Being of a certain age, let me speak freely about my cohort. I never quite knew what the problem was with hiring old people, some of us are even nice. We have to be. It's the necessary misdirection that allows us to get our own way.
My hairdresser was talking to the back of my head. Since she can't cut hair and talk at the same time, she stops, arms and scissors in mid air, so she can tell me something I heard, ignored, and forgot, on purpose, twenty years ago. I say nothing.
I don't listen well but overheard something about her mother also being a hairdresser. I thought, what if I was a hair dresser? After twenty years, could I still cut each person's hair differently or would I just give then all the same haircut? After so many years, don't you get to a place where your haircuts all start looking the same? Hairdressers are only human.
Imagine twenty years cutting hair in the mall, - a different head of hair every hour. Ten cuts a day, 50 cuts a week, 2600 cuts a year, 52,000 haircuts in 20 years.
You want a different haircut? You are a joker aren't you? You're my 52,000th haircut, do I look like I do custom haircuts? You funny man. Run fast funny man, I'm going to stab you with my scissors.
I asked her, "does your mom actually give people different haircuts or does she just think she cuts them differently? She started to laugh.
I've noticed getting older is not about age, - it's about losing our playfulness, curiosity, ability to wonder, - old is about being in a rut. Young people can be in a rut, - they are then 'old." It's not years, it's the rut! The problem with age is not years, it's about giving everybody the same haircut.
Let me give you a different haircut, a different way of looking at absenteeism, sick days, lates, and sloppy people. You may have given up on some of your staff, - don't give up, come with me on Sept. 14th and I promise you, you'll feel young again! I'll teach you many new ways to cut hair, to get people to work for you, every day, with enthusiasm. And, you'll have a good time while you learn! Bring other managers, bring your team, - I'll show you attendance haircuts you would never dream about!
If your management methods are down to one, same haircut for everybody, - you're just old. Age is never the problem. Being in a rut, - that's the problem. Learn a new haircut!
See you for breakfast,
Wolfgang
p.s. You think you have problems with absenteeism? Think about Obama, his approval rating is down to 26%. About half the people who voted for him abandoned him, they are absent!
p.s. 7% of the American population believe Elvis is alive. 26% approve of Obama. Too close.
p.s. I've met old people who are young and young people who are old. We start to age when we recycle our opinions, views, stories and generally bore everybody to tears. And that seems to happen at any age.
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
The Day the Boathouse didn't ship.
How to stop a million dollar dinner billing machine cold.
We've had exceptional weather in Vancouver Slow to start, but last Sunday, what a day! Haven't been to Kit's beach in 30 years. Sailed off it, raced in English Bay, anchored off Kits, but never joined the masses and pretended it was Mexico. We did that on Sunday and it was great! Sun, yachts, bikini's, ocean, thousands of people on Kit's beach!
On the edge of the beach is a million dollar Boathouse Seafood Restaurant. Brilliant location. You can't get a better location! This is Kitsilano, downtown Vancouver, on the side of the ocean with a million dollar English Bay view! Wow.
As the sun moved westward, I took a quick look up the stairs of the Boathouse to see whether there was any chance of getting a table without reservations. Surprise! A long line of people with the same idea. I should have known better. A hot day, thousands on the beach, and it's near dinnertime.
Being an old management consultant, I doubt everything so I walked to the front of the line and looked into the restaurant. How serene, how peaceful. The place was empty. Maybe ten diners, and 50 empty tables. What the?
"Why is there a line up and the restaurant is empty?" I asked the hostess.
A highly stressed but courteous hostess looked up and said, "because we don't have enough servers on the floor."
Let's summarize what's going on. The Boathouse restaurant chain has invested millions (?) to set up this amazing, dinner experience, money machine with a million dollar view, in downtown Vancouver, on the busiest beach, with the best demographics for beer and seafood and opened it on the busiest Sunday of the year. The restaurant machine is stopped, business has stopped cold because servers didn't show up for work! Five staff stopped the billing clock! How much does a restaurant like the Boathouse bill in an hour? It's losing thousands of dollars every hour because perhaps five floor staff didn't show up for their shift. My guess is they were on the beach with everybody else.
TOC (theory of constraints) says business moves only as fast as it's choke point, or constraint. Constraints prevent the organization from reaching its goals. Anything you work on in a business other than the constraint will have no effect. There are chefs in the kitchen preparing to create beautiful dinners, none of which matters because of the constraint. There is a costly advertising campaign, a building, the investments are endless, and all for nothing because the constraint, (about five servers) didn't show-up for work.
When people don't show up for work, your business is slowed down. Attendance is a constraint managers have to manage, it's a management issue. Attendance reflects management choices and styles. Every job in a business is hooked into every other job. It's this choreographed dance of work the depends on each person showing up on time, every day. When that doesn't happen, the billing machine, - business - stops cold. Absent people become the constraint.
Next month, Sept. 14th our seminar is Attendance Management. Selecting, managing, and motivating to cut sick days in half. Reserve your seat today.
To the Boathouse Restaurant manager, I'm holding one free seat just for you. It so happens our seminar is at the (Vancouver Museum) Planetarium, one block from the Boathouse. Call me.
See you for breakfast,
Wolfgang
p.s. TOC was introduced by Eli Goldratt in his book, "The goal." It applies to everything in life or business. Bottlenecks control everything. The game is all about shortages and surpluses. In Goldratt's book, Alex points at a pile of parts at the bottleneck. How much product can't you ship because of the missing parts in that pile? Everytime a bottleneck finishes a part, it makes it possible for you to ship finished product. Service the bottleneck because right now, it is your entire business.
p.s. How do you stop a million dollar billing machine cold? Just don't show up for work. It will stop.
We've had exceptional weather in Vancouver Slow to start, but last Sunday, what a day! Haven't been to Kit's beach in 30 years. Sailed off it, raced in English Bay, anchored off Kits, but never joined the masses and pretended it was Mexico. We did that on Sunday and it was great! Sun, yachts, bikini's, ocean, thousands of people on Kit's beach!
On the edge of the beach is a million dollar Boathouse Seafood Restaurant. Brilliant location. You can't get a better location! This is Kitsilano, downtown Vancouver, on the side of the ocean with a million dollar English Bay view! Wow.
As the sun moved westward, I took a quick look up the stairs of the Boathouse to see whether there was any chance of getting a table without reservations. Surprise! A long line of people with the same idea. I should have known better. A hot day, thousands on the beach, and it's near dinnertime.
Being an old management consultant, I doubt everything so I walked to the front of the line and looked into the restaurant. How serene, how peaceful. The place was empty. Maybe ten diners, and 50 empty tables. What the?
"Why is there a line up and the restaurant is empty?" I asked the hostess.
A highly stressed but courteous hostess looked up and said, "because we don't have enough servers on the floor."
Let's summarize what's going on. The Boathouse restaurant chain has invested millions (?) to set up this amazing, dinner experience, money machine with a million dollar view, in downtown Vancouver, on the busiest beach, with the best demographics for beer and seafood and opened it on the busiest Sunday of the year. The restaurant machine is stopped, business has stopped cold because servers didn't show up for work! Five staff stopped the billing clock! How much does a restaurant like the Boathouse bill in an hour? It's losing thousands of dollars every hour because perhaps five floor staff didn't show up for their shift. My guess is they were on the beach with everybody else.
TOC (theory of constraints) says business moves only as fast as it's choke point, or constraint. Constraints prevent the organization from reaching its goals. Anything you work on in a business other than the constraint will have no effect. There are chefs in the kitchen preparing to create beautiful dinners, none of which matters because of the constraint. There is a costly advertising campaign, a building, the investments are endless, and all for nothing because the constraint, (about five servers) didn't show-up for work.
When people don't show up for work, your business is slowed down. Attendance is a constraint managers have to manage, it's a management issue. Attendance reflects management choices and styles. Every job in a business is hooked into every other job. It's this choreographed dance of work the depends on each person showing up on time, every day. When that doesn't happen, the billing machine, - business - stops cold. Absent people become the constraint.
Next month, Sept. 14th our seminar is Attendance Management. Selecting, managing, and motivating to cut sick days in half. Reserve your seat today.
To the Boathouse Restaurant manager, I'm holding one free seat just for you. It so happens our seminar is at the (Vancouver Museum) Planetarium, one block from the Boathouse. Call me.
See you for breakfast,
Wolfgang
p.s. TOC was introduced by Eli Goldratt in his book, "The goal." It applies to everything in life or business. Bottlenecks control everything. The game is all about shortages and surpluses. In Goldratt's book, Alex points at a pile of parts at the bottleneck. How much product can't you ship because of the missing parts in that pile? Everytime a bottleneck finishes a part, it makes it possible for you to ship finished product. Service the bottleneck because right now, it is your entire business.
p.s. How do you stop a million dollar billing machine cold? Just don't show up for work. It will stop.
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