We spend more time developing general managers than we do developing their leaders.
When companies extend that development focus to GMs’ bosses, great things – things that people thought would never happen – start to materialize. Like raising guest count in this flat market, enrolling employees and guests by launching an inspiring and authentic culture program, or dropping an additional 2 points on the bottom line.
Making Your GM’s Boss Better
In any restaurant company, the general manager remains the most important person. That means the level of your restaurants’ success is determined by the qualities and skills of the person who has the most influence on them – the area manager, district manager, or operations director (or owner if you do it yourself).
I spend a lot of my days coaching operations directors and the like, and also hiring them for owners who have not had great experience or success in selection. I also coach owners when they employ a multi-unit leader for the first time.
My coaching clients at this level come from a wide range of people – from those who have recently been promoted to GM (despite never having been multi-unit leaders) to those with decades-long track records (who have to understand how to adapt to their new organization).
Three Pillars of Success
Three things make the difference between breakthrough success and having to look around for a new job:
- The steadfast commitment and ability to grow general managers. Operations directors work with an assortment of GM personalities, strengths, and talents. The most successful know how to pivot to the general manager they see in front of them at any one moment, and they have an agenda to make each person better – an agenda they follow every time.
- Operations plan. It can be overwhelming to make a multitude of restaurants better. So we create a simple, sequential operations plan – with clear points of accountability – that goes quarter by quarter in every area of operations. Having that allows people to make unprecedented progress.
- Personal improvement. When I coach, we do not focus solely on business objectives. We always include a necessary component of personal improvement that we uncover through a 360-degree assessment or a lot of reflection by these leaders. In this way, they not only improve at business but at the interpersonal habits that make them more influential, cherished, and effective. Maybe they learn to relate better to employees and guests, or to just appreciate them more, or to master an aspect of the business that does not come naturally to them. Sometimes they work so much they have to learn to go home and recharge.
One excitedly said to me, “Nobody ever invested in me like this before,” and, decades into his career, had thought executive coaching was for other people, not him.
I have a lot of fun helping them figure out how to make real improvements. Owners enjoy our improved results.
