How To Manage Restaurant Staff To Get The Best From Your Team

Every team must have manager. Whether that person will be you or someone you will hire, manager needs to meet the particular qualities and skills so he or she can manage restaurant staff and get the best from them.

First, familiarize yourself with the basics of teamwork. People usually say that they accept team work but only few of them actually knows its function, principles and rules.Human relationships are the basis of a good team. Team work is more efficient than individual work, and the effects of team work are a lot greater than the sum of individual accomplishments. Therefore, manager need to create favorable condition for creative work and freedom of expression and action.

Team work in restaurant is specific

These two types of working strategy are usually mixed up. Working in group is a good way of dividing work and increasing productivity. However, perspectives of team work are much bigger. Especially when we talk about work in a restaurant where the staff needs to know their duties, but at the same time to jump for help to their coworkers when it is necessary in order to restaurant business flowed as expected. This is possible only in well organized team.

It’s important to understand that working in a team is more difficult than working on your own. It requires changing of your actions and working methods according to the needs and demands of working tasks.

What is the difference between team work and group work?

Group work is work by employees who are fulfilling their set tasks. Group work rules are determined and must be followed.

Team work  requires multiple disciplines to be involved. Although the pre-assigned tasks, changes on daily basis are alowed to achieve final common goal. In our case it is the best possible customer service.

Who makes up a team?

Team is made up of individuals who renounce their wishes and actions in order to realize a commonly set goal. Understood like this, a team does not negate individuality but affirms its values. Individual values in a team can be identified and used in the best way for business.
Team work is – common solving of a complex problem involving several members of same or different specialties.

Is your restaurant team good or bad?

It is very important how your restaurant staff respond under stress, what they care about, what their sense of humor is like. This is very important and useful to know when you need to deal with an uncertain situation. Good team holds together when times get difficult.

In addition to knowing organizational principles, you must have a sixth sense to answer the question is your team good or bad.

Turnover is not always the best measure of a good teamwork

Good outcome does not guarantee good relationship between your restaurant workers. This often happen if you’re working so many hours with someone that you feel that you need a break from them when you are not at work.

Over time, interaction between waiters and bartenders becomes work-only, and the interpersonal connection is weaker. The longer they work successfully together, the more they can grow apart as friends. So be sure that you or your restaurant manager makes changes when scheduling working shifts. .

It’s important to recognize certain symptoms:

First symptom: discussing mistakes of others

It is not good when attention to the mistakes of colleagues increases, and personal mistakes get neglected. Therefore, one must stay away from those who needlessly interpret or judge other people’s actions. Such persons are most often not seen, but are most certainly felt. If this symptom occurs,  manager must investigate the causes.

It is important to keep in mind that lack of work also creates conditions for such behavior. If there’s no work, manager must invent it; even if some people dig holes and others fill them up again. This doesn’t have a productive business effect but it eliminates self preoccupation.

Second symptom: frequent absences

If students miss class for example, a teacher must pose a question why that is so.
Situation is similar in your restaurant or bar. Frequent absences from work are a sign of poor relationships among staff members. In this case, manager must also investigate causes. Perhaps the manager is the cause. He or she probably misses work a lot – so why shouldn’t others.

Third symptom: gossiping, joking and making fun of the manager, other staff members, social and political occurrences, etc.

Gossip and intrigue are dangerous and must be addressed.

In this case, informal communication channels with staff members must be established, with a goal to eliminate the causes of this symptom. Information is the key to elimination, since every gossip is a product of insufficient information.
A symptom that occurs often is horizontal and vertical mistrust. For the management, it is important to know that trust is not easily gained and is always tested. If a manager makes only one false move, such as making a promise but not delivering on it, employees’ trust is lost.

In order to avoid situations like this, a manager can use “management diplomacy,” i.e. when asked a question give general and vague answers such as “we’ll see,” “we’ll look into it,” “why not,” etc.

Could you manage restaurant staff to get the best from them?

Restaurant manager responsibilities  are huge and we know it is not easy. Here is the profile of a good manager in restaurant industry :
Restaurant managers need to manage restaurant staff, controlling the finance and providing the best customer services. Depending on level of responsibility and the grade of the people you are managing, you may need to plan  work at a detailed (daily/weekly) level.

The best managers started their careers in restaurant business as waiters, bartenders or hostesses . This kind of person know exactly where are the possible problems in a restaurant team.

 Characteristics of good team manager:

• Must be a cultured person
This means that is good if your manager having a good taste, nice manners and education.

• Must respect every team member, and treat staff with respect
From dishwasher to owner. Everyone in the building is accountable and important. Your staff needs to know that your manager have no problem with cleaning a bathroom in order to make your guests’ visit positive, and neither should they. Your manager philosophy should be that he/she wouldn’t ask someone to do something that he/she won’t do.
Good restaurant manager when see dirty table when passing by it will take a cloth and clean it.

• Must not be a careerist and take credit for team results
Or with other words, no one is going to work well and efficiently and especially not as a good hardworking member of the team if the boss – manager is a self-centered jerk who thinks only of his success and his earnings.

• Must not impose his/her will on the team,
Good manager never do what he want , he do what is the best for the team work and staff in it.

• When describing successes must use “WE,” and for failures “ME.”
This is very important because this approach learn your restaurant staff members to take a responsibility for every specific actions but in a same time emphasizes that the attitude to the team needs to be honest and loyal.

• Must reward his team
Rewarding is very important in restaurant business, your manager need to see even small positive changes in restaurant business . Everyone wants to work and to be in positive environment. Even if your staff only have that positive energy in work, reward them because positive attitude brings good spirit and finally increase profit.
This kind of manager mobilizes the team better than any incentive. The team feels that he/she is responsible for success.

In addition, if a manager is calm and patient, does not get caught in spirited discussions (which happen frequently in a team), and is a respected restaurateur, then this kind of manager is crucial for the team.

Factors that make restaurant team weak

Successful teams always find solutions to fix problems in a given time-frame. However, many things can happen that can weaken team spirit and reduce team’s efficiency, such as:

Restaurant staff not trusting their manager or restaurant manager not trusting restaurant staff.
Some believe that even good leaders are not to be trusted completely because no leader is flawless. Managers should certainly be reminded of this fact from time to time (not to mention politicians).

Being submissive to the restaurant manager  harms the team.
It is true that people often obey their leaders. If this happens in a team, it harms the team more than anything. Submission in general corrupts managers and destroys followers. When your staff is able to accept its chef on healthy bases, then such a manager must be able to tell whether the team accepts him/her and have a non-controlling attitude.

A team is weakened:

• when a manager is too controlling,
• when manager’s actions are based on defending personal interests,
• when it has too many members,
• when all members are not equal,
•  when members care only about their own careers.With respects to all the elements that weaken team spirit that the manager must know, the most important task of a manager is to manage restaurant staff and create favorable conditions for creative work and freedom of expression and action. In today’s world, team work is studied in schools and universities. Solving strategic problems by a team in simulated in classes. Management techniques in the hospitality industry are also taught.

Factors that increasing team spirit

The performance and success of restaurant depends on many factors including the commitment of the people working together in their workplace. Team spirit is all about working together as one to make ways for success.

Sometimes is very difficult  to build team spirit in the workplace because every worker is always out to prove he is good at what he does or he is better than the other worker. Every man is unique and even if you have very good worker with perfect skills if he do not directs all knowledge into constructive channels to bring out the best results in the workplace, then his potential is worthless.

So how to increase team spirit?

Give ‘undemanding’ rules and principles

Be compassionate and considerate at the same time. Allow indulgence and independence among the team workers, be indulgent with them. This will make your staff to be free in working environment , and to try to do something new without fear of failure. This is very important for your team in the kitchen. Give them a chance to change some dish or to make a new one. Let them help you to make a new menu. Ask them for an opinion about food and working rules.

Encourage and Motivate your restaurant staff

Success is product of enthusiasm, motivation and encouragement among the staff in your restaurant. When workers are motivated to work as a team, they feel independent and becomes more productive at work.
Manager in a manner to increase team spirit need to motivate restaurant staff by recognizing and appreciating their efforts and encouraging their input to yield best results.

Motivation – admiration, encouragement and positive reception promote team spirit in the workplace.

Make a dinner or cocktail party just for your employees.

People are usually more stressed at workplace due to challenging tasks and responsibilities. This is also one of the main reason why team don’t function well as should and work with reduced productivity.

If you want to strengthen team relationship the best way is to organize an outing for all your restaurant staff ( maybe for your birthday) which will help them to develop the power of fortitude among the team. This will help them to introduce them self in some different environment. Sports activities, barbecue or excursion in the nature are very welcome. It would help to establish relation with  working colleagues in another way.
This kind of gathering are very powerful, help the team workers to socialize, and realize the joy and thrill, which in turn will help to increase team spirit in the restaurant during shift. Create unique staff-bonding experiences.