6 Tips For Setting Your Team Up For A Win

Henry Ford said, “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.”

This statement is so applicable to today’s restaurateur, especially when it comes to the team it takes to make it happen.

Imagine your restaurant staff from front of house to the kitchen working in unison towards a single goal: your customers’ satisfaction.

Because teamwork is vital to the success of your restaurant, let’s look at 10 tips for setting up your team for the win.

#1: Get to Know Your Team

One of the best ways to create a team that wins is to get to know them. After all, you can’t fine tune your team if you don’t know who they are individually.

Your team is made up of people with varying strengths. Some are more capable in specific areas than others. If you get to know them, you have a better idea of how to motivate them and set them up for the win.

For example, if you hired someone to work as your host, but they’re painfully shy, you might move them to another arena. Perhaps they’d be best as a busser or in the kitchen.

By getting to know your team, you can match people with tasks they can be successful at. You can also put together shifts of people who complement one another.

#2: Set Goals and Involve Your Team

Every successful restaurant has goals. In fact, your  victory depends on a well-thought out and well-written plan.

Another way to encourage the win for your team is to involve them in the goal-setting process. Schedule a meeting so they can help set goals for your restaurant. They’ll have more ownership, and your restaurant will reap the benefits.

Joint goal-setting helps your employees buy in and pick out goals that match their skills and their strengths. They now have the opportunity to see how they can work to help your restaurant meet its goals.

Do set milestones for your goals so your team feels like they’re making progress. Goals with milestones let them know they’re actually getting there and set them up for the big win.

#3: Review Your Goals and Make Sure They are Attainable

SMART goals are always the best because they are specific, measurable, achievable/attainable, relevant/realistic, and time bound.

So, while it’s great that you’re setting goals, it’s only good if your team can actually attain them.

Don’t be too ambitious with your goals, or your risk lowering employee morale. A low employee morale translates into poor customer service, which is vital for your restaurant’s success.

Make sure your employees can actually meet their goals. Write them down, talk about them in your staff meetings, monitor progress, and offer tips for meeting the goals.

On the flip side, don’t dumb them down so they aren’t challenging as this can have the same effect on morale.

#4: Define Their Positions

Do you have detailed job descriptions? Does everyone know the role they play in your restaurant? Do they know their path to advancement?

These are all important things for your team to be successful. And, they go hand in hand with your goal setting.

Once you’ve set your team and individual goals, it’s time to define the roles of everyone on your team with respect to your goals. These definitions should also fit nicely into their job descriptions. If they don’t, consider revising them a bit.

For example, if you are designating several team members to take care of your social media, but they are front of house staff, revise their job description. This is also another tool in helping them have ownership of the goal.

When it comes to the responsibilities of your team for meeting your goals, it’s best to clearly define the roles on paper so there is no confusion. You’ll find many of your team members will relish the extra responsibility as well. (tweet this)

Just keep in mind each individual team member’s strengths and work within in them as you define or redefine their roles.

#5: Be Respectful

Everyone deserves a workplace that is respectful, and managers that treat their team with kindness.

You’ll find that high performing teams work in a respectful environment, and that starts at the top.

Your team doesn’t have to earn your respect. Don’t mix up trust with respect. You can insist your employees earn your trust, but if you give them respect from the outset, you’ll encourage their loyalty.

Ultimately, by respecting them, they will work better for you, and then they’ll have a better shot at earning your trust.

Create a culture of respect in your team. This means respect from you to them and vice versa, respect among the team, and respect for your customers.

By setting this positive culture, your team is set up for success.

#6: Celebrate Their Success

As the restaurant owner or manager, it’s incumbent on you to recognize your team when things are going right.

You want to make an effort to provide timely feedback to your individual team members as well as the team as a whole.

For example, if your team meets a milestone, celebrate it. If you see a staff member doing something right, recognize it.

A great employee culture includes effective, timely, and consistent feedback. By providing constructive criticism as well as applauding the victories, you go even further setting your team up for the win. (tweet this)

You can’t wait to provide feedback, though. It needs to happen very close to the occasion. By making an effort to provide positive feedback, you show your team you care.

Final Thoughts

You know that the success of your restaurant rests on the backs of the team you hire and train.

In addition, your success as the owner or manger also depends on your team. This is why team building and employee incentives are so valuable in the restaurant environment.

A happy team translates to happy customers. If your team isn’t happy, and they aren’t set up for the win, they usually don’t provide the best customer service. So, if you work to build your team, your restaurant will enjoy incredible success in the arenas of customer service and overall growth.

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Images: Brooke Cagle and Louis Hansel @shotsoflouis on Unsplash