Gas Pedal

I'm trying to scratch my brain and think about what I learned this week at Chick-fil-A. It didn't take long for me to come up with a topic. As I left Saturday afternoon I saw several things that I'm sure you can relate to.

• Tired faces
• Dirty Equipment
• Weaken spirits from belligerent guest
• Lower than usual morale
• People still putting in work

That last one is where I want to focus. 

I've been impressed by the resiliency of my own team. I've seen people work the "tougher shifts" with smile on their faces because that's what the situation calls for. 

I think about my own time at Chick-fil-A when it was especially hard-just graduated from college and was put in a kitchen for three months with older people who didn't really seem to embrace the culture I had seen elsewhere. Heaven help me it took four weeks for me to figure out which way the henny penny handles went when cleaning and pumping the oil back up. I often wonder why my Operator put me there. I found my answer when our business needed an extra set of hands and I was able to help. It was a tough time in my life and I had to get used to working with that team. 

As we grow tired and weary I take heart from a few sources of inspiration. 

• The book of Proverbs. The wisest man to ever walk our planet looks to the smallest creature for guidance. In Proverbs chapter six it refers to the ant as the way a worker should be. "Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has to commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in the summer and gathers its food at harvest." I think the point is, it doesn't matter who your boss is, there should be only one level of work-excellent. 
• Also from the Bible, the author Isaiah refers to another animal as a way to feel when we wait on our Maker. Isaiah 30:41 says, "but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength and will mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not be faint." I think really hits home when you are tired, because as the Christian faith points out that the hope of Heaven trumps any worldly struggle. 
• Theordore Roosevelt "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." We're going to get better, or we will die trying. 

When I think of my team, this is the type of attitude that we share. People who work hard not just for the money, but for the pleasure of improvement and self discipline. The glory of my restaurant will not be what sales we can produce, but will be how many people we help on their own road to greatness. 

So put your hand on the starter, and your foot on the gas!