Listen to your team.
Look for inspiration in unexpected places.
A story from Blue Smoke...
Every January, we closed Blue Smoke for a few days to take a break and throw our staff holiday party.
On the last day of the break, I would convene the leadership team for a day-long strategy session. It was my favorite day of the year because it took us out of our space and helped us see one another as equals. No uniforms, no hierarchy. Just bonding, relationship building, thinking, and fun. We each had assignments, and each person had to present an idea or challenge to tackle as a group.
We were a motley crew of 20 leaders with 20 different perspectives, and the discussions could get passionate. The only rule was that each person had to listen and that we had to respect one another’s point of view. A person's job description or rank was irrelevant. At the end of the day, we would agree to five goals for the year ahead and commit to moving the goal forward based on our role.
At one year’s offsite, our pastry chef, Jennifer Giblin, presented: “I don’t know why we cannot increase our revenue by one million dollars this year. I believe we should be able to, and we owe it to ourselves to achieve the goal.” She went on to describe the steps it would take to achieve the goal. The room fell silent. This was the pastry chef! In the world of restaurants, pastry chefs are not known to push the financial envelope.
Then, slowly but surely, individuals chimed in with their support. By the end of the day, this audacious goal had become our mission for the year ahead. I have never seen a singular idea, from an unlikely source, galvanize a team so powerfully. To this day, that offsite is a career highlight.
On Monday, I will share what we did that year to chase our goal, and how we performed.
Have a great weekend!
#leadership #restaurants #restaurantbusiness #hospitality #hospitalitybusiness #innovation
Maynard Consulting