Catch Employees Doing Things Right

Catch Employees Doing Things Right

How Recognition Builds Stronger Teams, Better Leaders and a Better Guest Experience

By Jamie Galler | Restaurant Advisor

Restaurant leaders are trained to find what's wrong.

Walk into almost any restaurant with an experienced operator and watch what happens. We notice the dirty front door, the employee whose uniform isn't right, the table that hasn't been cleared, the plate sitting too long in the window, the missed greeting, the bartender who isn't moving fast enough.

That's part of our job. Standards matter.

But there's a problem when finding what's wrong becomes the only way we manage people.

If employees hear from their managers primarily when they've made a mistake, we're missing one of the simplest—and most effective—leadership tools available to us:

Catch employees doing things right.

A Lesson I Learned at TGI Friday's

When I was running the Riese Organization, a $130 million restaurant company in New York, we operated many different concepts, including 12 TGI Friday's restaurants.

That's where I learned the concept of catching people doing things right.

It sounds simple. But I came to believe in it strongly enough that at one point I decided to conduct an experiment with our leadership team.

I had six district managers and two executive chefs overseeing our restaurants.

For the next month, I gave them a rule:

They couldn’t walk into one of our restaurants and say anything negative or critical until they had first identified five things being done right.

Think about that for a moment.

These were experienced restaurant executives. Like most of us, they had been trained throughout their careers to walk into a restaurant and immediately identify problems.

Now they had to deliberately look for something else.

What's working?

Who's doing a particularly good job?

Where are our standards being executed correctly?

Who handled that guest well?

Which employee helped another employee without being asked?

Where is the restaurant noticeably better than it was during the previous visit?

We didn't stop looking for problems.

We changed what we looked for first.

And that began changing the culture.

What Gets Recognized Gets Repeated

Recognition is sometimes dismissed as a “soft” management practice.

I don't see it that way.

Used correctly, recognition is a performance-management tool.

Suppose you tell a server:

“Great job tonight.”

That's nice. But it doesn't teach very much.

Compare that with:

“I watched the way you handled that unhappy table. You listened without becoming defensive, owned the problem and got the manager involved quickly. That's exactly how we want our guests treated.”

Now the employee knows precisely what they did well.

You've reinforced a standard.

You've also increased the likelihood that the behavior will happen again.

What gets recognized gets repeated.

And when recognition happens where other employees can hear it, you're teaching them too.

Recognition Makes Correction Easier

Something else happened during our five-to-one experiment.

When our leaders eventually did need to point out a problem, employees were more receptive to hearing it.

That makes sense.

If every interaction with your boss begins with what's wrong, you eventually become conditioned to expect criticism. You become defensive before the conversation even starts.

But when employees know that their manager notices good performance too, constructive criticism lands differently.

The employee knows:

My manager sees the whole picture.

That creates credibility.

It doesn't mean lowering standards or avoiding difficult conversations. Quite the opposite.

You can maintain very high standards while creating a positive culture.

In my experience, doing both makes it easier to achieve those standards.

There's a reason the old expression has survived:

You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

A Restaurant Can Be More Than a Job

There's another reason I believe this matters.

The restaurant business has always created opportunities for people from extraordinarily diverse backgrounds.

Not everyone who enters our industry arrives with extensive education, strong professional networks or a clear career path. For many employees, the restaurant may be one of the first places where someone establishes expectations, provides structure, teaches professional skills and recognizes them for succeeding.

That gives restaurant owners and leaders an extraordinary opportunity.

Perhaps even an obligation.

We can help people build careers and improve their lives.

I've seen it happen many times.

Someone enters the business with little experience and discovers they're good at something.

A dishwasher learns prep.

A cook becomes a kitchen manager.

A server becomes a trainer.

A bartender becomes a manager.

A manager eventually runs a restaurant, or several of them.

Along the way, they learn skills that extend well beyond restaurants: discipline, teamwork, communication, accountability, problem solving and leadership.

None of that requires lowering expectations.

In fact, it's just the opposite.

Set high standards. Provide structure. Teach people how to meet those standards. Hold them accountable. And recognize them when they succeed.

Sometimes hearing “You're really good at this” can have a much greater impact on someone than we realize.

Your Culture Eventually Reaches the Guest

There's also a direct business reason to care about all of this.

I've long thought about the restaurant business in terms of trial and repeat.

Marketing helps create trial.

Advertising, social media, promotions, public relations and word of mouth can all help convince someone to visit your restaurant for the first time.

But once that guest walks through the door, marketing has largely done its job.

Now the operation must create the repeat.

Was the restaurant clean and inviting?

Was the host welcoming?

Was the server knowledgeable and engaged?

Did the food arrive correctly and on time?

Did employees appear as though they wanted to be there?

Did someone solve a problem well?

Did the guest leave wanting to come back?

You can spend a great deal of money generating trial and then waste much of that investment with an operation that doesn't create repeat business.

And employees are at the center of that experience.

A stronger culture can produce more engaged employees. More engaged employees can deliver better execution. Better execution creates better guest experiences.

And better guest experiences create repeat business.

Culture Is What Leaders Reinforce

Restaurant culture isn't created by a mission statement hanging in the office.

It's created shift by shift through the behaviors leaders reward, tolerate, correct and model.

If managers only look for problems, employees learn to avoid mistakes.

That's different from inspiring people to perform well.

If managers recognize great performance specifically and consistently, employees begin to understand what excellence actually looks like.

That's why the five-to-one exercise was so useful.

It forced our leaders to change their perspective.

Instead of entering a restaurant thinking:

What's wrong here?

They also had to ask:

What's right here, and who deserves to know that I noticed?

That made us better leaders.

And ultimately, it helped us operate better restaurants.

This Doesn't Cost Anything

Restaurant owners face plenty of problems that require money to solve.

Recognition generally isn't one of them.

You don't need a bonus program.

You don't need an employee-of-the-month plaque.

You don't need an app.

You need leaders who are paying attention.

And the recognition needs to be genuine.

Be specific. Be timely. Be sincere.

“I noticed how you helped the new server through that rush.”

“That plate looked exactly the way it should.”

“You handled that guest complaint really well.”

“Your station was exceptionally organized tonight.”

“You've improved tremendously over the last month.”

Thirty seconds.

No budget required.

Potentially enormous return.

The Operator Challenge

Try the same experiment I gave my district managers and executive chefs.

For the next week, whenever you walk into your restaurant, don't point out anything wrong until you've identified five things being done right.

Then tell the employees involved.

Be specific about what you noticed and why it matters.

You're not ignoring problems.

You're training yourself, and your management team, to see the entire operation rather than only its flaws

Then pay attention to what happens when you eventually need to correct something.

You may find your employees listen a little more carefully.

You may also find that the things you recognize begin happening more often.

Because one of the simplest leadership principles I've learned in this business is also one of the most powerful:

What gets recognized gets repeated.

Jamie Galler
Restaurant Advisor
The Practical Creative
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