Wednesday Weblog for May 25, 2022 |
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Quote of the Week:
“Surround yourself with people that push you to do better. No drama or negativity. Just higher goals and higher motivation. Good times and positive energy. No jealousy or hate. Simply bringing out the absolute best in each other. --Warren Buffet
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Leading Off: Sharing My Insight |
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Being in the restaurant industry for so many years means there are things I can't unlearn. Unfortunately, or fortunately, when I go into a restaurant, I see things that others may not see and form conclusions that others may not form.
Today's Weblog was inspired by an un-inspiring visit to a bakery-cafe that prompted me to write about it.
I originally was going to call this 'the chicken or the egg' but that didn't seem right. Then it was going to be called 'Leadership or Talent.' That seemed boring and I knew that Buzz, Buzz, Ding, Ding would be a title that would get you to read it.
See, I was right.
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Leadership-Talent Matrix
What matters more, Leadership or Talent? I recently had a (what else?) restaurant experience that made me think about which is more important to a successful team.
What better way to organize thoughts about this than a matrix, right? Plotting Leadership and Talent on two axes helped me think through the answer.
Simplistically there are four basic ‘states’ of this dynamic and every unit of every organization, and in fact every team in every league, falls into one of four general categories:
- Excellent Leadership, Excellent Talent
- Excellent Leadership, Marginal Talent
- Poor Leadership, Excellent Talent
- Poor Leadership, Marginal Talent
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Champions and Losers
You don’t need to be a genius or have a business degree to figure out that excellent leadership and great talent is the combination most likely to win a football game or market share and the best combination for a business and a professional sports team. (See New England Patriots, Golden State Warriors, and New York Yankees.)
It also doesn’t take much to avoid betting on the poor leadership-marginal talent combination, in business and within a professional sports team. (See the Baltimore Orioles, New York Jets, and New Orleans Pelicans).
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How Do You Know?
Where the debate takes place is when there is only one or the other, which combination is more likely to succeed? Excellent leadership with marginal talent or poor leadership and excellent talent?
The question is "what is more powerful, leadership or talent?"
Since we all have experience working for bad leaders, we’d most likely say nothing can overcome poor leadership. Some of our favorite sports teams have had more than enough talent to win, but not enough leadership to succeed.
Sports Validation
If we look to sports for metaphorical validation that leadership is a more significant factor contributing to success, there is plenty of evidence this concept is generally true.
A great coach can make up for the deficits of his players with strong game plan, in game adjustments, and hundreds of mini decisions, not to mention selecting the right talent. The same applies to all types of organizations.
Regardless of how talented they might be, skillful players cannot completely compensate for a coach with a weak game plan, a lack of understanding or awareness of what is happening on the court, field, or ice, and playing the wrong players at the wrong time in the wrong positions. This also applies to all types of organizations.
More Useful Question
But a more useful question might be how you know whether a substandard operation is leadership or talent or both?
Here is a description of an experience I had earlier this year that prompted me to ask the question.
It is a story about a poorly managed business. But before I begin, I would like to state my credentials:
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1. Customer: I had my first restaurant meal at the age of 5 or 6, at a Howard Johnson's, and I have been eating out since then. Today, I average multiple meals outside the home per week.
2. Experience: For more than 30 years I worked for national chain restaurants, ranging the gamut from fast food, to pizza, to quick service, to full service to 24-hour service with locations from Seattle to San Diego to Florida and most states in between. I spent a lot of time evaluating operational performance and visiting locations as a 'big shot' from the home or regional office.
3. Consultant: For a couple of years, I have been working as a consultant and as part of that role, I am required to look insightfully at things I observe, analyze them, and come up with recommendations for sustainment or improvement.
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How to Tell It Is Poor Leadership
Like many, I have a home office, but I also have branch offices throughout the state and country in the form of a national chain of bakery cafes that offer surprisingly strong, and free, internet access and a monthly coffee club program where you can pay one price each month for unlimited coffee.
I most often frequent my branch offices in Hingham, Worcester, Brockton, Hanover, Westford, Massachusetts, and another location that will remain nameless because it is the subject of this story, and I don’t have a legal department.
For the most part these locations have created a certain standard of expectation for me, as most chain operations do. Since I am probably a visitor 2-4 times per week, I have a good feel for those standards and operating systems, as well as the strength of their coffee.
I don't normally jump to conclusions on one visit, unless the bad management hits me over the head. Even then, not only for these branch offices but for any business, I am the type of guy who gives most a second chance.
Before you jump to the conclusion that the story that follows happened the way it did because it is hard to get employees, you should know that there were plenty of staff 'working.' I observed at least 5 employees on duty, very few customers, and only one order at the Rapid Pick-Up kiosk.
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Here's my tale:
1. Too Busy: I headed to the counter and the employee behind the counter was a little too busy with something to help me, so she called someone from the back. First tiny alarm bell went off in my head.
2. Oh, Oh! The fetched employee took my order for a bagel and coffee, and I gave him my phone number. He told me the price was $6.72. I told him the reason I gave him my phone number was because I was in the monthly coffee club: pay one price and get unlimited coffee all month. He said it didn't register.
I said, 'please call the manager.' He didn't and mumbled something. He comped the coffee another way, and I was glad because I didn't have time for a debate, but another bell went off, this one a little louder. I took the buzzer he offered, one that would light up, flash and vibrate when my order was ready, calling me to the pick up window.
3. Empty. I went to the counter where the coffee urns, sugar, sweetener, lids, and cream were located and picked up the 'half and half' pitcher, it was empty. I turned around, saw a different employee behind another counter fiddling with something and brought the pitcher over to her and said: "This is empty. Can you please refill it?" She nodded. At this point I may have lost track of the number of bells going off about the operation of this place.
4. Minimum Effort: I went back to the counter and started mixing my brew while waiting for the cream. (Note: I add the sweetener and cream before adding the coffee, eliminating the need for a stirrer stick, so you can see why being out of cream was a problem. Just me. Just habit.)
A minute or two later, she called out to me from behind the counter: 'Do you still want the half and half? She left the pitcher on the counter near the cashier stand, a mere ten steps away, and disappeared. I went over and picked it up. I should have brought my cup to the cashier stand, used the half and half, and left the pitcher there, but I was too polite and brought the full pitcher back to where it started. Besides, the bells in my head were playing Beethoven's Fifth.
5. Buzz Buzz Ding Ding. I walked by the pick-up window on the way to my booth to put down my coffee and fire up my laptop, I thought I saw an asiago cheese bagel waiting to be picked up but figured that it couldn't be mine because the buzzer they had given me, hadn't buzzed, flashed or vibrated. I peeked at the slip under the plate and sure enough, it said 'Edward.' it was mine. Ding, ding, ding, ding.
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I sat down and looked around and there was only one other customer in the dining room. No clusters of seniors drinking coffee that are common to this chain. No moms with strollers taking a break after the school bus pick up that are common to this chain.
I wrote down some thoughts, shut down my laptop, finished my bagel, grabbed my coffee, and moved to another branch office a few miles away.
Second Chance
How can I be so sure that these small, irritating 'broken promises' to me as a consumer are evidence of poor management? I couldn't know for sure. But those that know me well, know exactly what I did.
I went back two weeks later.
Guess what? No half-and-half. I brought it to the counter, but there was no one there. I just left it by the register.
Guess what? No one showed up to greet or service the four or five customers mingling in front of the counter. I was in a hurry and in my mind predicted that it would take a while to get half and half, so I picked up the Almond Milk pitcher to give it a try instead.
Guess what? Empty. I put it on the counter next to the unclaimed empty half and half pitcher and went back to my table, finished my business meeting, and got ready to leave. The person who I was meeting wanted to order a bagel to go and got up to order.
Guess what? After a while, when the buzzer didn't go off, we found it at the pick-up station ready to go and getting cold.
Bad employees can produce one-time bad experiences, but bad management produces consistently bad experiences.
The next time those bells go off in your head that something isn't right with this business, trust your gut because when the bells go off in your head, you can be sure that they aren't going off in the manager's head, where they belong.
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To submit your advice simply reply to this email and send it in. There is no guarantee it will be published, but I'll do my best to get the best ideas included. Even if it is not published right away, keep looking for it. |
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Advice from Mark Twain
The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.
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Surprise Photo at the End: Leadership & Talent |
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Joe's Positive Post of the Week |
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The Roll Call of states and countries where readers reside: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Washington DC, Wisconsin plus Canada, Spain, Conch Republic, Australia and the United Kingdom |
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Ed Doherty
774-479-8831
www.ambroselanden.com
ed-doherty@outlook.com
Forgive any typos please.
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