Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

--Dale Carnegie

This is not actually a weblog, although it sounds like one, and you know what they say, if it walks like a duck....

The content is actually almost 50 years old. I wrote it as a McDonald’s General Manager and posted it in the office for the ‘Shift Managers’ to review. A shift manager was a part time employee, in many cases a college student, who ‘covered’ mostly evening shifts when Assistant Managers were off. 

In many stores, due to volume, two managers would be working at the same time: one in the front of the house on service, and one in the back of the house on food production.

I had been with the company about four years and had a good track record of developing crew members into shift managers. I carefully typed out the message: “Professionalism and Planning Tomorrow Today” and posted it in the Manager’s office at the store. Someone above me saw it and asked to use it in the company newsletter.

Of course, I said ‘yes.’ As an aspiring writer and looking to advance within the company, why wouldn’t I want my philosophy out there for everyone. So, here, directly from 1978 is my management philosophy. You may recognize some of the concepts.

PROFESSIONALISM AND PLANNING TOMORROW TODAY

The old management team member could get away with being unprofessional some of the time. The new breed of management person must be every bit as professional as a banker or a salesmen, at all times. What does that word "professional" as far as a management person mean? It means:

• Recognizing that you are in the public eye, 2,000 people critique your appearance every day of the week.
• Controlling your words, bankers don't swear, yell, or argue, especially in view or earshot of customers or fellow employees.
• Taking excessive pride in yourself, in your company, in your products, in your store, in your shift, in your employees, in your attitude, and in your behavior.
• An awareness of the fact that as much as your customers critique you, your fellow workers, and your supervisors evaluate you even more.
• Doing things right, not because someone is looking, but because you want to and you know it’s the way to do business.

There are only two ways of doing things you know, the wrong way, and the right way. The right way is professional, it shows class, it shows you care, that you are concerned, that you are knowledgeable, that you have been trained properly.

When you act professional, you can feel good about yourself, and in addition, you make your manager proud and your supervisor proud, and your owner proud. You should strive every day to be more professional than the day before.

If two people are going to do the same job tomorrow, and one plans out his or her day today, and the other does no planning who do you think will do a better job, other things being equal?

The answer is obvious.

Planning tomorrow today used to be an extra management tool, but with the sophistication of the business as it is today, planning tomorrow is absolutely essential for any kind of meaningful success.

As a shift management person, you can plan your shift 24 hours in advance, at your leisure; you can consult with others, change your mind twice and eventually come up with a fine tool that can accomplish a lot for the store, and make you look good. You can assemble meaningful information, plan projects, set goals and objectives, create training opportunities, prevent problems and learn new things.

Planning gives you an extra edge, it’s like knowing some of the test questions before the test: you have a very advantageous head start. If you want to be successful, develop your talents and those of others: PLAN TOMORROW TODAY, PLAN NEXT WEEK THIS WEEK AND PLAN NEXT MONTH THIS MONTH.

Professionalism, Planning. Two key words and concepts that are at the core of modern management techniques. If they are coupled with a sincere desire for excellence, a dedication to the tasks at hand, and an ability to' recognize personal limitations, success in any endeavor is almost assured.

Remember that your days with responsibility can be compared to the sky diver falling from 10,000 feet. Both you and the skydiver pack your own shute. You are responsible.

Although Professionalism and Planning are two key ingredients in the successful operation of a restaurant, by themselves they are not enough. Once a shift management person has planned for almost any contingency, and has acquired the habits of professionalism, he or she must ACT.

Talking about doing something, talking about standards, talking about motivation, talking about objectives, talking about contributing, will get the speaker plenty of listeners, but very rarely a raise or a pat on the back. If you are trusted with a McDonald's, you have acquired the necessary information to do your job. Running a successful shift depends on how much of that knowledge you use.

If you plan to do something that is unremarkable, everybody makes plans. It's in the doing that achievement comes, and especially when there is no time to do what you've planned.

You demand of your assets only one thing: RESULTS. Whether it be a car, a television set, an apartment, or a beer you want results. When an asset does not perform according to expectations you are disappointed and frustrated. When an asset performs beyond the capacity you expect, you are incredibly content and satisfied.

A shift manager is an asset: money, time, and effort by many people have gone into his or her development. When a shift manager does not deliver what he or she "advertises" the store is disappointed. What is even worse, is when a shift manager doesn't know what or if he or she delivers.

Standards. Standards. Standards.

In business, sports, social activities, everybody talks about standards. We recognize low standards rather quickly, and after the initial envy or anger, we recognize high standards. But do we recognize our OWN standards?

We have more standards than hamburgers. Even the sidewalk has standards. Objectively speaking, that is rather amazing. Standards don't serve any purpose except to tell everyone: "This is what can be done."

Before achieving our standards it is important to establish your own standards in relation to them. For example, is your standard of appearance above or below that of the organization? So, what are your standards? Do you tell the world with your mouth or your actions.

Motivating others is commonly believed to be one of the highest qualities that a person can possess, and it probably is, however...Those people who motivate themselves and then motivate others are more commendable.

Good days are good days because you are motivated. Bad days are bad days usually when you or your people are not motivated. Turning one kind of day to another kind of day revolves around motivation. Good supervision is getting outstanding results out of average people, by motivating them.

And objectives. Someday the rest of the world will catch up with us and our daily, weekly, and monthly objectives.

Without objectives to guide our efforts we would be lost in a desert with nothing in sight but sand. Think about it. As much as we hate or love objectives, we cannot and would not want to function without them. The successful shift manager realizes that some objectives are better than others, and some reap more rewards than others and PLANS accordingly.

In summary, the art of managing people starts with managing yourself. Rewards come to those who plan, do things, set high standards, motivate, and set good objectives. Reward yourself.

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