What will Chick-fil-A look like today?

Warning, the video that I am sharing has foul language and is not for the faint of heart. 

What’s the difference between us and the competition? 

People like me exist. People like Alex exist. And a cord of three strands is not easily broken. 

Alex and I wore the same uniform to work one day, unfortunately. 

We are Chick-fil-A, it’s not just what we do, it’s who we are. I don’t say this because of ego or because of some goal we want to accomplish. In our marketing training classes, our home office tells us that we are the brand. What we say and do as individuals within that brand, make the brand. 

What have you done with another person for 17+ years? 

John Maxwell says that everything rises and falls on leadership. We trace our success back to a single person-our leader-Truett Cathy. If that’s the case, think about what our executive committee does. A group of like minded men who run Chick-fil-A get together once a month for over 17 years and discuss leadership. You can’t just let information like that sit, you have to write about it, you have to produce some results with the ideas you have formed. And out comes a brand-Chick-fil-A. Out comes a book. Out comes training classes. Results are produced by people. 

The closest example I know of that is outside of business is marriage. Think about what it means to have labor pains, and what that life giving formula has produced for us. Every leader we have has been born with a mother who went through labor pains to get that child to take it’s first breath. 

Men get together and produce a company, when a man and women meet in marriage they produce another life. 

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 

This group of verses has a stark contrast from one verse to the next. In v9-they have a reward for the partnership, and in v10- there is a warning to an individual who falls by himself. Believer or non believer, how does one warm himself when he is alone? 

It takes two.  

Presidential

Last week the President of Honduras spoke at Chick-fil-A. In February The Chick-fil-A Foundation opens up the speaker series begins again.

I wanted to share some takeaways from his time with Chick-fil-A. 

Schedule your day: I could not believe at the level of organization that this event went through to make his trip easy and efficient. The security, the time of the arrival of the food, the greeters, the contracted marketing team to help run the event, and numerous of other small things that made a difference in the event. Mark Miller says if it doesn't get scheduled, it doesn't get done. 

Travel with someone: There wasn't anyone who was alone at this event. The President traveled with an entourage. The reporters who came knew the people they were around. The home office staff for Chick-fil-A had many represented. I took a coworker with me and we had one of the most productive conversations I've ever had. I don't know if she would reply with the same, but I got to practice asking good questions just because I had a buddy to go with me. 

Introduce yourself to strangers: I got to shake a President's hand. I'll never forget it. I was taking notes-he introduced himself to everyone he met and shook hands warmly. I met a brilliant lady with tons of life experience from Singapore who had experience in bringing in dignitaries from other countries. 

I'm not sure how to phrase this next part, but my friend and I were the only team members who were able to make it. Now in a room of 300, I'm sure I missed someone, but to our knowledge we were it. How were we able to get in that kind of space with those kind of people? We decided we wanted to, we scheduled it, and we went. 

This next quote which I love to share by a business philosopher has a good way to sum up our visit the President. "If you don't make plans of your own, guess what? You'll probably always fit into someone else's plans. Guess what someone has planned for you? Not much." Jim Rohn

What do you have planned this week that's worth remarking about? 

Make it a "REMARKable" day!

Systems and Processes

I have been asked by everyone I have told about my job change in the recent weeks, "What do you do for Chick-fil-A?" And the answer always seems to surprise people, "I sell chicken." I'll admit that most people at first either laugh, don't get it, or name a wholesale chicken company like Claxton or Purdue.

As of right now I don't have a title and for those at the home office for Chick-fil-A and for some people I know, that can be a bit scary.

A brief conversation with my boss yesterday clearly summed up what I was thinking but not articulating. It went like this:

Alex "You know why you're back there right?"
Austin "Not really, I mean, I think I have a good idea."
Alex "I put you back there so you can figure it out."
Austin "Got it. That makes sense now."

30 seconds conversation and I have a new heading. A new job description.

For anyone that hasn't worked in a restaurant, the kitchen is where the magic happens. According to a recent study done by Chick-fil-A's marketing team, they stated that the top two important things to guest when trying a restaurant for the first time was order accuracy and taste.

If we make a sandwich with pickles and the guest ask for their sandwich without them, that's a big change in the way they ordered it, and the way it taste. Two strikes and they haven't even taken a bite of the food yet.

My job right now is to focus on the systems and processes of what happens in the kitchen. What role each person has-to what they do when they are in that role. I don't know if they make titles for people who work on list, but that's the short version of what I do.

Yesterday I made a list, today I will edit the list our team edited overnight.

I have heard the old story about Jack Welch, famous CEO at GE for a number of years. The story goes, during a class he was teaching a student raised his hand and asked, "What's the most important thing in a business?" He pauses for a long time before answering. Almost uncomfortably long, and about that point you want to ask someone, did you hear me, he raises his head and says, "Who does what," in a long and exaggerated tone.

This story and statement is true of our restaurant. Who does what is the most important thing. I spoke with three disgruntled team members yesterday who are not in their sweet spots of roles. What kind of magic could we create if they were in the right role?

Looks like room for improvement if you ask me.

Have you ever had a brief conversation that changed your role and the way you did business? Feel free to comment below.

Make it Happen Monday

I love working on Monday's. Dan Cathy has been quoted by saying "Thank God It's Monday!" TGIM for some.

I like his perspective. As a business, we get two full nights of rest before we start our work week. If done right, that could be about 16 hours of rest. If you were disciplined enough to go to bed and rise at a reasonable hour, Mondays might be easy for you.

When you start off on the right foot, it's easier to keep that trend going. Come this Monday morning, you have the chance to get started on the right foot. If you're interested. I know a lot of people aren't interested. They rather complain about the sorry state of their presence and make sure others feel the same way. But not you.

What would happen to the people around you if you showed up early and prepared on Monday?
How would people respond to a Positive Peter in the work place on Monday? How are you greeting people when you walk in on Monday?

I know that I am asking you to literally be different than you may have been your whole life, but I know the magic that comes from the attempt to make your space/world better.

Who knows what sort of transformation you might make happen on Monday's.

What has been the biggest challenge you have overcome on Mondays?

What do you do when there's nothing to do?

At some point the mailbox goes to zero unchecked messages.

At some point the machine you are working to clean gets cleaned.

At some point you have cooked enough chicken.

At some point there are no more dishes to wash.

What direction we are going as a team is more important than the task that are done as the team.

Mark Miller points out that the most productive time thinking is deep thought which leads to insight and discovery.

When you are asked what are you thinking about, what's your typically response at work? What high level of thinking could you be doing to add value to your team? Comment below!

Rome wasn't built in a day

As for my third day at Chick-fil-A:

I hopped on the position that I am weakest. Not surprised. Something tells me my boss had something to do with that. Not my buddy Alex, but my boss.

We have a great team of people at Atlanta Highway. Everyone I work with is already way ahead of where I thought they might be.

Before I started working today I said I would model the behavior I am looking for rather than ask for it. That's a tall task. Walk instead of talk. I won't know the results of my labor for probably six months. But it will be worth the wait.

As I am cleaning a machine, my mother's word echo in my brain, "Austin, you know Rome wasn't built in a day." I mumble something righteous and pass her comment off like a duck shakes water from its' back. And now her words come back to the limelight.

What sort of behavior do you see needs changing on your team? Are you the model of that behavior?

The one where we meet the new boss

Today at Chick-fil-A...

we met for the first time as a team.

Meeting was simple, to the point and covered some of the high points of Alex's philosophy, his personality assessment, and vision statement for the store.

A couple of unique things happened that I'll share. I'm not sure if they have any insight you want to take away, but I do want to share the personality of our restaurant, so that as we go on the journey together you can have a better understanding.

1. Since it was a Sunday, things just are different and I need to share this brief conversation.
Team Member, "Would Alex mind if I used the restroom?"
Me, "He would mind if you didn't."
Team Member, "Ok, thanks."

2.  We have 30 days to make any major repairs and report them to the Corporate Office so they can fix them for us. When Alex shared with the team this information, we actually had people clap in approval. If something needs to be fixed, why hasn't it been fixed by now? Rhetorical question, but it needs asking.

I am setting a goal for myself to post on this three times a week using this similar format. I will have a title of some sort that hooks you, then I will pull back the curtain on what happens within a Chick-fil-A that is internal as opposed to what the guest sees everyday.

There have been many lessons I have learned while clocked in and working on the tile. It is my goal to share with you what I have learned along the way in a constructive fashion. Upon reading I hope you say, "Wow, that's interesting" or "I wish I would have known that before I got myself into that mess" or "I didn't know Chick-fil-A did that".

What ever the case may be I hope you continue to read and share if so inclined.

What's the silliest first-day question you have heard?

PS I usually don't have pictures, but I will post the one from today, tomorrow.