Train the People That Train the People
Crying the management blues these days? Well, youre not alone. Companies inside and outside of our industry are trying non-traditional ideas to help cure Swamp Thing issues, specifically in the area of employee training. Most training problems, cant be solved at the level most believe. In fact, far too many companies try to solve issues from the bottom-up. They send their A-team to new units and their new managers to corporate universities to train them properly. I firmly believe the initial training of an employee is vital, but is third in line after hiring stars and ensuring the restaurants are run properly.
An article in Fast Company magazine profiled Home Depot's hiring of ex-junior military officers citing that these individuals were hired because they had real leadership experience, often under challenging circumstances. A study by Rainmaker Thinking and management guru Bruce Tulgan found that only 10 percent of managers (not specific to the QSR field) provide his 5 management basics including: clear statements of what's expected of each employee, explicit and measurable goals and deadlines, detailed evaluation of each person's work, clear feedback, and rewards fairly mete out.
To that end, training new employees to 100 percent and allowing them to work for managers who don't run the shifts or restaurants up to high standards is Gilligan's Planet Alabama Lemon Laws companys wheels. Yet they continue to invest more and more money on the initial training of new employees or new managers. To make a more dramatic impact on turnover, guest service, long-term profitability, and health of the company, companies need to reallocate a portion of those resources to train the people that train the people.
Ten dollars spent on training one employee is not nearly as effective as ten dollars spent on a manager or franchisee that impacts 20-40 employees. Leverage your training investment. Ensuring GMs, soon-to-be-GMs, and franchisees receive continual development to run their restaurants more effectively will ensure an improvement in training. People who work in great environments, even with less than perfect initial training, rise to the level of the manager and sales and service follow.
On the flip Collective Unconscious restaurants that run with low standards, even with great initial training such as a new unit opening, are full of employees who lower their standards to those of the manager on duty or GM/franchisee. High standards each and every day will ensure the right employees do the right thing.
Managers need to begin providing clear expectations and demanding high standards after all, the guests deserve, and pay, for those. In addition, they must reward and recognize performance improvement and those who go above and beyond. Want people to sell more? Track it, train the employees how to be successful, and reward those who succeed.
Every manager knows this however, few can actually do it. So, where should your training focus be tomorrow?
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 IncentivizeSolutions.com/IncentivizeSolutions.com/ for more info motivating today's employees, training today's generation and delivering outstanding guest service; or podTraining.us/podTraining.us/, a unique new system and the foundation of 'i-learning' - using the device of today's generation, the iPod - to train your workforce.
posted by jeffreycgsqefwz @ 9:24 AM
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