Food for thought: Restaurants offer communication lessons

Good restaurant kitchens are models of high-functioning teams that communicate constantly...

The next time the host seats you next to the kitchen, don’t grumble. Pay attention—you might learn something. 

As anyone who has ever worked in or around a restaurant kitchen can tell you, getting the food from the stove to the table without a collision is no accident. Good restaurant kitchens are models of high-functioning teams that communicate constantly. 

So, while you munch on your breadsticks, watch how the wait staff interacts. In most kitchens, you will hear cries of “Behind you!” or “Coming around!” as employees navigate tight spaces, their arms loaded with trays of food. 

What does that have to do with operations back at the office? It’s a lesson in the importance of keeping all members of a team informed about what others are doing. Failure to communicate in a kitchen means wasted food, broken plates, and injured workers.

In an office, it means wasted time, lost productivity, confusion, and hostility.

Your signaling system could be almost as simple as that of a restaurant. For example, you could institute standup meetings where your team members brief each other on the status of projects; periodic emails could keep everyone up to speed; instant messages could be the solution to getting up-to-the-minute data to team members in the midst of a conference call. 

Regardless of the medium for these messages, the key is for teams (and departments) to communicate frequently as events unfold because the next formal team meeting may be too late.

All the success!

Peter Mclees, Principal

P. S. Smart Development Inc. has an exceptional track record helping restaurants, stores and other multi-unit operators create a strong culture, leadership bench strength and the teamwork necessary for growth. Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

http://smartdevelopmentinc.com/