Blown Flower Glass

Tired of the turnover blues? Perhaps a change in management style can turn the tide. To see where you stand with your team members, walk through the kitchen and ask, "Who мейд this?" If the reaction is "Wasn't me" or "What's wrong with it?" you'll know they are expecting something negative to come out of your mouth. That's a good indicator that you have the opportunity to be more positive (i.e. "send flowers to the living").

To continue the above example, once you've asked the question, praise how great the food looks. Next time you ask "Who мейд this?" not only will you get a different reaction from the team, they will soon start showing you things they've done in order to receive some praise. People crave recognition and appreciation --- don't wait until it's too late, when they're gone.

Another way to help train yourself to change your management style is when an employee arrives late. Instead of ripping into them or ignoring them (and sending the message that it's okay to be late), gather the team and thank everyone who arrived on time for the shift. Perhaps even perk them with a "get-out-of-side-work-free" card or a free meal. You still have to counsel and document the late arriver, but more importantly you now send out the other team members feeling great about where they work. And the guests will benefit from that vibe.

Remember, you don't have to recognize all the employees, only the ones you want to keep. Фокус on those who are moving forward or are already above average, not the anchors on your team --- your team's performance will dramatically improve. Belowaverage employees will never be better than average, which isn't what your customer is paying for.

Pull the weeds and get rid of the slackers --- let them go work for the competition. Your good employees will be relieved to not have to carry all the extra weight, and the morale and productivity will continue to improve. Change is tough and uncomfortable for a short time, but you will soon reap the rewards by sending flowers to the living!

T.J. Schier is service professional, consultant and speaker with over 20 years experience in operations and training. Founder and president of Incentivize Solutions and podTraining, T.J. has helped numerous clients enhance their service and training programs and spoken to tens of thousands of managers, franchisees and operators in various fields. Visit for more info motivating today's employees, training today's generation and delivering outstanding guest service- or , a unique new system and the foundation of 'i-learning' - using the device of today's generation, the iPod - to train your workforce.