Everyone I know is an expert on the restaurant business. As soon as you buy your first meal or cup of coffee, you have earned the right to critique almost everything about a place.

This Weblog is going to put your expertise to the test: it features an analogy about something that happens in a restaurant that also probably happens where you are, it is just not as obvious.

I've been using this analogy for decades to illustrate three points. Good leadership, teamwork, and a little bit of training can make a big difference in productivity and customer or client experience.

Many things have changed since 2020. Things like hybrid or virtual jobs didn’t really exist in any large numbers. Some occupations have taken off, like Amazon delivery drivers, and others have shrunk, like full-service clerks at Walmart.

As a consultant, I am exposed to various types of businesses, different kinds of clients, and a variety of ‘realities’ about the work and the workforce. In spite of the changes in work and the workforce, there is something that appears to be common to almost every business or role, and has been common for a long, long time.

Some would call it seasonality, some would call it the ‘ebb and flow’ of work, and others just remember the experience of being overloaded and others have clearer memories of being underloaded (Is underloaded a word?) 

One summer I worked for State Street Bank in a project related to an AT&T stock offering that was delayed for a month. Ten people, including me, sat around from 9 to 5 for four weeks with absolutely nothing to do. Underloaded? Lunchtime was pretty exciting.  

There have been too many times to list when the opposite was true. I remember once, in a staff of about 12 that four people were on maternity leave at the same time. That was an adventure. The point is that we are used to varying workloads, but if we look a little closer, the overload/underload experience happens all the time.

With many years in the restaurant industry, I became very familiar with ‘rushes’ and ‘dead times’ and everything in between. I used to explain the best way to handle the pressure of variable workloads by using an example I referred to as the Bubble of Work. 

Here’s the analogy and the message.

Imagine you are running a restaurant with a dozen people on the clock, and you are ready to open the doors. You have a host or hostess, five servers, a dishwasher, a busser, you, the manager, and three in the kitchen. There are twelve people available.

There are no customers in the store, until you unlock the doors and a bus pulls into the parking lot and 48 people pour out and line up at the host/ess stand.

Is there an overloaded job function when that happens? Of course, the host/ess is overloaded. How about the cooks? The dishwasher? The busser? No, they have nothing to do. There are no food orders, no dirty dishes to be cleared or cleaned. And of course, the cooks have time for another smoke behind the building, right? The bubble of work has hit the host/ess with a force.

What will happen is that the servers will help the host/ess get everyone seated. And once that happens, is there an overloaded job function? Yes, the servers are overloaded getting water, taking orders, and so forth. How about the host/ess? She has no one to greet. The cooks, busser, and dishwasher are all still able to stand around. The bubble of work has hit the servers.

Assume the orders are taken and sent back to the kitchen. Is there an overloaded job function? Absolutely, the cooks are ‘in the weeds’ as the expression goes. Host/ess? Busser? Dishwasher? Still nothing to do. The servers still can smile and visit and refill beverages and tell their guests that the food will only be a few minutes. The bubble of work has hit the kitchen hard.

You can follow the rest of the bubble: the food is served, servers are overloaded. The guests are finished, and finally the busser and the dishwasher are overloaded, but the cooks can have a post-rush smoke, and if no guests come in, the servers can have one too.

The point is that the bubble of work traveled through the business, and at different times for different reasons, one area was overwhelmed and others were underwhelmed.

What made it possible in this example for the bubble of work to be successfully managed? Three basic things:

A Good Manager: The manager probably followed the bubble of work, helping the host/ess, then the servers, then the cooks, then the bussers, then the dishwasher. A good manager in any business pitches in and helps to reduce the ‘overload’ when s/he can.

Cross-Training/Versatility: A hostess who could take orders, servers who could function in a host role, bussers who could deliver food or a dishwasher who would lend a hand in the kitchen make the chances of successfully handling the bubble of work more likley.

An organization engaging in even a little cross training or knowledge expansion among its staff is better prepared when the bubble hits.

Teamwork: Trust me, some busses show up and are disastrous experiences for the passengers and the staff, but others are handled smoothly. The key third ingredient? Teamwork. 

By working together and helping each other out, the team is better able to withstand the pressure brought on by an extra workload. Success could not happen unless those 'underloaded' helped out those who were 'overloaded.'

Today’s workforce sometimes seems to have a permanent ‘we’re overloaded’ expression on their faces. They may be, but it might be the bubble of work that has overloaded them, and they are thinking about the overload and forgetting about the underload that took place before and after the overload.

If you are a leader, consider how your group might handle the bubble of work that is eventually or permanently coming. Is there something you can do to help? Is there some cross-training to make someone or several someones more versatile?

If you are an individual contributor, consider how you handle the bubble of work. Is there something you can do before ‘it gets busy’ that can make the busy time a little easier? Is there some type of staging or prep that can enable you to sail through when the bubble hits?

This chart shows the number of people in each function in the analogy above, and the impact of people helping people handle the bubble of work.

Think about this: if the restaurant was staffed with 37 employees, instead of 10, the service, the food and the guest experience for handling the bus of 48 people at opening would be…the same as with 10 people, who were being lead, being versatile and functioning as a team.

Could your ‘overloaded’ situation, for your bubble of work, work better if it was recognized by management? Of if the team worked together and had some cross functional training or skills?

The answer is probably yes, because, while this is a restaurant example, the bubble of work happens to almost every occupation or business. It just isn’t as obvious as the bus pulling up to the front door.