How To Get The Best From Your Team
Every business needs a good team behind it and your staff could be the difference between success and failure. This is certainly true when it comes to the restaurant, cafe or bar business. When you start your restaurant business you will no doubt pay close attention to who you employ and once you have your dream team in place it’s important to understand how to manage your staff to get the best out of them.
Building a successful team will contribute to the success of your restaurant but it’s not just about the team members, much of the success of that team will come down to how you manage them and if it isn’t you, who you choose as their manager. Let Alliance guide you in what to look for when employing your restaurant staff.
The Importance of The Right Manager
Your manager will need certain specialist skills to manage your team and to get the best from your staff. When hiring your restaurant manager you should obviously ask yourself if you believe they have the right qualities. It’s not just about their past experience, they might have an impressive CV but do they understand the importance of teamwork? Everyone knows what teamwork means but there are few people who are really qualified to lead a team well and some people are not suited to working in teams, some people work better alone. A team who like and respect each other will far outstrip a team who don’t enjoy working together and where there is an obvious hierarchy. It’s vital that your restaurant manager strikes the right balance between showing a team who is boss and also encouraging everyone to be involved, no matter what level their job. Every one of your team will have a job to do, whether it’s the most junior member of staff to the head chef – each has a function you need so respecting each other is a number one priority. It’s up to the manager to make sure that working conditions are positive. This means in a physical sense but also working collaboratively as a team.
Understanding Different Skills
Your manager needs to know the value of pre-assigning tasks and also have wide knowledge of everyone’s skills, what they are capable of and where they need training. This will help the flow of the kitchen during busy shifts. Training up staff to cope with other tasks will help grow their confidence, improve their skill-set and assist when assistance is needed.
Delegation
A good manager knows how to delegate well and encourage and motivate others. The best restaurant managers understand the workings of a restaurant inside out. They more than likely have experienced what it’s like to work in the kitchen as a junior staff member, a waiter or waitress and have undertaken other jobs in a restaurant or hotel. This type of manager instantly knows the pitfalls of various working areas and can foresee potential problems and hopefully deal with them before they become too big.
Praise
Another aspect of good management is someone who recognises other people’s achievements rather than taking the credit for him or herself. Praising others is part of motivating and encouraging. He or she should also be very approachable, no matter what the person’s job is. If a worker wants to speak to the manager the manager should make time to do this and listen and do it calmly and patiently.
A good manager will reward his or her staff. Reward helps toward a positive environment and lifts spirits. Workers who have a strong incentive will give more.
Your Staff
As is common knowledge, working in a team is a must for a restaurant. While everyone has their individual jobs, they need to communicate with each other and work together when necessary. Staff must be flexible, so if someone wants help washing up urgently workers should be willing to chop and change their job for efficiency and do so happily rather than grumbling if a job is beneath their level! The team must pitch in especially if certain work stations are busier than others. A smooth running kitchen makes for a better customer experience because it means dishes are prepared quickly, efficiently, delivered hot and on-time.
Getting Along
Your team must like each other or at least know the importance of getting along with each other. Who wants workers who don’t want to come to work? If you encounter problematic staff, those who don’t turn up for a shift or call in sick regularly you need to investigate whether or not the root cause is within the team or a personal situation. Your team will spend plenty of hours working together working so it’s vital everyone is able to get on well. Encourage the team to get to know each other, perhaps plan occasional social events because one of the keys to success is all of you liking your co-workers and a happy kitchen makes happy customers! The bottom line is, a strong team will work well under stress, a weak team will fall apart.
Different Shifts
One of the things you can do to encourage positive team working is to organise your shifts well so personalities are accommodated where necessary and you mix up your staff. Remember, your staff do work together a lot so giving them the opportunity to work alongside different people during the working week will help maintain a positive atmosphere.
Finally, as well as the best restaurant team and an inspirational restaurant manager, you need quality equipment and appliances. For all your catering needs, visit Alliance where you’ll find everything you need to help attain restaurant success.