Leadership Skills - Provide direction - Part 2

The hallmark of an effective leader is clear focus and direction. successful leaders operate with a vision of where they are going, and they use this vision to inspire their people and their organization.
Some leaders generate this vision and direction from within themselves and then develop support for it within their organization. Others work with their teams to create a vision together. In either case, it is this clear vision and focused direction that allow leaders to align and direct the energy and resources of the organization to achieve desired goals.
Successful managers align their vision with that of the larger organization of which they are part. They then work with their team to identify the mission and goals of the team, out of which comes the roles and responsibilities of each individual. This process helps ensure that each individual’s objectives and decisions support the larger vision and eliminates many activities that are counterproductive.
I am providing suggestions on how to create and communicate your vision for your area to clarify each person’s responsibilities in creating that vision. It addresses the issues of:

-Fostering the Development of a common Vision:
the foundation of an effective organization and team is a common vision and mission that is understood and accepted by everyone.
A vision is a statement of the future state that is desired.Each part of the organization should have its own vision of how it will contribute to the overall vision of the organization.
An organization and its parts also need a mission. A mission statement clarifies the organization’s present state by defining:

• What business it is in
• What the boundaries of the business are
• Who its customers are
• How departments and individuals work together
• What needs to be accomplished
• How success is measured

Your team’s vision and mission will focus its energy, clarify its goals, and set priorities in place. It will also help you and your team to reach agreement on team members’ roles and team’s direction.

-Providing Direction and defining Priorities:
People are most productive when they have a clear of what is expected of them, both on a daily basis and over the longer term. Being clear about organizational priorities enables employees to make appropriate decisions about the most important issues to tackle. you can take steps to clearly communicate the overall direction of a team to both current and new team members.

-Clarifying Roles and responsibilities:
Clarifying responsibilities increases ownership, alleviates conflicts, and eliminates unnecessary ambiguity. Furthermore, letting other areas know who is responsible for what allows your area to be more responsive to customer needs and can keep things from “falling through the cracks”. Role clarification is an ongoing process in a dynamic organization.

-Linking the team’s Mission to That of the Organization:
Sometimes employees are unclear about how their work ties into the organization; or they may be asked to do things that seem meaningless or unimportant. tying individual goals and tasks to the organization’s objectives can help employees view their assignments as important. Your contribution as an effective manager is to ensure that you and your people plan and act in a manner consistent with what the organization intends to accomplish.

-Making the Team’s Mission and strategies Clear to others:
Once you have a mission in place for your team, communicate it to others who are important to the success of your group. Doing so will help you gain the understanding and support you need to get your job done.
 

Leadership Skills - Part 1

Leadership: the ability to make things happen by encouraging and channeling the contributions of others, taking a stand on addressing important issues, and acting as a catalyst for change and continuous improvement.


In the past, leadership was simpler. Yesterday's managers could demand performance. Today's managers are faced with more educated and democratically oriented workforce. Problems and opportunities are complex and challenging.

As a result, today's managers must encourage and apply the contributions of all of the company's human resources, both individually and in groups. You need the creativity and resourcefulness of everyone to find solutions and the commitment of all employees to implement these solutions effectively.

In this series I intend to focus in the following seven areas of leadership skills identified as essential to managerial success:

• Provide Direction: Fosters the development of a common vision;provides clear direction and priorities;clarifies roles and responsibilities.
• Lead courageously: Steps forward to address difficult issues; puts self on the line to deal with important problems;stands firm when necessary.
• Influence Others: Asserts own ideas and persuades others; gains support and commitment from others; mobilizes people to take action.
• Foster Teamwork: Builds effective teams committed to organizational goals;fosters collaboration among team members and among teams; uses teams to address relevant issues.
• Motivates Others: Encourages and empowers others to achieve;establishes challenging performance standards; creates enthusiasm, a feeling of investment, and a desire to excel.
• Coach and Develop Others: Accurately assesses strengths and development needs of employees; gives timely, specific feedback and helpful coaching; provides challenging assignments and opportunities for development.
• Champion Change: Challenges the status quo and champions new initiatives; acts as a catalyst of change and stimulates others to change; paves the way for needed changes; manages implementation effectively.

Proven Way to a Profitable Menu - Part 6- Take Your Menu's Temperature

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in reference to:

"To see if a person is sick, you take his temperature.... and it's not different with menus. How long has it been since you took your menu's temperature? You should give your menu a serious check up every six months. And most probably every time you do the check up there are plenty of things you could be doing better.."
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Proven way to a Profitable Menu - Part 6- Take Your Menu's Temperature

To see if a person is sick, you take his temperature.... and it's not different with menus. How long has it been since you took your menu's temperature? You should give your menu a serious check up every six months. And most probably every time you do the check up there are plenty of things you could be doing better..

You will discover that you could be serving new desserts, better cuts of meats on some dishes, or newly popular indulgences like cigars. Once you realize the shortcomings of your menu, make the changes!!!! Your menu needs to be as hot as your signature dish!

Her are few of the questions you should ask when you diagnose your own establishment's menu:

Where is the W.O.W.?
is your menu's temperature a few degrees above or below that of your competition? Do you offer exciting and different choices or are you beginning to look a little bit tired? The challenge in this business isn't achieving quick success, it's sustaining a loyal flow of customers and sales. You must find new sources of W.O.W. all the time.

What's Selling?
Any restaurant in operation today should have a point-of-sale (POS.) system sophisticated enough to take stock of which items are selling and which are not. Don't make the mistake of thinking you know -use your equipment and get the real numbers at least weekly. I suggest you go one step further and calculate what percentage of your slaes are coming from new items on your menu. Guests' taste change from year to year, and if you are just selling the same plates over and over, you are not keeping up with the times.

What Will Be Trending Tomorrow?
any business that simply tried to keep up with the times would find itself with an obsolete product line in short order. The same is true for of restaurants. Your menu is a statement of how well you have planned for the future. What does yours say about you?

Are You the Right Size?
in menus, bigger is not necessarily better. Know what you can execute perfectly and consistently and stick to it. Restaurants which offer in incredible range of their menu choices often end up disappointing their guests. Big menus can lead to menu confusion -where what your order is not necessarily what you get. What your server ultimately delivers may be wonderful enough, but if it does not match with the menu description, you have still delivered a disappointing experience.

So what is the temperature of your menu? Now is the time to determine if your menu is ill or healthy. Don't put it off - a sick menu can be life-threatening.

Yase International Consulting
(407) 279-0871
George@yaseintl.com

Proven way to a Profitable Menu - Part 5-Create Menu diversity

This market is flooded with "me too" menus that are loaded with such "standards" as chicken Caesar salad, fried cheese sticks and grilled chicken.

To contact George please write to george@yaseintl.com

in reference to: Service Excellence: Proven Way to a Profitable Menu - Part 5- Create Menu Diversity (view on Google Sidewiki)

Proven Way to a Profitable Menu - Part 5- Create Menu Diversity

This market is flooded with "me too" menus that are loaded with such "standards" as chicken Caesar salad, fried cheese sticks and grilled chicken breast.


The only options most of us consider when trying to be different are 1) discount our items, 2) provide noticeable larger portions or 3) add cute little names to our dishes and claim that they have originality. None of these is particularly appealing to our bottom lines and none produces W.O.W. with your guests.


Ther is a better option which I call menu diversity - providing customers with choices that no one else can offer them. It sounds easy but it takes a lot of effort. As with any W.O.W. program you implement in your business, menu diversity requires that you be Watchful. Open and Willing. Here is how:

Be Watchful

Look around your dining room to see what your guests are eating. What are they asking for that you don't serve? What accompaniments are they adding to their main course on their own? Guests gives us clues all the time, and we usually ignore them. Watch other restaurants also, especially the small places which attract swarms of locals. We flock to the newest and most expensive restaurants for a taste of what's chic, but it is often the small independents who have their fingers on the pulde of the market.

Be Open 

For decades, Lawry's Prime Rib prided itself on selling only one entree: prime rib. But today, that's simply not realistic. Too many costumers want a healthful alternative. So now Lawry's serves fish. We could all be more open to serving new dishes, or even old ones in more innovative ways. Allow your chefs room to be creative within a strict set of cost and supply parameters. That's what they are paid for more than anything else! If you've hired the right people, they should be eager to bring new ideas to the menu and additional sales to your tables. If you treat your menu as a closed book, you are confining yourself to mediocrity and ultimately to obsolescence.

Be Willing

If you are going to create an innovative menu, you've got to be willing to have faith in your chefs. Behind every success like fajitas, frozen Margarita or wraps, there were chefs who were allowed to take some risks and owners who were willing to invest some faith in them.

When we try to appeal to the greatest number  of people, we tend not to strive for W.O.W., but settle for the lowest common denominator instead. That is a recipe for disaster, not for delighted diners.