Given the popularity of last Monday’s post on management styles, I decided to follow up with another management post. This may become a regular Monday feature depending on the feedback. While I am a server, I have worked on the other side of the office door. I prefer serving. I enjoy making guests happy and connecting with them. Managing led me to have to deal with too many angry ones and not have the opportunity to prevent the problems in the first place. As a manager, you spend your day fixing the problems your staff creates. I moved back to serving years ago and don’t regret the decision.
In my time as a manager, I had the chance to test some of the theories on management that I had developed as a server. It is far more difficult than it seems. I decided when I made the switch that I was going to be the type of manager I wanted to work for. This is where my theory of “Sergeants and Generals” was born. Make no mistake about it; I was a Sergeant. I always made it clear that I would never ask my staff to do anything I wouldn’t do. I was forced to stand behind that principle enough times that no one doubted it.
At my first management job, I instituted three very specific ideas to motivate them.
Read the full post at The Manager’s Office
Tips on improving your Tips 
Jun 28, 2010 @ 15:21:35
I instituted a different rule on tardiness: If you’re more than 5 minutes late, you lose your section and get stuck in the least desirable one. A direct hit to the pocketbook always works and it’s something the server can fix all on their own.
The Index « Tips on improving your Tips
Jul 29, 2010 @ 13:05:24
Sep 28, 2010 @ 20:44:12
I think you are spot on with the techniques. I have been in many different follower/leader roles in a number of different industries and in most cases each technique bodes well for whatever industry you are in. For the tardiness issue you are leading by example. When an employee is shown that you will in fact do the dirty work they realize that anything less than the dirty work themselves will not be enough. They have no grounds to argue at that point.
I’m guessing that the 3 servers you had pull the dreaded Monday shift were the “Star” performers. You empowered them and that is a powerful tool. Not only did you show your stars that you trust in their ability you created something for the average performers to strive for. Trust is empowerment and when you give someone the opportunity I have found that most of the time they shine. Even if there is mistakes along the way most people will find a way to use that mistake to their advantage and learn from it because they have been given the opportunity.
This is a great article. I hope that more people will read it and take from it what I have. I look forward to reading other works that you have done.