What
are you doing to build the bench strength in your account? Who is the
next Sous Chef, Dining Room Manager, Exec Chef, DDS, or General Mgr. in your
account?
Building leadership bench strength is also important to you and
your organization, it helps to know what to look for among your exceptional
hourly team members that will help make their transition to management
effective. So here’s my short list of behaviors to identify and consider when
you’re evaluating team members for promotion from hourly to supervisory ranks.
- They
can manage themselves.
The ability to effectively
manage others begins with the ability to first manage oneself.
- They
routinely demonstrate ABCD (Above & Beyond the Call of Duty) behavior. One sure
sign of manager-ready associates is a commitment to master and excel at
the tasks at hand.
- They
have the respect of their fellow employees. All of them. Strong
character is a critical cornerstone of strong leadership. If you
have integrity, nothing else matters. And if you don’t have integrity?
Nothing else matters.
- They
model the way. Whenever you cite the model employee in meetings with
your fellow managers, you use her or him as an example of patience,
performance and productivity.
- They’re
already managers (without titles).
Other team members tend to ask this associate the kinds of questions
they’re afraid to ask real managers for fear of looking dumb or forgetful.
And they patiently explain and demonstrate the right way every time.
- They
build their own replacement. The promotion-worthy hourly employee shares expertise
and insight, and successfully trains, develops and motivates the next
generation team member to the role they once had. And they do it with fun
and focus.
- They
challenge the process, calmly.
Manager-worthy associates
master their role and actively search for (and often find) better
solutions to common obstacles.
- They
spend time with other outstanding performers. It’s been
said that you are the cumulative sum of the five people you spend the most
time with. Outstanding team members tend to hang with people who like them
and are like them.
- They
like to learn and be given targets. The best
future leaders are learners and goal-oriented. They examine how the job
they do might be done even better and then share what they’ve learned with
others.
- They
always seem to be working during the most profitable/productive shifts. Look at your spreadsheets. Compare the best days—and
the worst ones—with the labor schedule. Which team members–and which
managers–are consistently on staff on the best and most profitable days?
And which are most often present on the worst ones?
If you’re hiring someone from the outside to be a new
manager, be certain you assess their capacity for learning as well as their
resume. In today’s world, resumes are somewhat irrelevant in that managers
should not be hired based solely on what they’ve done, but rather for what they
can do. Bank on the future more than the past. No one comes as close to
perfection as they do on a resume. The ability to self-direct and self-instruct
are critical skills rarely found on a resume, but worth searching for in your
hourly talent pool.
Having an entrepreneurial outlook and an innate ability to be a
lifetime learner are platinum skills for the next generation
of foodservice leaders.
Jim Sullivan