Tag-Teamed by Excellence

I'm on the road this week in Ottawa so I asked where we should have supper. One of the people in our group offered four chain restaurant names that were in the area. All four served basically the same mediocre food with the same mediocre ambience. In fact, you could have swapped out the signs on the front of the buildings and you'd have been hard-pressed to know the difference. It's why I never eat at any of these places: I would simply be rewarding them for their mediocre product and service.

So I took a chance on a restaurant that I had never tried before. Although the food was just slightly better than ordinary, it was our waiter who showed me what happens when employees engage on the job.

Ashley is a twenty-something male server. This guy had personality and a really good sense of confidence. He engaged us all in conversation, honest conversation, including his stint as a musician in a Christian rock band that traveled the four corners of Canada in a Ford Econoline van.

It was Ashley who captained our table while he and four other servers tag-teamed us. One brought drink refills, one brought the food, one cleaned up around us and one looked after getting us our bill. All five servers were cordial, efficient and engaging.

This is how you do it managers: you engage your people and coach their strengths so that they can engage their customers in the same way:

• Let your engaged and engaging people loose on your customers to be who they are - not who you dumb them down to be 
• Trust them to be beyond competent - think excellent 
• Let them shake hands with their customers - when's the last time a waiter shook your hand?
• Support them to be worth far more than they get paid - it's why I left a 30% tip

Do your customers love your people that much? If not, you need to start managing (coaching) them differently.

--
Kevin Burns - Management Attitude/Culture Strategist
http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™

Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

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