Teacher Posture

Language is crucial when training with Chick-fil-A. 

How may we serve you? versus Whatcha want?

I'm working at a unique concept this week: a Licensee Chick-fil-A at an airport. A food service company owns our Chick-fil-A and we are limited by our contract on many fronts. 

I overheard a gentleman tell another gentleman "You miss understood what I was telling you. I need this to happen," As he picked up a piece of fruit out of the bowl the team member was working on and tossed it in his mouth. 

I think I expect more experienced people to understand that when you are training, the reason someone doesn't do something correctly isn't their fault, it's the teacher's. 

I learn an important lesson today, posture yourself when teaching so that the student understands that mistakes are a communication error, not a personal error. 

*Individual results may vary. 

I got written up yesterday

I've had to say this phrase to my friends and family on more than one occasion in my career with Chick-fil-A. 

It's not an easy process for the recepient or the administrator. 

A couple of things to remember when writing someone up:

Address the behavior, not the person. People are good, some behaviors are unwarranted. When you address the behavior, it leaves the person focused what to change as opposed to "my boss has it out for me" type of attitude. 

Coach

Don't just write someone up for the sake of punishment. Take time to teach them the correct way. What's free training? Coaching! 

Encourage them that they have the ability to do what's required, but have been choosing not to. "A little leven leavens the whole lump." You won't know what sort of well spring of desire you might trigger if you do this correctly. 

I'm sure when implemented the painful process of addressing and correcting behavior through discipline can become easier. 

Time control

Does time control us? Or do we control the time? 

The most precious commodity we have is time. Ask someone who has lost a loved one who they cared about-what would you wish you could have again-there answer usually revolves around saying or doing something with that loved one. Another time/chance to speak to them. 

I heard it once said,"Wise people learn to get from the day." We're used to hearing "I gotta get through the day." What a change in perception. What a change in mind set. 

As I continue to grow in my role at Chick-fil-A, I learned one of the only things we control is time: our labor vs. sales. We can add people or take away people from the schedule at anytime. Now there's a good time and bad time to do both, but we are in complete control. 

I want to encourage you to think about the type of days you are having and see if you are like the wise and are learning from the day. 

You have 100% control of your schedule. If you gave away that control by making yourself available to work-that's your fault. But you have the power of choice. 

If you want some more, in the bible there's a chapter that talks about what you can do with time: Eccelesasties 3. 

Changes they are a'coming

I have been working hard at Chick-fil-A and have not been blogging like I should have been. I can see my mother now wagging her finger in my general direction...

Over the course of time this blog has helped me make connections, gain clarity and grow. What I want to use it for in the future is a place for leaders within Chick-fil-A restaurants to write, reply and talk about the systems and processes we have in place for our restaurants.

#continuousimprovement

We have been meeting informally across the country and swapping best practices. It takes a lot of time, money, and energy to plan a meeting that covers a whole city/market i.e. Tampa, FL (39 stores and about a 1.5 hour driving radius on average).

I want to take our conversations digital. Chick-fil-A and other companies are moving in such a way now and have been for some time.

Two things are going to happen to this blog:

1. I'm going to get clear about what I'm doing: posting content about Operations and best practices and the lessons I've learned along the way.

2. I took all of my subscribers from MailChimp and moved them to this blog. You will now all be receiving an confirmation email confirming your subscription to this blog. Please say "Yes" and continue with me on my professional journey!

It's hard for a beginner like myself to share with you how much your input and subscriptions mean to me. When you call, text, ask, respond, or otherwise mention my blog and it's contents-it thrills me to no end.

Thank you for reading.