10 Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Culture
In our business, we hear a lot about restaurant DNA. What we know about viruses is that they hijack DNA and make changes to it so it will survive and replicate. Covid-19 has painfully inserted itself into your business; the adaptable and resilient will survive. Think of Covid-19 as a reset button. A proverbial mulligan.
You have a chance to reimagine your restaurant business for the better. Reimagining is a mindset that every restaurant owner and leader should be embracing at this moment. This Mulligan is a new opportunity, what will you do with it? I recommend that, like the virus and its focus on DNA, you focus on a foundational element of your existence, your Culture. Here are 10 Questions to ask yourself and your team about your Culture:
Do you currently have a solid mission and core values that everyone understands, embraces, and do you utilize your mission and core values to make all business decisions to keep your Culture on course?
Does my Culture create an environment where my employees feel they are an essential component of my Restaurant?
Have you created a safe environment within your Culture for your team members?
If any of my team gets sick, will they have the ability to seek medical help?
Do my employees feel that their needs are being satisfied, and they have an opportunity to create a good quality of life?
When interviewing prospective applicants for employment, do you create a want and desire in them to be part of your organization? So much so that if they did not get the job, they would still recommend your Restaurant to someone else to apply to because it is such an awesome place to work?
Have you created a collaborative environment where open communication and innovation are embraced, encouraged, and freely accepted?
Have you created an environment where strong execution, job position competency, and excellence of operations get rewarded and are the hallmark of your brand?
Do you embrace education, and is it an integral part of everyday operations?
Is your Culture driven from the bottom up and the top-down simultaneously?
Your answers to these questions should help start a discussion amongst your team to define who and what you are. If embraced, the resulting changes you create will clarify and redefine your restaurant DNA. Think Differently!
