Interviews: Sharing Too Much, or Not Enough?
Posted On: May 7, 2013
During the interview process how do you gauge how much to disclose about yourself? When you decide what to disclose…when do you disclose it?
How you handle these decisions will have an effect on your interviews, your job, and your career. On the front lines of talent acquisition and retention I see the success of those who handle it well and the carnage in the careers of those who do not.
Explicit vs. Tacit Knowledge
To understand transparency, you must first understand the difference between what communication experts call tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is the kind of knowledge that is difficult to transfer to another person by means of writing it down or verbalizing it. With tacit knowledge, people are not often aware of the knowledge they possess or how it can be valuable to others. Explicit knowledge is knowledge that has been articulated, codified, and stored in certain media. It can be readily transmitted to others.¹
Basically, tacit knowledge is what you can keep hidden and explicit knowledge is what is made public.
This holds especially true for the interview process, in which two parties engage in externalization (give) and internalization (take) to socialize (communicate with one another) their tacit information in combination with relevant explicit information. Failure to disclose certain tacit or explicit information by either or both parties will result in frustrated relationships with a high probability of breakdown.
What Should Be Made Explicit?
As a candidate, you are obligated to make explicit anything and everything that will affect your relationship with your future employer:
During the Application and Interview Process
- Truthful résumé
- Accuracy of all answers on applications and paperwork (especially questions about criminal, driving, past employers, and financial records)
- Honest answers to interview questions
- Unrehearsed references
Onboarding / Training
- Availability (planned vacations, family obligations such as the responsibility of care for a loved one)
- Refusal of a counter-offer
- Ease of relocation
- Realistic consideration of the time, stress and expense of a long daily commute
Cultural Fulfillment
- Do you truly believe in the company’s values, vision, mission, and policies?
- Are you coachable (receptive to training, criticism, and changing habits)?
In recent weeks I’ve seen two executive-level candidates come very close to losing golden opportunities in the post-offer stage because of how they handled the non-disclosure of tacit information. Neither case involved a dramatic revelation of a criminal past or résumé lies (both are candidates of solid character and professional reputation – experts in their field). The issues were quite mundane, having to do with a planned vacation and relocation logistics.
Neither employer had a problem with the issues themselves, but the candidates’ timing of disclosure caused a temporary breakdown. The bottom line: When you are engaging on a leader-to-leader level, both parties should expect mutual transparency on issues that will affect the relationship in the short- and long-term.
Upsides and Downsides of Candidate Interview Transparency
|
|
Upsides of Transparency (100% Explicit) | Downsides from Lack of Transparency (Mix of Tacit and Explicit) |
| Solid Match of Employer & Candidate | MATCH…Especially values, skills and abilities | Misaligned values, skills and abilities |
| Emotional Maturity of Decision | Emotionally mature decision;- transition will be easy- you will crave training
- you will accept constructive criticism well - you will find much in common with your new coworkers because you are willingly culturally yoked |
Emotionally immature decision;- you won’t be able to keep up- you won’t desire coaching; you will instead reject it because you never bought into the company’s values, vision and mission
- you will be prone to become a complainer, and eventually rebel against company leadership - the relationship will end in failure for both parties |
| Ability to Fulfill the Job Requirements | Challenging position but not beyond your capacities (skill base, ability to receive training) | Challenge beyond your capacities (skill base, ability to receive training) |
An assumption made throughout this piece is that the employer is wholly functional and brings their tacit knowledge to the interview as well. If an employer fails to be transparent when you are, then they are at fault. The higher your emotional intelligence, the better you will be at accurately sensing a “transparency gap” during the interview process.
Successful employer-employee relationships are based on trust and sharing of common values (culture). Transparency will nurture that culturally-bonded relationship. We’ll look beyond interviews and hiring to being a trainee and mentoree next month with “Are You Coachable?”
¹ Wikipedia
Joseph D’Alessandro is the founder and president of Strategic Hospitality Search, a successful national-scope executive and management search agency based in Chicago.
Strategic Hospitality Search | StrategicFIT | www.shs.jobs | @shsagency | 630.837.0400
Does Job Tenure Matter Anymore?
Posted On: April 22, 2013
Some companies look at the last three jobs. Some look at average tenure over the span of a career. Either way, 90% of my clients consider a candidate’s job tenure history to be the ultimate indicator of their value.
Or is that bit of conventional wisdom going the way of camera film and projection TV’s? Is reliance on job tenure as a predictor of success on its way to obsolescence?
Endangered Species
The reason we are seeing fewer and fewer résumés with five to ten year tenures is because they are becoming extinct. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national average across all industries is 4.6 years. Employees between the ages of 25 and 34 have an average tenure of 3.2 years.
Average tenures in the professions we serve:
Restaurants & Bars 2.1 years
Lodging 3.8 years
Entertainment 3.1 years
Food Manufacturing 4.9 years
Impact vs. Time
Short tenure may be an expectation at lower levels, but not for executives, right?
A March 2013 Harvard Business Review article declares the perfect CEO tenure is 4.8 years.
With CEO’s coming and going and private equity firms trading restaurants, hotels, and manufacturers like baseball cards, why are we still looking at tenure as the main driver of candidate quality? Isn’t it about leadership and impact?
When was the last time you read a book on leadership or management that cited time or tenure as a major factor of success?
Probably never, because they are not factors except that the leader needs to be in place for enough time to make an impact. That length of time can vary drastically from company to company and business unit to business unit, depending on the specific needs of the enterprise.
Measuring Behavior
One client we served for several years gave us three criteria for the perfect management candidate:
- Average job tenure of 4 years
- Relevant full-service restaurant experience
- At least five years of management experience, and a bachelor’s degree.
Our staff delivered qualified candidates by the dozen in markets from Tacoma to Tallahassee. Very few were getting past the first interview.
Looking for a way to serve them better, I created a report to discuss with the Director of Recruiting. I wound up having an enlightening discussion with the Senior Vice President of Human Resources who empathized with me but stated that, to him and his company, really none of the qualifications provided to us really mattered…especially job tenure. The only thing that mattered was how a candidate scores on a behavioral science-driven screening interview.
Huh. Here is a super-successful national restaurant chain that, in the words of the SVP, “will hire someone from a Supercuts or a Jiffy Lube if their behavior is a fit.”
Tenure? Behavior? Neither? Both?
Every company has its own proprietary hiring practices. Each is charged with finding the right formula for successful employee selection. I’ve experienced the hiring practices of many companies, and they vary tremendously.
The nimblest of companies can make a manager or a chef an offer after the second interview; a one or two-day process. The other extreme was an executive placement involving a series of 15 interviews, tests, reports, references, and exercises over a six month period.
Your selection process is somewhere between those two extremes. What’s important is that you figure out what is most important for your specific business. You may be hiring the wrong people because you are too focused on average tenure. It’s possible that someone with two- and three-year tenures hadn’t found the right culture and maybe the right culture is your culture.
Joseph D’Alessandro is the founder and president of Strategic Hospitality Search, a successful national-scope executive and management search agency based in Chicago.
Strategic Hospitality Search | StrategicFIT | www.shs.jobs | @shsagency | 630.837.0400
Frustrated? Lead The Conversation.
Posted On: April 17, 2013
Most of you have at least one professional relationship in which – right now – something’s bugging you. You need to initiate a conversation, or you know a coworker will be confronting you. Either way, there’s frustration.
One of my advisors recently showed me this simple equation: F = [E – R]
Frustration = Expectations – Reality
The hospitality world is a breeding ground for passive-aggressive behavior because of the fast pace and the necessity for teamwork. Not every team member executes responsibilities to the expectation of others.
It’s much easier to provide what experts call an “angry smile” and stuff your emotions than to functionally address the situation. If not addressed, the dysfunction of rivalry, division and dissention will set in. This can be disastrous to your culture.
Here are three questions to guide your leadership:
1. Are they at fault, or are you really the one at fault?
If I become angry over another party’s actions, I first need to examine whether mutual expectations have been explicitly set. This is why written procedures, goals, standards, and performance reviews are so important to success.
Before you go to anger (frustration is just another word for anger), check your written procedures, policies and standards. If their fault does not jump off the pages, company leadership may be at fault for lacking detailed policy and training.
2. Is it your battle to fight?
One of my clients, the COO of a leading food service contractor, described the role of an executive as “being functional in a dysfunctional environment.” Amen. If the system were perfect, they wouldn’t need you to lead it. You will be judged by your superiors and your peers on how you handle dysfunction.
If the person at fault is your immediate subordinate or peer, then it is your responsibility to address the situation. If they are a “dotted-line” subordinate, then you may need to advise your peer rather than take action yourself.
However you address the situation, as leader you cause change that results in improvement.
3. Define your strategy and goal for the meeting?
I don’t subscribe to the “be the better person” cliché. It’s really not about that. It’s a matter of emotional intelligence and objectivity. The company’s values, vision, mission, and goals are the focus…NOT someone’s personality. The more you stick to business and eliminate discussion about personality, the more functional the leadership.
Once you have considered the urgency and timing, set the meeting and write down your goal. For example: “My goal is to meet with Ryan to discuss his adherence to our closing procedures because when he does not complete the process it causes problems for the opening manager, opening chef, and office manager.”
Frame your discussion points around the following thoughts with your desired outcome in mind:
- What is Ryan’s communication style?
- If he is a direct communicator you can get right to the point, or he may even say “is this about closing?”
- If he tends to be passive you may need to start with several minutes of ice-breaking and discuss his strengths before discussing his opportunities.
- What or whom do you need to bring?
- If explicitly-stated policy is being violated, then bring a copy of the policy, training materials, business plan, memo, etc.
- If issuing a written warning or citation, carefully prepare and the document well in advance of the meeting.
- Depending on the situation, you may want to bring a superior, peer, or cross-functional leader as a witness (e.g.: an HR manager, or the company controller who can speak to the negative impact caused by Ryan’s failure to follow procedure).
- What does the functional future look like?
- Most people are hard on themselves. Once they demonstrate acceptance of responsibility, put their error in the past.
- Speak to the future, and how much better the business will perform when the corrective change is made.
- Tell him how creating good habits in this area of opportunity will build discipline, character, and ultimately his value.
- Ask how you can support him as he works to overcome this weakness.
- Encourage and affirm.
- Make sure he knows you have faith in him.
- Speak to all of his positive attributes, and ensure that he knows that this one area does not negate all of his contributions.
- Follow up and follow through.
- Set specific dates to follow up on his progress.
- Make those meetings a priority.
Conflict and confrontation are difficult for most people. If you are going to be functional in a dysfunctional environment, you have to have skills in mentorship, coaching, and conflict resolution. Objectively embracing difficult conversations is a “must have” for every hospitality leader executive.
Joseph D’Alessandro is the founder and president of Strategic Hospitality Search, a successful national-scope executive and management search agency based in Chicago.
Strategic Hospitality Search | StrategicFIT | www.shs.jobs | @shsagency | 630.837.0400
Unlikely Career Paths Lead To Global Food Innovation
Posted On: March 19, 2013
What do a homeless kid from Washington with NASA-like curiosity and a Pakistani-born London-educated doctor of endocrinology have in common? They made provocative presentations about the future of food from the same stage at the Research Chefs Association Annual Conference earlier this month.
With distinctly different career paths, missions, and job titles, these innovators enlightened us with hope and sobered us with alarm bells from future generations.
A World of Pure Imagination
Perhaps it is his curiosity that drives him to experiment. Perhaps it is the inner-chef seeking perfection. Perhaps it is his childhood experience living homeless that gives him a “nothing to lose” perspective. Whatever it is, Homaro Cantu does a culinary dance “like nobody’s watching” unlike any chef I have ever met, and that uninhibited thinking has led to some huge breakthroughs.
Dessert?
Chef Cantu may be best known for creating edible menus, carbonating fruit, and creating meals that look like one thing and taste like another. For example, he made a dessert that looks like nachos, but the nacho chips are candied crisps, the cheese is mango sorbet, and what looks like ground beef is actually chocolate. He does, however, have his mind set on innovations to help the common man.
The polymer oven that he invented to perfect a restaurant culinary application could make a difference in the lives of millions. Taking heat from the sun through direct contact or solar converter, this invention is basically a portable kitchen. Imagine being able to cook a meal in the middle of the desert without the need for fire or another energy source?
Chef Cantu has just published a cookbook featuring the “miracle berry,” which blocks sour and bitter taste receptors so our craving for sweet can be replaced with healthier foods by tricking our taste receptors. Conference attendees tried the miracle berry for ourselves, and I can attest that it worked. We were given a spoon of sour cream and doused it with the juice of half a lemon, but the miracle berry blocked all the tartness of the lemon making the citrus-infused dairy taste like lemon cheesecake. This can have huge implications for sugar-cravers like me…
The Medical Defector
Lambasted by his peers for stepping away from prominence in the medical world to work for a global food and beverage manufacturer, Dr. Mehmood Khan is the top scientist at PepsiCo. He shared some jaw-dropping data that we all have heard or seen, but when you put them together they are a call to action:
- World population will increase from about 7 Billion currently to about 9.5 Billion by 2050
- By 2050, 70% will live in cities and “megacities” of 20 Million or more (in 1804, world population was 1 Billion and 70% lived in rural areas)
- Urbanization increases the distance between people and food, driving prices and increasing spoilage
- 40% of the world’s food supply spoils mostly due to a lack of food processing in third world countries and unnecessary waste in developed nations
- The US exports meat and grain but relies on imported fruits and vegetables
- With increased populations these countries will be consuming their own produce, leaving less or none to export to the US
- Oh…and there is a global water shortage adding additional stress
Dr. Khan is using the resources at PepsiCo to research human taste and metabolism. Apparently, our senses of taste and smell help regulate our digestion. Also, there have been recent discoveries that humans have sweet taste receptors in our intestines and pancreas, and studies showed the thought or aroma of sweet taste enhanced athletic performance. Exactly how he is going to use his studies and PepsiCo to address the global crisis I am not sure, but it will eventually take a global re-education on human nutrition.
Both of these innovators are functioning within the disciplines of science and culinary arts. What sets them apart is their ability to think and dream without boundaries. Their work can be divisive and controversial, but it is certainly inspirational.
What about you? You may be the next great innovator if you give yourself the freedom to dream beyond the scope of your day-to-day work life.
Joseph D’Alessandro is the founder and president of Strategic Hospitality Search, a successful national-scope executive and management search agency based in Chicago.
Strategic Hospitality Search | StrategicFIT | www.shs.jobs | @shsagency | 630.837.0400
Five Tips for Long-term Career Success
Posted On: February 11, 2013
Through the recruiting profession I have gotten to know the careers of thousands of people in every area of hospitality operations, culinary arts, and food innovation. 
In addition to reviewing a candidate’s past, at Strategic Hospitality Search we also examine a candidate’s future.
In doing so, we ask “What are your short-term and long-term goals, and your ultimate career goal?” Too often very skilled professionals do not have answers to these questions. If you are not asking yourself these questions, you may be headed toward a mid-career slump.
If you want to make sure the second half of your career is as successful and exciting as the first, here are five practical considerations:
Be More Patient than Your Peers
Current average job tenure is 4.4 years and Millennials are projected to have 15 to 20 jobs throughout their careers. The next 30 years promise a drastically decreasing quantity of executives who have the leadership wisdom that comes from longer job tenure.
Loyalty is proven through endurance over time – through good times and (especially) bad. If the predictions about Gen X and Gen Y prove true, you will be rightfully regarded as wise and loyal when your steadily-progressive career has a six to seven year average job tenure. Be patient: truly good things come to those who wait.
Complete Your Bachelor’s Degree
Times have changed. Used to be that having the brains and work ethic, and being at the right place at the right time could get you to the top. Not anymore. In most corporations you’d like to work for, positions at the director-level and above require a bachelor’s degree. If teaching culinary, hospitality, or food innovation seems like a great second or third career, you can’t do it at an accredited college without one.
Find a school that will work with your schedule, and make the time to get it done…now. You need to start now because it may take a few years, and that’s when you’ll need it. Don’t worry so much about the prestige of the institution. At mid-career your skills, experience, and personality are the driving factors, and holding the bachelor’s degree most often just a necessary requirement.
Keep Your Records Clean
None of the time and resources invested in the four areas above will make one bit of difference if your character comes into question. Increasingly, companies large and small are deeply credentialing candidates. Live your career and life virtuously, especially the “big four:”
- Transitions: Whenever possible, ensure your resignations or terminations are amicable. Ask for letters of reference every time, and realize that you will need your past superiors as references in the future.
- Criminal/Driving: If you have made mistakes, work hard at putting them far behind you. Every client we have will forgive unrepeated, non-aggravated, non-sexual crimes if they are a one-time occurrence in the candidate’s past. You don’t have to be perfect to be successful, but you do have to be someone who does not repeat their judgment errors.
- Drug Screen: Needs no explanation…
- Credit History: Avoid excess debt, bankruptcy, repossession and foreclosure. The Great Recession put the hurt on many of us and I have seen a lot of grace in this area, but as the economy recovers that grace is going to wear thin.
Advanced Education
If advancing into the executive ranks is a goal, then an advanced degree is a must. If you are going to track with VP’s and C-level corporate execs, then you need to learn their language.
The most common advanced degree is the MBA, and is a demonstration that the holder comprehends business administration and finance, and possibly also varied leadership structures, business models, research and analysis methods, advanced marketing and entrepreneurship. Though some see the MBA as irrelevant, the degree most certainly opens pathways within the “ivory tower.”
Executives can also be valuable specialists. Master’s and doctorate degrees in food science, nutrition, hospitality, human resources, accounting, marketing, etc. establish you as a trusted subject matter expert.
Trade Organization Involvement
Associations within your discipline are an outstanding way to stay on trend and deepen your knowledge while growing your network and making friends. After you’ve tried a few out, pick two or three and grow roots. Commit to life-long membership and get involved. You will be blessed in the long-run with career opportunities, true colleagues, and the satisfaction of giving back to the community.
You have to be proactive if you want to persevere. The corporate climate is more volatile than ever, and application of these disciplines gives you an edge for not only continued employment but also upward mobility. They will also, if you so choose, extend your career by increasing your ability to teach and consult into your golden years.
Joseph D’Alessandro is the founder and president of Strategic Hospitality Search, a successful national-scope executive and management search agency based in Chicago.
Strategic Hospitality Search | StrategicFIT www.shs.jobs | @shsagency | 630.837.0400
Improve Your Team’s Productivity with Cigarettes?
Posted On: January 29, 2013
We see them just outside the back doors of restaurants and hotels, and huddled in front of office towers. There they are, grabbing a “smoke break” in the middle of the work day. Ever see them and think they are lazier than your than you because you don’t smoke?
Or are smokers brilliantly productive?
The cure for my unwanted addiction to cigarettes began when a mentor diagnosed the problem:
“Why do you need the cigarette?” he asked.
“Because I am addicted to the nicotine.”
“No, you use it as a distraction from your hectic workday.”
Aha! When I replaced the cigarette with a stick of gum and a walk around my office building, it was easy to kick the 20 year on-again, off-again habit. With the smoking habit kicked, I no longer a need the five to ten minute breaks every couple hours.
Am I suggesting that you should begin to smoke, or pick up the habit again?
Of course not! The “smoke break” is an example of a forced break from intense work activity.
Studies show that frequent breaks, even very brief diversions, increase productivity during a busy work day. Here are some practical suggestions:
| Unit Managers | Your front-line staff – servers, guest services, culinary line – will perform better if you provide a break during long service periods. Cross-train and build mutual trust among the staff so their breaks are stress-free. When you personally cover them, you build big time morale and loyalty. |
| General Managers & Executive Chefs | Make sure your salaried Managers and Sous Chefs get a break from the action. You know how intense it is, and a few minutes away helps everyone refresh and reset. |
| Executives & Sales Directors | If you and your hard-charging team have established big goals for 2013, the pressure on your leaders is immense. They need to be consistently hard-working and innovative. Create a culture of habit by rewarding your staffers who take a short break every 90 minutes or so. A quick walk, game of pop-a-shot, or even just some quiet time in another part of the office will do. |
Studies also show that “aha moments” often come right after breaks – short breaks, days off, and vacations. Our brains’ creativity is released by spending time NOT thinking about work.
There are many very intelligent high performers who also encourage…***gulp***…naps. Hotel managers have the advantage here because you are surrounded by mattresses and bedding, but I’ll cop to putting my feet up on a dairy crate in the chef’s office to catch a wink. Everyone who has worked in this business for more than a few years has caught someone curled up in a linen bin!
Joseph D’Alessandro is the founder and president of Strategic Hospitality Search, a successful national-scope executive and management search agency based in Chicago.
Strategic Hospitality Search | StrategicFIT www.shs.jobs | @shsagency | 630.837.0400
What Do You Want From Me?
Posted On: January 21, 2013
Did this phrase become a cliché in your life? It did in mine. Growing up with two second-generation Italian parents* whose discussions often became “spirited,” I would often hear one of them exclaim, “What do you want from me?”
This rhetorical question signaled two things. The first I learned as a kid: the argument was close to over. The second I continue to learn as an adult: the problem was deeper than whatever issue they were working through. Their spats were rooted in unmet expectations and dysfunctional communication.
Because of the long hours, hospitality professionals spend more awake time with their hospitality families than with their families of origin or nuclear families. Chefs and cooks, managers and servers, convention services and banquet staff, front desk crews – you become little work families. Familiarity can breed contempt.
Unmet Expectations
My parents’ arguments were almost always about an issue with no long-term significance – a dent in the fender, an unbalanced checkbook, a social faux pas – that they just couldn’t let go. Usually the disappointment festered until touched off by another insignificant situation – a tough pork chop, for instance. No, really. It was like The Honeymooners.
Isn’t work life just like that sometimes? Big mistakes are transparent so they are always addressed, and all involved parties have to own their faults in real time. The root of most problems lies in the small stuff: “He never closes down properly.” “Side-work isn’t done on days when she opens.” “Why doesn’t he do it just like me?” These feelings simmer until touched off by, say, a customer complaining of a tough pork chop.
Seriously, the issue is that one or both parties have unmet expectations. You expect something that your coworker is not delivering, and/or vice versa. If your company does not have explicit written standards, you are inviting this tension into your business. Training, retraining, and upholding performance expectations will functionally eradicate this problem and build a stronger, successful culture.
Dysfunctional Communication
You face extraordinary challenges because you work in the hospitality pressure cooker. To assess how well you’re doing in this area, to how many of the following six communication points can you honestly agree?
- My coworkers do not have to sugar-coat or beat around the bush when bringing a criticism or suggestion to me.
- I look everyone in the eye when I speak to them, and “listen with my eyes” (another of my father’s favorites) when being spoken to.
- I do not have anger fits, even for just a few seconds, and I never make mean-spirited comments.
- My team speaks openly in meetings, and has no fear to share ideas, intimations, and opinions.
- Every individual on my team has an updated written job description, set of performance expectations, and period goals; formal reviews occur at least annually; and the company’s values, procedures and policies are reinforced through consistent training.
- My coworkers trust me enough to always tell me the truth.
The truth is that all of us have to work on at least one of these areas, many of us on two or more. The first step to growth is identifying the problem. Contact us for a list of resources to help you overcome communication issues, all of which my team at Strategic Hospitality Search has used to improve our relationships.
Set a goal to get noticeably better at two of the communication points by June. You know which ones they are. Do your homework, pinpoint what triggers the problem, and fight the temptation to repeat the cycle. Don’t tell your staff that you’re working on these issues. Show them. Continue to show them even when they’re not responding. They will respond after they see that your change is lasting longer than a couple months. And then they’ll follow your lead.
* My parents, Joe and Roxy, were faithful to their vows until their passing. They taught my sister, brothers and me the values of family, loyalty, hard work, and hard knocks. Memories of the Sunday dinner table, enjoying Mom’s Milanese while enduring my father’s object lessons and repeated “you gotta do what you gotta do before you do what you wanna do” bring a smile to my face as I work to instill those values in their grandchildren.
Joseph D’Alessandro is the founder and president of Strategic Hospitality Search, a successful national-scope executive and management search agency based in Chicago.
Strategic Hospitality Search | StrategicFIT www.shs.jobs | @shsagency | 630.837.0400
How to Create a Simple Vision Your Team Can Achieve
Posted On: December 11, 2012
Have you cast a clear vision for your business for 2013? Can your staff recite the vision in one sentence? Do they know the specific role they will play to be successful?
I made a mistake last December. I analyzed our agency’s metrics to agonizing detail and wrote an annual business plan that was too elaborate. My team read through it, we met, discussed it, and then celebrated with a great holiday luncheon. A vision was set, but it was too detailed; too contrived. It took too much work to follow-up on each part.
We set some lofty goals and didn’t reach them all. But we reached several key goals: the tough ones; the ones that hurt; the ones that required transformational change. Achieving those changes further solidified our team, our culture. This made us better at our value disciplines, and made our agency stronger.
The lessons learned: Simplify. Clarify. My staff deserves to be trusted.
This year, we are setting a clearer vision; a simpler one. Our vision will be comprised of the following four components:
- Vision: One sentence Vision for 2013
- Vitality: Abundant physical and mental energy, combined with a wholehearted and joyous approach to situations and activities
- Victory: Every member of the team (including me) has three easily defined and automatically-calculated metrics to improve, based on their individual discipline
- Variables: Every member of the team will have at least three lines of variable P&L expenses for which they are accountable
Vision
You want a simple sentence that your whole team, division or company can memorize in one day. Boil it down. Include a number or metric for everyone to set their sights on, such as a top line goal or an operational efficiency goal. If service is the focus, then “shop report” or customer survey scores will be the key metric. If profitability needs attention, then the “prime cost” percentage or a simple factor combining COGS and employee-controllable variable expenses is your number. Whatever the goal, make it simple and transparent.
The vision should be discussed at every meeting and it should be a rally cry during the times when performance slips. It should also be your celebration song when expectations are exceeded!
Vitality
Some thought leaders now consider energy our most precious resource, instead of time. I have seen time wasted, but I don’t ever recall seeing energy wasted. Human energy by its very nature must be spent or invested.
Look at your workplace and the structure of a day in your culture. Is there vitality throughout the day? How can you keep the energy level pumping all day long? How can you get your staff involved in keeping up the energy?
Victory
From staff reviews, identify three measureable metrics that will help each associate achieve greatness in 2013. Discuss strategies, tactics, and resources to achieve greater success. You have to participate as well. Transparency and vulnerability are the building blocks of trust, and if you want trust from your staff, you will have to lead in that area.
Variables
In 2013, we’ll be dipping our toes into the waters of Jack Stack’s The Great Game of Business. I haven’t completed the book, but what I have read so far demonstrates that most managers underestimate the impact that every employee can make on the P&L.
How many times have you read your P&L and thought, “How did we spend so much on ‘x’?” By delegating line item responsibility to employees (regardless of how that line item relates to their responsibilities or department), expenses are scrutinized and budgets are met.
In our company, employees will be provided their line items and budget numbers. They will use a declining balance system to keep track of the budget and when it’s at zero, we’ll have to wait until next month or quarter to spend. This means that I will have to check with someone if I want to spontaneously order in lunch for the office or buy a new gadget. That’s hard for “the boss,” but empowering for the staff…especially when they receive bonuses for how well they managed those accounts!
It’s up To You to Follow Through
Have everyone report on their progress at weekly team meetings. Use this time for teambuilding. This will have a huge impact on your culture, and it is easy to drop the ball when a crisis arises, if you miss a week, or if your staff does not buy in from the beginning.
Don’t give in. Don’t give up. Provide incentives. Recognize success. Do not publicly criticize when an associate is in a slump, but point to a time when you had the same experience. It is also very powerful when there is peer-to-peer empathy, counsel and encouragement. Seize the opportunity to create a bond between someone who can transfer knowledge of their strength to another who needs to overcome a weakness.
Don’t underestimate the ability of your staff. Every one of them has significant ability, and your leadership can tap that potential. The human spirit longs to be trusted, to be counted-on.
Set your vision. Trust your team. Have a blessed 2013!
Joseph D’Alessandro is the founder and president of Strategic Hospitality Search, a successful national-scope executive and management search agency based in Chicago.
Strategic Hospitality Search | StrategicFIT www.shs.jobs | @shsagency | 630.837.0400
Five Characteristics of a Battle-ready Leader
Posted On: November 27, 2012
You work hard to put systems in place so your general managers can take time to plan and execute a field strategy. You recruit and then drill your unit managers, chefs and sales execs, the lieutenants and colonels of your next generation of front-line leadership. All the while, your HQ ensures deployment through HACCP-secured supply chain while marketing tactics drive legions to your hotels, restaurants and new products.
You’re in a battle. Do you want to win it? Does your staff? Your peers?
Do they have what it takes? How can you tell?
Retired Army Lt. Col. W.J. Wood wrote Leaders & Battles much the way Jim Collins wrote Built to Last and Good to Great, by analyzing situations over time to seek common behaviors and traits in the people who create success.
Wood isolated five leadership characteristics that are as relevant to winning battles in commerce as they are in military warfare. Reading this book together with some of your key leaders could be a great team-building exercise.
The first characteristic may be predictable but is not to be understated just because it is obvious. Paraphrasing from the text, Wood defines COURAGE as bravery in the face of fear – “the first attribute of the leader.” He cites two kinds of courage – physical and moral.
Thank God for the physical courage of our men and women in US military service, for their bravery provides our freedom to work on our moral courage. Moral courage is the “domain of the mind,” or mental toughness necessary to hold to values, principles and policies when challenged. Rookie managers are tempted to give into service staff call-offs, and even seasoned veterans fudge numbers when they fear reprimand for mistakes. Teach your employees that overcoming their fears, and thus creating courage, will eliminate all of those anxieties.
The second characteristic, WILL, is the determination of what to do and whether the means are available to win, then deciding a course of action and doing everything possible to win. He breaks will down into two types: boldness, undertaking a daring action; and tenacity, persevering until the mission is accomplished. How many of your initiatives fizzle out after a few weeks or months? They fizzle because your leaders are lacking in this area.
INTELLECT is the power of thought as the first cause of effective action with three attributes:
- imagination – innovation, creativity, ingenuity
- flexibility – shifting mental gears under pressure without confusion of purpose
- judgment – to make a sound assessment, decide a course of action, and act
Postmodern thought leaders are telling us that decisions are best-made as close to the action as possible (“The Secrets of Generation Flux,” Fast Company, October 2012). It’s not enough that your architect, director of culinary and packaging designer are inspired and practical innovators. Your front line needs intellect to ensure every customer is satisfied.
Personal involvement to ensure the mission is being carried out is PRESENCE and it comes in two forms: rally, the force of character to bring order out of chaos during a critical turn of events; and inspiration, using presence to move people to actions that are essential to accomplishing the mission. Can’t you immediately sense a “dead” hotel, restaurant, or retail venue? Whether busy or slow, there is no pulse. The presence of your leaders has to transpire through the front-line staff. If the unit leader does not have it, the staff never will!
The final characteristic is ENERGY. Energy is vigor and health, the “life support” for the other four attributes. Without energy, a leader cannot, over a sustained span of time, have the presence of body and mind necessary to act on all leadership characteristics. Encourage wellness and fitness, and lead by example. Expect your leaders to have a positive attitude as they face the challenges of every new day, night, overnight, product roll-out, sales blitz, holiday season, home-stand, convention, etc., etc., etc.
Wood also cites five opposing forces, the “dynamics of battle:”
- chance
- exertion
- uncertainty
- apprehension
- frustration
Understanding these forces is critical to preparation for proper timing to unleash the five characteristics. I encourage you to read the book to gain this insight.
You will be inspired as I am to see inside the thoughts of military leaders who won battles against the odds in the face of hazardous conditions, larger armies, fatigued troops, and inferior technology. Does that describe the state of your enterprise? Whether you are fighting with a wealth of assets or boot-strapping from the ground up, you will draw a correlation between the battle stories and your story.
May you apply this knowledge and emerge victorious!
Joseph D’Alessandro is the founder and president of Strategic Hospitality Search, a successful national-scope executive and management search agency based in Chicago.
Strategic Hospitality Search | StrategicFIT www.shs.jobs | @shsagency | 630.837.0400
The Three P’s of Holiday Hospitality Leadership
Posted On: November 12, 2012
By E. Scott Lager and John Buescher
Thanksgiving is a couple weeks away and the holiday season will be upon us very soon. Crowds. Chaos. Trying to get a decent night’s sleep between the grueling 18-hour days.
It doesn’t have to be that way. You can maintain work-life balance, maximize profits and demonstrate character-building leadership if you remember the three P’s:
Planning
One of the differences between a manager and a leader is that a manager thinks one or maybe two steps ahead. A leader thinks all the way through the process, sees every aspect, and anticipates every need.
Staff up even if you need to hire temporary staff. You can’t train a temp on your culture and service, so bring in staff to support your superstars. Hire another bar back so your bartenders can accommodate the higher volume. Hire a barista just to work the espresso machine so your servers continue to upsell coffee. Bring in stewards to polish silver, restock service stations, and keep the dish room efficient. Your bussers will be consumed with floor operations, so bring in a temp just to keep the bathrooms, hallways and entry immaculate.
Assess your physical plant and technology. The last thing you need is for the HVAC or your walk-in to fail when you need them most. Do preventative maintenance on all equipment a few weeks prior to busy season so there is time to order a necessary part.
If you do not keep a binder or journal for holidays, start this year. This is an excellent tool to record how you prepare for and successfully lead during the busiest times of the year. Complete your year’s entry with a financial recap and an honest report of what worked and what failed. Make notes for the next year so you repeat your successes and reverse the failures. What should you keep notes on? Here are a few ideas –
- Reservations and scheduling
- POS reports
- Product mix
- Areas of opportunity to generate additional revenue
- Past specials or features offered to increase PPA and their level of success
- Other positives and negatives
People
Your staff makes the magic in your property. You have to get them to buy in. Remind them that this is their time to shine, and the holidays are meant for building their clientele by providing superior service.
Lay out your plans, so they know they have your support and keep everyone informed of special events during pre-shift meetings and through your inter-venue communications or bulletin board. If they see the bigger picture, they won’t sweat the small stuff like section changes or shift modifications.
Use this special time to build morale and keep it going strong. Throw a holiday kick-off party and decorate together. Bring in pizza or sushi at the end of busy nights, and pastries or breakfast for the early crews. Give back to the community by getting involved in a charity, food or clothing drive, and get the employees and guests involved. Decorate with poinsettias and then have employees give them away to their guests on Christmas Eve.
Lead by example by getting plenty of rest and staying healthy. Always have an upbeat and positive attitude and authoritative but calming demeanor. Encourage rest and sobriety. Their reward is making extra money with the higher volume, but show them you value them as people more than you value profits. Create a culture that embraces teamwork and synergy which makes everyone’s life and job easier.
Profit
The purpose of a business is to make a profit, and there is nothing like a full hotel or restaurant to maximize ROI. This is the time to shine; to build loyalty among your regulars and to showcase your professionalism to first time guests. The more attention you gave to “people” and “planning,” the easier it will be for you to spend time at every table, cool as the mini peppermint martinis you are sampling out with a smile.
While your host staff may do a fine job of managing reservations and capacity during 
normal busy periods, pay special attention to your bookings. Double-check that tables are turning to make way for larger parties, and that deuces are seated at deuces, not four-tops. Also keep in mind that holiday gift exchanges can increase turn times. Proper planning prevents poor performance.
Consider your inventory. More customers mean more goods on hand – food, beverage, china, linen, menus, small wares, paper, cleaning supplies…everything. Capitalize on volume discounts and make sure you increase your stock of higher-priced items. Indulgences increase during the holidays, and you never want to have to tell someone you are out of a great bottle of champagne to toast their celebration.
Chefs, consult with your vendors and brokers far in advance to anticipate commodity issues, and steer your sales staff toward profitable items. Write your a la carte specials to make 100% use of the increased inventory of special event menu inventory.
Applying these strategies will not only keep you out of the weeds, but will grow your profits and clientele while building character within your culture. You will need to make an investment in time and money, but it will pay off in the short-term and long-term. You will be taking some risks in the business you run, and that’s what leaders do!
E. Scott Lager is vice president and executive recruiter at Strategic Hospitality Search, a values-driven national-scope executive and management search agency based in Chicago. He is a veteran restaurant leader and post-secondary hospitality educator.
John Buescher is a management recruiter at Strategic Hospitality Search, a values-driven national-scope executive and management search agency based in Chicago. He is a restaurant management expert who has completed Level One on his way to sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers.