as restaurant managers, or for that matter, any type of management position, in these changing times.

The days of "I told you to do it, so do it," are as far removed as last week's garbage. Somewhere in a heap of discarded ideas are the management styles of the 70's 80's and 90's. Today's successful managers are playing by a whole new set of rules. Rules because if ignored or dismissed, certain consequences are… Continue

Added by Bill Baumgartner on June 21, 2009 at 2:27pm — 6 Comments

Social Media - The Next Frontier

Dare to go where no man has gone before.

Star Trek Quote:

"Sybok: The people of your world once believed the world was flat. Columbus proved it was round. They said the sound barrier could never be broken!... It was broken. They said warp-speed could not be accomplished..."

After much research, it seems to me that the practical application, using social media to benefit the restaurant industry, is still very much a work… Continue

Added by Bill Baumgartner on June 8, 2009 at 2:00am — 8 Comments

Motivating the Team - New Secret Formula Disclosed

The results are in for week-1 of the testing for my new secret formula. I must report that so far it has been working very well.

If you have been following my articles, you know that in order to accomplish results in my restaurant, I use a daily written communication. From sales goals, to labor expectations, delegating cleaning projects, to broadcasting current news, the staff is kept informed by the written word.

I guess in my… Continue

Added by Bill Baumgartner on May 10, 2009 at 7:01pm — 10 Comments

Management Challenges Become A Daily Routine

A lot of things have transpired at work since my last feature post, two weeks ago.

The restaurant that I manage, a mall-based food court concept, has steadily been declining due to the decrease in traffic at that particular center. As I expected, my boss has been broaching the idea that he would like for me to consider moving to a busier location. Being somewhat resistant to change, I guess I have been putting off the inevitable. As it… Continue

Added by Bill Baumgartner on April 26, 2009 at 7:34pm — 5 Comments

Set Goals or Set Sails - Murphy's Coming to Dinner

It was just another Monday Morning at the sandwich shop. Joe Manager was scheduled to open and arrived shortly before his seven a.m. shift. Joe had taken over the position of general manager a few months prior and was somewhat new to his role. The staffing level of the restaurant was sufficient, and the QSC Reports were above average in comparison to the other stores in the owner's group. Joe had been promoted to fill a vacancy, as the previous GM had accepted another position outside of the… Continue

Added by Bill Baumgartner on April 13, 2009 at 5:52am — 2 Comments