I’ve searched and I’ve searched, but I can’t seem to find any websites or blogs that specifically offer insight to the leaders of the fast food industry. Nothing that takes the vast management resources available and distills them into usable tricks for the fast food manager. Therefore, I’m launching this blog as the first step…
10 Steps to Empowerment 10: Respect
I’ve heard it said once that you must seek first to understand, then be understood. This is the cornerstone of respect. Respect is the perfect closing step to empowerment because each other point requires the manager to respect his employees. Clearly defining job responsibilities shows respect. Giving people the proper authority is a sign of…
10 Steps to Empowerment 9: Permission to Fail
I’ve heard it said once that defeat can be more instructive than victory. A quick glance at history shows that the people who have achieved the most failed quite a bit. Abraham Lincoln ran for public office six times before he was elected. Thomas Edison tried 2,500 times to invent the light bulb. Albert Einstein…
10 Steps to Empowerment 8: Trust
Once you’ve defined a person’s responsibilities, delegated enough authority to him, trained him properly, set a high standard, given him the proper knowledge, and provided appropriate recognition and feedback, the next step is to simply trust this person to do the job. Is it really that easy? Of course not! Trust is a very sticky…
10 Steps to Empowerment 7: Recognition
Recognition works hand-in-hand with feedback. The difference is that recognition is an actual reward for positive work performance, while feedback is a quick note on how work performance is progressing. A One Minute Praising is good for both recognition and feedback. Since a One Minute Praising might be the most effective low-to-no-cost method of recognition,…
10 Steps to Empowerment 6: Feedback
I once heard it said to seek first to understand, then be understood. When giving feedback to your employees, this statement is very true. Feedback is the lifeblood of the fast food industry, and quite possibly the most important tool in the manager’s arsenal. Feedback should be immediate, tailored to the individual, and continuous….
10 Steps to Empowerment 5: Knowledge
The fifth key to empowerment is to give employees the knowledge they need to do their jobs. If they’ve been properly trained, they know their responsibilities, they know the standard of behavior, and they have the authority to do their jobs, what good is all of it if they are lacking in important facts with…
10 Steps to Empowerment 4: Training
In my previous posts on the topic of empowerment, I discussed clear definition of responsibility, authority, and the importance of high standards. Nothing can bring these steps together as powerfully as a good training program. Training, however, is the most neglected management duty in all of fast food. More often than not, trainees are placed…
10 Steps to Empowerment 3: High Standards of Excellence
All too often fast food becomes an environment that tolerates mediocrity. Most places I’ve worked at were filled with apathetic workers and managers that sat in the office all day and night. Shortcuts were the norm. The old-time employees knew the procedures, but no one actually followed them. The new people never even learned procedures….
10 Steps to Empowerment 2: Delegating Authority
Many fast food managers hate to delegate authority. Fast food is typically an autocratic environment, with the manager barking orders and the employees droning about doing the manager’s bidding. It becomes tough when more than one manager is on duty, because then you have two people barking out orders to the same employee, and those…
10 Steps to Empowerment 1: Clearly Define Responsibility
At Wendy’s, managers were to use a “tool” called TTM–Talk To Me. No one ever actually defined this “tool” while in training, and district managers were very nebulous as to how one should use it. Training indicated that a manager was only supposed to TTM his employees, not actually do anything–but let me tell you…