Lead Better in Challenging Times:Resources for Multi Unit Managers and Franchisees!
The content in this section is aimed exclusively at multi-unit managers, franchisees and multi-unit operators. It’s based on our best-selling book and audiobook called Multi Unit Leadership: The 7 Stages of Building High-Performing Partnerships & Teams. Here’s some of the tools you’ll find on this page:
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Our FREE Leadership Assessment (click on link below )
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Free Quarterly Business Plan (see right hand column)
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Free downloadable MUM Podcasts (located at our Podcasts Page)
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Free High-Impact Restaurant Visit Planner (see right hand column)
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Overview of our new 2009 MUM Industry Survey
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Access to Multi U: our dynamic new E-learning course for Multi-Unit Leaders (click on link below)
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FREE demo preview of the Multi U e-learning course (see below)
Click Here for your FREE Multi Unit Leadership Assessment.
Click HERE to sign up for or login to our best-selling Multi U e-learning course. It's self-paced, so you can start and stop when you need to, and return when you're ready. Made up of 9 interactive and fun modules that detail the best practices of over 500 high-Performing Multi-Unit Leaders. (All you need is your credit card!)
To get a sense of what Multi U looks and feels like, just Click HERE to see the FREE 10 Minute DEMO of the Multi U e-learning course
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Click HERE to download the most Frequently Asked Questions about our popular Multi U e-learning course
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How Leaders Get Things Right in a Downturn Economy by Jim Sullivan Multi Unit Leadership Blog
Industry News and Views As we stride headlong through the second quarter of Calendar Year 2009, there’s a great deal of uncertainty coupled with creeping optimism in most quarters about the foodservice industry. Massive layoffs have occurred, certain franchises are staggering and the casual theme segment is being walloped by uncertain consumers with cobwebbed wallets. When they take a dollar bill from their pocket, George Washington blinks at the light. Banks are tentatively re-lending and the success of US government bailout/stimulus packages are on a wait-and-see-watch by most investors.
Unfortunately, many multi-unit managers were let go as the industry contracted. Those MUMs that remain are finding their supervisory oversight exponentially stretched; those who oversaw 8 stores may now have 10 or 12, without additional support or compensation. So they find ways to do more with less, and must be careful to maintain survivorship morale and be the best Brand Ambassador possible. Unit managers look to MUMs for assurance, guidance and courage now more than ever. You have to maintain morale, even if flat is the new “up.” But you can use this downturn to get better, tougher, smarter, sharper. This is no time to waste a crisis.
What do you want to be known for after the recovery? Maybe now’s the time to do all the things you couldn’t do in an upturn economy. Let creating an awesome team. A recent study by the Hay Group reported in Nation’s Restaurant News said that hourly workers and managers seek out foodservice companies based on the following criteria: 1) reputation, 2) medical/health benefits, 3) culture, 4) base salary/pay, 5) flexible hours, and 6) career opportunities/promotions. So if you actively seek and hire high-performers for your units, develop a strong culture (and thin rulebook) first and then preach what you practice. Says UK foodservice consultant Tony Hughes from London: “In reality, foodservice operators don’t seek out high-performers, they seek you out.” Be known for excellence.
Smart things Multi-Unit Leaders will do ASAP
Eliminate "woe-is-me". We're ALL struggling to compete and survive in the same economy, so stop moaning and start managing. Take the energy you're expending complaining about the economy and put it in to training your team better, finding ways to acquire new customers and hiring more talented people (one plus side of a minus economy is a bigger talent pool). Stop reading or listening to the news and all media for one week top help regain perspective.
6 ways to choose your future versus letting it “happen.” In 2009 we deal with both complexity and ambiguity both from competitors and customers. Problem-solving, team excellence and decision-making are critical now more than ever. , You can’t be like a kid with a plate of brussel sprouts (he knows he has to eat them eventually, but he doesn’t mind waiting). Now is the time, you are the person. Get your GMs together and let them know clearly and concisely: 1) this is where we are, 2) this is where we’re going, 3) this is why, 4) this is how we’re gonna get there, 6) this is what you have to do, 6) this is what’s in it for you when we get there.
Know the difference between being busy and being productive. As Mark Twain said: “A horse eating grass in a field does not constitute ‘one horsepower’ of energy.” This is the time for effective Multi-Unit Leaders to be better (if not brilliant) at Time Management. Don’t waste unnecessary time and resources on non-essentials. Take control of your time but taking control of your schedule. Don’t allow meaningless tasks into your day. Set stretch goals for yourself and your managers. Align your region’s team to company goals and objectives. Break down quarterly goals to period goals and then to shift execution. (See the right hand column to download our Quarterly Business Planner and High-Impact Restaurant Visit e-books as resources.) Show your management team how what they do every day connects to what the company is trying to achieve. Seek clarity and be concise in your communication with GMs and junior managers. Listen more effectively, pro-actively offer insight or resources and most importantly, drive accountability for results.
Develop and mentor your managers to their fullest potential—daily. Managers are drowning in information, but starving for knowledge. Work deliberately and daily at developing the internal talent in your stores. Collect and share best practices at every manager meeting and cross-pollinate the ideas at your other units too. A Multi-unit leader is rewarded not for what they do but for what their people do.
Getting Things Done by David Allenis the best book I’ve ever read on Time Management. Click HERE to learn more.
New Video Resource to help foster pride in your team: Take a look at this interesting video produced by the National Restaurant Association about our industry. Intended to impress, coalesce, and heft the collective clout of the foodservice business. Here’s the link: http://www.restaurant.org/aboutus/video/index.cfm
Paul Harvey, the iconic US radio commentator for nearly 80 years, recently passed away. While I can’t call myself a loyal fan I can be called an occasional listener. My dad listened to Paul harvey twice a day as we were growing up, and I heard that baritone commentary often. A recent tribute column written by Harvey Mackay caught my eye, and I thought I’d share part of it with you. His classic “apology to business owners” at the end speaks directly to and about the spirit of restaurateurs worldwide. It starts with a few of Harvey’s classic lines:
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"I've never seen a monument erected to a pessimist." Looking for the positive and inspirational was one of the biggest reasons his listeners tuned in every day.
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"If there is a 50-50 chance that something can go wrong, nine times out of 10 it will." A little humor went a long way in keeping his audience engaged.
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"In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these." Truer words were never spoken—and how apropos to today's times!
I think his apology to business owners illustrates perfectly Paul Harvey's profound understanding of American life and business that made it possible for him to relate to us. And that's why we could relate to him.
"You put up the money to start the business that creates jobs for the rest of us. You gather the raw materials, importing some of them, devise salable products, advertise them and sell them. You pay all the operating expenses. You pay your employees 90 percent of the dollars that are left. You assume all the risk and invest most of your profit in additional equipment, additional facilities and new research.”
"You pay out in taxes three times what you pay yourself. You businessmen and businesswomen create work, goods and services. You give more generously than anybody to churches, schools, foundations and charities of all sizes.
"By any reasonable rationale, you should be the focus of a grateful nation's primary appreciation. As a public servant and provider, you should be on the cover of Time or Newsweek. You should be heralded on CBS, NBC and ABC. You should be esteemed by your government, by the media and by your fellow man.
"You seldom are. For my part in a nonproducing profession that ridicules or ignores you, I apologize. I wish I could promise it's going to be different, I can't."
Thought for the month:A bend in the road is not necessarily the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn.
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FREE ARTICLE ARCHIVE for Multi-Unit Managers:
--Good ideas are always welcome in a challenging environment, so download this free article by Jim Sullivan that discusses Pricing and Partnership: Smart Ways to Lead inTough Times
--SAVE TIME with OUTLOOK by easily coordinating your monthly schedule with your region's unit managers. This free download will show you quick and effective shortcuts to see and share multiple calendars in Outlook so you can organize your managers' schedules with your own at a glance. Plus learn 7 other quick tips and tricks to make Outlook more efficient for multi-unit managers. In PDF format: Click HERE
--Is Service Dead? And if so, what's replaced it? Read this interesting new blog about Customer Service in 2009 from Jim Sullivan on our home page. Click HERE.
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Sullivision 2008 Multi Unit Manager Research Project Overview:
Here’s an executive overview of what our 2008 survey (completed December 2008) of over 500 foodservice multi-unit managers reveals:
--There are approximately 100,000 foodservice multi-unit managers working in North America’s 900,000-plus units/stores in the foodservice industry.
--Effective leadership competencies are specific to an organization. This explains why some leaders exceed in one company but fail in another.
--Average industry tenure for MUM is 5.9 years.
--Average number of units that foodservice MUMs oversee is 9.
--MUMs are overwhelmingly male (71%).
--MUMs are collectively responsible for purchase decisions in excess of $800 million annually.
--The key challenges our MUM research subjects cited (in order of most frequent mention) are:
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The economy
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Rising prices
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Customer patronage and loyalty
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Staffing/ bench strength/ turnover.
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Disorganization: time management, new technology.
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Geography: too many stores across too wide a market.
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Focus: shifting priorities from above, paperwork and data overload.
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Ability to execute effective store visits.
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Learning how to better coach and train their associates.
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Marketing (Limited Time Offers, etcetera).
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Energy.
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Work-Life-Family balance.
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Personal development, training, “re-charging.”
--The MUMs with the most profitable units visit each one at least weekly.
--Most MUMs surveyed (91%) felt their company’s tools and on-going training/orientation resources for their position are “below average” or “inadequate”.
--MUMs receive less annual training than hourly crew:
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QSR hourly associates receive an average of 4 days of job-related training annually.
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Full-service restaurant servers receive an average of 7.5 days of job-related training.
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Unit managers receive an average of 18.5 days of job-related training.
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Multi-Unit Managers receive an average of 2.5 days of job-related training annually.
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