A Team, Not a Family

I’ve had the fortune to work in leadership positions over the past [almost] 30 years. During that time, although difficult at times, I have refined my leadership style to reflect a staff-driven means of accomplishing tasks. I believe that a leader/manager is able to accomplish a significantly larger amount by allowing staff to; for lack of a better term, self-manage. What I mean by this is allow staff to do what they do best while I focus on what I do best.

In my current role as co-owner of 1820 Coffee House in Alvin, Texas, my business partner, Jake and I lead our management team, but we allow them to be themselves, and to lead the rest of the staff. Being themselves is what makes them “them”. We don’t tell them how to make mixed drinks, but we give them “guidelines” on what we are looking for; how customers should be treated, what the experience for customers should look like.

Customers that walk through the door should be greeted and welcomed to our “home”. To our staff, we describe the business like this.

1. Treat the business as your home. Make it a place you would want to visit yourself if you didn’t work here yourself.
2. Welcome people to your home like they are visitors you want there. Not “refrigerator privilege” friends, but good friends you want to visit you.
3. If things don’t go as expected regarding a customer’s order, service, or something else, they have the authority to “make it right”. This means make a new drink, provide a free cookie or something else. Even if it is the customer’s fault it went wrong. An example would be a young kid orders a drink they think they will like (trying something new) and they hate it, or don’t like it enough to finish it. Make them something to replace it they know they like. Don’t tell them ahead of time you’ll do that but pay attention to them and if they don’t like it, make another one.
4. Be pro-active in assisting customers. This means pay attention to what is happening in the coffee house and assist customers before they seek assistance. Pick up their dishes when they are done eating, offer to refill their drinks, ask them if they need anything… all before the customer comes to you.
5. Communicate with each other openly and honestly. You can’t hide feelings or ideas; those you work with can generally tell when you are not being authentic.
6. All thoughts and ideas have merits. There are no “dumb” suggestions. The only thing dumb is to not listen to ideas and thoughts from other.

It is our believe that if we develop a leadership team and encourage them to bring ideas to the table and have open, honest conversations about those ideas, you can and will be successful. Have regular meetings, weekly, bi-weekly; whatever it is that is right for you and discuss what is happening in the business and make a plan. Share experiences, past and present, and discuss what is happening in the business at the time. These discussions must be two-way discussions with both sides contributing to the conversation.

At 1820 Coffee House, we have developed a team using this playbook and we are successful, even in the current state of the world [pandemic].

Jake and I are friends with many other business owners in our area and we are often asked if we are having trouble finding staff, because they are not only finding it difficult to find “good” staff, but they find it even more difficult to keep staff.

We have a stack of applicants we are not able to hire because we have staff that stay long periods of time. We have an abundance of staff, and they are happy to work with each other. So much so, that when business becomes surprisingly busy on Saturday or Sunday and two staff are not enough, they just post quickly to Slack (our interoffice communication platform) that it’s busy and they need help. Within minutes there is usually a response that someone is on their way. Other staff just show up to help because they want to be there and they know that if they help others, others will help them when they need it.

While family is generally there for each other, friends are there because they want to be. Sometimes we “love” our family members but we don’t necessarily “like” them. If you build a team that likes each other, they will be there for each other out of a desire to do so, but because they feel obligated to do so. It also makes it easier to work with people you want, and like to be around.

You, as a leader, have the ability to instill “ownership*” in your staff, but it takes work. It takes time. But, with consistency, you can get a staff that takes ownership and works towards a common goal. A staff that will work for your success as well as their own.

*More on Staff Ownership in a future post.