11.1 Why Teamwork is Important
Without teamwork, you will have a restaurant that is in disarray and this will become readily apparent to your guests. When staff members are all working from the same page it means that things will run more smoothly and ultimately this will be reflected in the quality of the product that you offer as well as the level of customer service.
Teamwork is also important as it reduces the stress that is felt by individual staff members who perhaps feel that others are simply not pulling their weight. Seeing this can lead to a feeling of resentment towards others and that, in turn, may produce trouble.
However, there are a number of reasons as to why teamwork is important, and they include the following:
Teamwork increases effectiveness.
Teamwork creates a better working environment.
It helps to reduce turnover of staff.
Sales goals can be exceeded.
Customers dine in a better environment.
Employees look more forward to coming to work.
Put yourself in this position. How would you feel if you were going to work every day, and dreading doing so due to the general atmosphere? You perhaps feel that you are doing the work of two people, but being paid the same. This will lead you to look for another job as you simply cannot take it any longer. All of that can be resolved by creating an atmosphere whereby everybody is pulling in the same direction. However, this is a delicate thing to perfect, as it only takes one individual to upset the rest, but that is where your ability to not only build a good team, but to train people in the correct manner and create the right feeling among the staff, becomes so important.
Quote
"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success"
Source: Henry Ford (Founder of the Ford Motor Company)
11.2 How to Build a Good Team
As the restaurant manager, it is primarily up to you to create this sense of teamwork, and the key to it all is to build a good team to begin with. As you are the one that deals with the hiring, and indeed the firing, of staff it should make it easier for you to create a positive work environment. This all depends on how good you are at not only identifying the correct people in the first place, but also the way you then build the concept of working as a team.
In order to build a good team, you need to take into consideration the following points :
Each team member must clearly understand their role.
Identify talents within the staff and use it to your advantage.
Place people in the correct positions depending on their skills.
Reward excellence.
Openly encourage people when they do something well.
Never be too harsh on people that make mistakes.
Encourage middle managers to operate in the same way.
There also has to be clear acceptance by you that a good team is built from the top and works its way down. It is not just about the staff that are dealing with customers, but also middle management, department heads, and yourself. It is essential that everybody is pulling in the same direction.
People look to the manager to lead them, so your personality has to be perfect and your energy extremely positive, as this will then trickle down to other staff members. You cannot allow people with egos to become heavily involved in a team as that will pull others down. If you discover that people are like this, then it is in the best interest of not only the restaurant, but the team in general, for them to be taken out of the equation. This is people management at its best.
You must always show respect to members of staff and encourage them to do the same to others. Acknowledge the role that they play in the restaurant and offer encouragement throughout the day in order to boost their confidence. A member of staff that is confident in what they are doing will emit a positive vibe which will then feed to others. By making people feel that they are actually making a difference, it leads to a sense of them wanting to come to their work every day, rather than it being a place they dread.
11.3 How to Hire the Correct Staff
Hiring the correct staff is another important part of running a restaurant. This is where you have to apply your own skills in working through the various applicants by not just choosing the correct people for the job due to their experience, but the correct person according to their personality as well. It is all fine and well that they can do the job, but if they are not going to be able to connect with the rest of the team, then they can upset the entire working environment and that is just not worth the risk. Remember that as the manager you are at the top of the food chain of staff. It is not just a case of focusing on the floor staff, but you must also pay close attention to team members that are in some position of authority.
11.4 Hiring Staff
So, when it comes to hiring staff you should not only take into account where they have worked before, but determine how they will fit in with the rest of the staff. Do they have the same work ethic as others? Do they have the same temperament as others? What is their own attitude towards work?
This section comes down to your ability to identify the correct applicant for the position. However, to make your life easier, you should include questions in the interviewing process that helps you to determine how much of a team player the individual is.
Be completely upfront and ask them to describe a time where they have been part of a team and how
they felt they performed. They should be able to describe the task, what they did, and the outcome as well as their thoughts and opinions on how they felt. By doing this, you will get a sense of how well they will fit into your current team.
Alternatively, it can also work to your benefit if a current member of staff is able to recommend afriend that they trust as this increases the chances of the person being able to easily fit into the current structure and will already have some knowledge of how the team works together.
11.5 The Importance of Training
We should also turn our attention to the benefit of adequate training for new members of staff, as this also plays a role in how people will then fit into the work environment. It is important that a new member of staff is introduced to their relevant team as quickly as possible in order to get them to feel part of something. Due to the care you have taken with the initial hiring, it should be possible for you to feel safe and secure in the way that other members of staff deal with a new individual. They have all been in that position as the new person, and thanks to the positive feelings that you should aim to create in the restaurant, integrating a new member of staff should not be an issue.
The importance of teamwork needs to be stressed during their training. It should involve you putting them in the team and using older, more experienced members of staff to your advantage. They can take on the role of being a mentor to a newbie, introducing them to the intricacies of their particular role. Even though this may be seen as removing some of your responsibilities it actually shows good management of staff. By allowing experienced staff members to help them through their training it builds a relationship between people. It allows the new person to learn the job faster and have a person that they can go to directly whenever there is a problem. The way an individual is hired and then trained will play a major role in how they are incorporated into the team.
In this instance, you must remember these following points:
Be 100% sure about hiring new staff.
Ask in the interview about times where they have been a team player.
A friend of a member of staff can often work well.
Never just focus on their experience.
Provide adequate training.
Pair them with an experienced member of staff as a mentor.
This leads us onto something that is really important as this kind of network within the restaurant helps to create a much better working environment for everybody employed there.
11.6 How to Create a Positive Working Environment
Finally, we will look at how you manage to create a positive working environment and as long as you have put the correct pieces in place, then this is something that should not be a problem.It is your job to create a sense of working harmony from top to bottom in the restaurant and that iswhy you must take a great deal of care in choosing who you are going to hire. There has to be a sense of unity throughout the different levels of management and right down to the floor as it doesnot take much to upset the entire balance of the work force.
It is also important that you create a working environment where individual staff members feel that
they are actually part of something. They do not want to feel like they are just another member of staff, but by creating a working environment that is fun and feels positive, it will undoubtedly rub off onto the staff.
A lot of this comes down to how you handle things and your type of management. Clearly being a strict disciplinarian will work against the idea of creating a positive feeling as people will feel that they are unable to come to you with any issues that they are having. At the same time, there will be a sense of fear in the team and fear will create tension, so clearly being the opposite of this will work
in a more positive way.
FACT
Studies have shown a link between advanced teamworking systems and improved employee
satisfaction and performance outcomes.
Source: eurofound.europa.eu
11.7 Helping Team Building
The importance of team building is something that has been known for some time, but there is no doubt that it does help to create a more positive working environment. It always helps when individuals get to know one another and not only in the restaurant. By getting to know and understand their individual quirks it helps people to appreciate one another. When you mix and get on well on a personal level as well as a professional one, then that equates to a wonderful place to work.
11.8 Using Meetings to Help
It is important to use meetings to help create that positive feeling around the restaurant. Meetings should be kept short, but they should also be an opportunity for individuals to air their grievances or discuss things that they think could be improved.
By giving people a platform such as this it stops them harbouring their frustrations, which will eventually cause more problems. It also gives you an opportunity to show them that the management do indeed value their opinion and take on board what they say; so you should also use meetings to let them know of changes that have been made due to their feedback. Clear and open communication is absolutely essential for a positive work environment. Without it you can create a whole host of problems and issues that are then harder to resolve. View this feedback as being positive, but at the same time you must be seen as being proactive with it. A failure to take action will lead to a sense of hostility and that has to be avoided at all costs.
11.9 The Manager Taking the Lead
As the manager, you must show the team that you are willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with them and that you completely understand their job. It also helps the general mood if staff see that the manager is willing to get their hands dirty and that everybody is largely seen as being equal.A manager that simply delegates rather than becoming involved will create a negative feeling around them and this negative feeling will then permeate down to the rest of the work force. Instead, you must clearly define roles within the team to make sure that everybody knows what they are doing, but at the same time you must still display a willingness to do things yourself. Also, as a manager you should understand the staff and how to motivate them to get the best out of them. By creating a feeling of everybody contributing in a positive manner it leads to a more positive feeling
in general.
You must also be able to sympathise with the team and to show them that you have a real willingness to work through problems in order to improve the work environment. By doing this you create an open door policy, which has been proven in studies to be effective at improving the overall feeling in the work place. Being liked and accepted by the rest of the work force is essential for a good manager and without this your chances of having a positive work environment will be greatly reduced.
So, to create a positive work environment, you should always consider the following points:
Create a sense of harmony from top to bottom.
Take the lead as the manager and stand shoulder to shoulder.
Clearly delegate roles.
Use staff meetings to clear the air.
Use meetings to discuss positive changes.
Sympathise with the team with their issues.
Never ignore these problems.
Never just delegate without being actively involved.
Stress the importance of open communication.
Finally, remember that the restaurant consists of different departments, but each department has to also be capable of working together in unison for the sake of the business. It should never be the case that the servers are a good team and the kitchen staff are a different team as this creates divisions and that should never happen.
Summary of Module
This module has been created to build a sense of what it takes to form a team that works well together for the benefit of the business. The key is in the hiring of staff, the training, and your skills as a manager. Being able to identify those individuals that just cannot be brought into the team and then remove them before any damage can be caused is also important. Work on building a strong team and the restaurant will be a far more pleasant place to be and customers will also benefit as a result.
.svg)
