HR - Build a team

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Briefing/Meeting/Talk to your team

We cannot expect the team to be effective unless we ell them what is required of them and give them the information they need to perform their duties in the way we expect. In order to do this we have to know how to communicate effectively. What is communication?

• The practice of transmitting information
• The act of conveying news
• A passing on of views
• A dialogue
• Communication involves a sender and receiver.
• A man wants to communicate
• He decides what message he wants to send
• He chooses the best method to convey the message
• He communicates the message
• The receiver receives the message
• The receiver decodes the message and responds or acts

We often think that communicating is simple and that we communicate well with everybody. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and communication breakdowns can cause us operational problems, and frustrations among the team. When the receiver does not interpret the message as the sender intended and does not respond in order to act as intended, a curve of deformation occurs. The size of this curve represents the extent to which communication has broken down.

What sort of factors do we need to take into account about ourselves as the sender and about the other person as a receiver, to try to prevent the curve of deformation from occurring?

• Age - Prior experience/Knowledge
• Sex - Personality
• Status - Perceptions and feelings
• Religious/cultural background - State of mind
• Language - Full understanding

What sort factors may affect understanding of the message?

• Words
• Gestures
• Symbols
• Body language
• Tone of voice
• Volume

To ensure effective communication both the sender(s) and receiver(s) have responsibilities:

The sender

• Have a clear idea of the message you are sending.
• Have knowledge of the person you are sending to
• Choose the right message
• Choose the right time and place.

The receiver

• Have the ability to understand the message
• Accept its source
• Respect the sender
• Have the ability to relate to the message i.e. "it concerns me"
• Have the ability to respond
• Have the opportunity to respond

The art of good communication lies in taking care that a message, when received, is understood. The best way to ensure effective communication among your team is to establish a structure for the team briefing. Team Briefing is based on simple basic principles.

The team leader conducts the briefing in a small team gives them consistently relevant face-to-face information and monitors the outcome.

It has to be conducted by the team leader because he is responsible that the briefing is carried out properly, can answer the team's questions immediately and through his authority the message will be passed on.

In small teams the team members do not feel intimidated when they want to ask questions and are encouraged to a constructive and controllable discussion.

Consistency creates reliability and commitment within the team and the right amount of information can be communicated - not too much and not too little.

A face-to-face briefing allows questions and answers, which ensures complete understanding and you achieve co-operation by demonstrating your commitment to team.

Relevant information keeps the system lively, maximise the benefits and prevents any misunderstanding or misinterpretation.

The purpose of a briefing is to brief your team, hence keep it short, set a target e.g. 30 minutes and try not to exceed it. Use examples and illustrations such as graphs of sales performance where possible to attract and retain attention and reinforce understanding. Questioning the audience in order to check the understanding and ensure complete attention.

When being asked, which proves an encouraged team an irrelevant question arrange to answer it separately after the briefing. Should there be any question of which you do not have the answer then make a note to find out the answer and get back to the team member within 3 days.

If you become involved in a controversial issue, leave it, explain why, and come back to it later then you are certain of facts.

Welcome feedback from the team, note positive comments and suggestions and put it on the agenda for the next briefing or discuss suggestions later with either the particular individual or entire group.

When a team member is absent note their names and brief them when they return to work. This is very important. Failure to brief absentees can demolish the flow of information throughout the entire team.

The benefits of briefings are:

• Achievement
• Commitment
• Efficiency
• Profitability
• Initiative
• Reduced misunderstanding
• Disarming the "grapevine"
• Improved consultation

Further, communicating effectively with your team is an important way of demonstrating our commitment as a company to fair treatment, teamwork, open communication, personal accountability and opportunities for growth and development.

Build a team/Training

Once you have created your team, certify that they know what is expected of them and how to perform their duties. Therefore, if needed introduce new staff, train all your staff in their job duties and coach the staff in the wider aspects of the job.

Indications for the requirement of training

• Poor performance
• High labour turnover
• Complaints
• Low moral
• Accidents
• Loss of business

Use your resources, as there are your skills, knowledge, equipment, menus, paperwork and coaching kits to train your staff, which than become effective members of the team.

Training should be considered as a continuous, ongoing process, not just as formal group sessions. Your staff is constantly learning how to perform by observing you and the other staff, by listening, by following your example, by practising, by trial and error and by asking questions.

Induction training helps the newcomer to settle down and feel part of the team. It reduces the possibility of staff leaving in the early days and helps the newcomer to perform more effectively more quickly. Hence, set standards for the newcomer straightaway

Further training and coaching throughout their employment establishes and maintains the standards of the performance, keeps the team motivated, shows that the company is committed to individual development and builds up individual and group confidence.

Prepare for a training session in a suitable location, take enough time, and use the correct working equipment in sufficient quantities.

Your training will not be effective unless you attract the team member's attention at the beginning to ensure they want to learn the task.

Create the desire to learn at the beginning of any training through attract their interest by telling a personal experience or asking them for their feelings or experiences. Praise their work, mention possible rewards or promotion, explain how it will increase their confidence, and state that it will ensure their safety at work. During the main part of training you need to explain to the team member how to carry out the task, than demonstrate how to carry it out, then allow them tocarry it out for themselves.

State: Confucius says:

"I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand"

All too often we merely tell team members how to do something then expect them both to remember every detail and also to be able to do it right at the first time in front of customers. If you take a little extra time to include demonstration and try out phases in your training, you will reduce time spent on further coaching, prevent the trainee losing confidence, and stop any potentially difficult situations occurring with customers.

Never ask the trainee "Do you understand?" They will say, "Yes" regardless of whether they do or don't!

Your attitude and behaviour as a trainer should display

• Patient
• Tolerant
• Positive
• Enthusiastic
• Approachable
• Speak clearly and concisely
• Split the task into logical, sequential steps

Training should end by asking the team to describe how to complete the task to ensure that all steps and stages have been remembered. Finally, the trainee should carry out the whole task unaided, stringing together all the stages they have already tried out. That prevents mistakes from reoccurring, guarantees better customer service and builds the team members confidence.

Effective training and coaching of all staff at all stages of their employment with you, will ensure that they are all working towards the same objectives. This common sense of purpose will encourage teamwork throughout the restaurant.

Further, if all staff is trained consistently to operate to the same standards, everyone can be seen to be pulling their weight and making an effective contribution. As a result, there will be less friction and an increased sense of team spirit, which will make everyone's job more enjoyable.

Training and development need identified at appraisals will feed back into the cycle of training that must take place at your restaurant and within the company, to guarantee that teamwork will lead to improved performance.

Once you have recruited and trained your team in their basic duties, you must find ways of motivating them to continue working for you and to improve their performance.

Motivation

• Pride in their job
• Personal development
• Future training
• Further responsibilities
• Praise
• Targets to achieve
• Special projects
• Good working environment

People are motivated according to their own particular needs and values. Only if you make the effort to become aware of these needs and values will you be able to motivate the individuals concerned.

Personal values and motives can be grouped into three broad categories:

• Need for achievement
• Need for affiliation
• Need for power

People with a high need for achievement enjoy challenging work, but they also want to ensure that they will succeed. How would you motivate an ...

...Achiever

• Set them realistic, achievable goals
• Allocate them tasks for which they are personally responsible and with which they can therefore closely associate themselves with any resulting success
• Give them feedback on progress and performance
• Use specifics when setting targets and giving feedback
• E.g. "I want you to be ale to cope with a 25 cover section on your own now that you are able to manage a 20 cover section so efficiently"

... Affiliator

• Give praise for effort and achievement
• Make them feel part of the team
• Allocate them tasks to work on jointly with others
• Ask them to act as a mentor for new staff
• Provide objective feedback on performance to ensure they do not take it personally

Power

• Give them challenging projects
• Allow them to present their creative ideas, and use them if appropriate
• Ask them to train or instruct other people
• Show you appreciate their ability to effect change
• Discuss possibilities for advancement

A common thread running through all these methods of motivating team members is setting of target or goals.

Goal setting gives team members direction and focus and ensures that they are channelling their energies appropriately and in line with the company's goals. This is a key element of the investors in people standard.

The benefits of agreeing goals with your team are:

• Focuses people on priorities
• Differentiates between individual and organisational goals evident and therefore rectifiable
• Facilitates objective appraisals of performance based on achievement of goals
• Encourages planned development of the team and the individuals within
• Provides the team members with challenges and interest
• Team members can evaluate their own performance and progress

There are three major stages necessary in the process of setting goals effectively. First you need to define your key result areas, secondly determine the indicator(s) of achievement in those areas, and then set objectives, which specify exactly what is to be achieved.

Key result areas

• Profitability
• Staff development
• Customer satisfaction

Indicators of achievement in the key result area of profitability

• Wastage and breakage figures
• Profit margins
• Average spend per head

Indicators of achievement in the key result area of staff development

• Labour turnover
• Grievances
• Internal promotions

Indicators of achievement in the key result area of customer satisfaction

• Complaints
• Compliments

Examples of objectives in these key results areas, using these indicators

• Reduce wastage and breakage to £ x per week
• Increase overall profit margin to x %
• Reduce labour turnover to x%
• Reduce customer complaints to 0 per month

Once you have established with the team what has to be achieved, they should decide how this has to be done, within certain guidelines. You should review progress at specific intervals to provide encouragement and to ensure satisfactory progress is being maintained. Working towards and achieving goals is an essential part of motivating your team and encouraging them to work together.

Setting your team members goals to achieve may involve you delegating certain tasks to them, which you would normally consider your own responsibility.

Delegate a Task to the Team

In order to avoid finding it difficult to delegate tasks because you are lacking of faith in others, fear subordinate doing a better job, insubordination, or fear that you could cause offence you should organise yourself.

Check first

• Do they have the necessary knowledge and skills?
• Do they have the ability?
• Do they have the confidence?
• Will they need support and advice?
• Will others need to be informed?
• Do they have the time?

Do you agree with the team members on the following

• The nature and scope of the task involved
• The result to be achieved
• The method to be used for assessing performance
• The time scale involved
• The nature and extent of authority required for task completion

The benefits of effective delegation are

• Team member can deputise in your absence
• As a manager you can plan ahead as you are not caught up by detail
• Team members can understand the problems of management's job
• Develops team members' confidence and competence
• Improved motivation and morale
• Deadline are met and targets are achieved

Delegation should not be seen as a handing over of responsibility but as a sharing of responsibility, which if handled carefully will improve individual performance and also develop team working.

Our aim is to achieve our objectives by operating as a team throughout the company. As a manager, you are responsible for recruiting, building, and maintaining one of the networks of teams dedicated to this aim.

By following these principles, you will be able to create a more effective team, gaining greater job satisfaction on a personal level, and improving the performance of your outlet as well.

Team Recognition

More and more companies realise now that customer service determines tomorrow life of business. However their actions and attitudes often contradict the stated intent regarding customer satisfaction as their highest priority. Here are some requirements for customer service plan to be successful. All staff and managers must be concerned by the aim and willing to contribute it. They must learn to listen, learn to seek first to understand then to seek to be understood.

Achievement

To enable people to recognise that they have achieved something their goal must be clearly established: Full knowledge about all items on the menu. All prices are known by mind. A regular performance review is made.

Recognition

Having achieved the goal, it’s always pleasant to have one’s achievements appreciated by others. And everyone has a role to play, especially if the goal has been defined. Everyone should try himself or herself to recognise. In short, we set up four ways to recognise.

The negative recognition

We do a negative recognition when we sharp on someone’s job, pointing out all bad things and only bad things. I.e. "John, I’ve been observing you and I can tell you your section is a mess. "How long have you been working here?" This kind of recognition makes me feel like getting rid of "their job", especially as it pays no mind to any effort made or any trouble undergone. The negative recognition is just not recommended.

The non-recognition

We do non-recognition when we don’t do anything. The staff just doesn’t know what’s going on, whether their job is good or not. Most people do this recognition assuming that staff should expect to be pointed if they are not pulling out. They merely forget about the Human Right to laziness. The non-recognition makes staff get slack, it’s not recommended.

The positive recognition

We do a positive recognition when we cheer up someone who is doing well. "John, I am very happy with your job, you are my right man on the right place" This is what everyone would be happy to hear, and what everyone should be able to say. Positive recognition is a good thing.

The conditional recognition

Although "as far as we are green we keep growing, as soon as we feel ripe we get rotten". We do a conditional recognition when we cheer up what is good and we point out gently what could be improved. I.e.: "Cheers Cathy you’ve never had more than five people in queuing today, and that is our standard. Just a small thing, you happen to forget to clean as you go". The conditional recognition says how good you are though you are steps away from perfection. Yet, since you are this good you will make it. It is the recommended recognition, based on previously defined goals.

Team Tasting/Coffee Assessment

Visual impression

• What do you like or dislike about the product appearance?
• Does it look greasy or creamy?
• Appetising or non -appetising
• What is its colour like?

Aroma

• Does the product have a distinctive aroma?
• Does the product match the perception of the coffee and the beans?

Texture

• Is the texture of the coffee coarse or fine?
• What do you particularly like or dislike about it?

Flavour

• Is it bitter, natural, or artificial?
• Does it have plenty of taste?

Overall rating

• Bear in you mind the cost, quality, and value.

Competitor Analysis for a Take Away Project

Ask your team to assess the company they work with. You would be surprised what blemishes they track down. The advantage of this modus operandi is that your entire team will weed out these mistakes with enormous encouragement and is determent to prove to the management that they can perform better than their competitors.

Ordering performance

• Politeness
• Connections
• Simple
• Flexible
• Up-selling
• Timing
• Pick up time
• Reference

Variety of dishes - food and beverag

• Menu
• Flexibility
• Changes

Pick up procedures

• Contacts
• Simple
• Last minute changes

Package - style and substance

• Efficient
• Simple
• Open it easy
• Handling
• Optic carrying

Contents

• Taste
• Heat
• Optic
• Wrapping
• Condition

Bill

• Procedure
• Where
• When
• How
• Price
• Complaints