My last article, “The impact of tech innovation on restaurant company culture,” focused on how widespread tech adoption in the restaurant industry impacts your employees. I encouraged readers to write in with their thoughts and I appreciated Prashant Ranade, cofounder of Indussme, for writing in to say how much the piece resonated.
I’d like to share a couple of his valuable thoughts on the subject with you. First, the idea that process change is a prerequisite for cultural change. The coordination of tasks performed by each team member within a process is crucial to achieving desired outcomes, as illustrated by the “coffee” example. And second, ensuring that the “to be” process, enhanced by technology, makes the “right way” of doing things more accessible and easier than the traditional methods.
As we move to our next topic from the question this month, I invite you, as always, to send your thoughts on today’s article (or any previous one) to [email protected] so that they can be shared with the rest of our readers.
As a slight turn from tech but still focused on the impact on your employees, we’ll address how various elements within your company values — and thus, culture — will lead to either growth and retention or revolving turnover. This month’s conversation raises a broad range of important, intermingled questions, so this will be a two-part article, with part two running next month.
Thank you Janice Mackler, Hospitality Strategic Sales Advisor at DSA Signage, for sharing the following story and questions with me. Janice writes, “I met this guy from Finland who has less than a 3% turnover in his restaurants. One of the things I found interesting was he believes in creating a growth path for everyone in the restaurant to progress. Jill, do you feel it’s important, as it relates to turnover, to create this path? If so, how do you determine the path? Do you create by role, or do you spend time understanding the person’s aspirations, skills, ambition, etc., and develop from there?” Fantastic topic and questions. Let’s go!
Especially in the restaurant industry, where turnover is high, creating a growth path for staff is absolutely essential to a positive, collaborative company culture. While it may be more challenging in the QSR space, I know firsthand from conversations with past employees who are now in their 60s and 70s, who worked with my dad at McDonald’s in the early 1960s, at the age of 17 as their first jobs, that it is still relevant. A well-defined growth path improves job satisfaction, fosters loyalty, and enhances overall productivity. It also gives employees a sense of purpose, belonging, and future within the company, leading to higher retention rates.
Why internal growth paths matter
- Personal Development: Employees today want to feel significant and grow at work beyond just doing their functional skill tasks. They want to contribute, be heard, have their ideas considered, and be a part of something larger than a “job.” When a company invests in an employee's personal and professional development, they feel important and significant. This mutually benefits the company.
- Skill Development: Offering growth opportunities allows employees to learn new skills, contributing to a better-trained, versatile team. This leads to reason number three.
- Enhanced Morale and Motivation: Everyone feels better when they feel seen, heard, and invested in as a whole person, not just a clock-puncher. Employees feel more valued when they see potential for advancement, leading to greater engagement and that all-important pride and sense of ownership.
- Stronger Culture and Brand Reputation: By investing in employee growth, a restaurant can strengthen its reputation as a desirable workplace, attracting more quality talent. This is how they become “Employer of Choice” and stop chasing after talent.
- Increased Retention: Growth paths reduce turnover by showing employees they can progress in their careers and grow within the company, rather than feeling "stuck" in entry-level roles or experiencing instability, needing to move from job to job and look elsewhere for advancement.
How and when do you determine the growth path?
When to establish the growth path
Before a growth path can be infused into your operations and conveyed to your staff, restaurant leadership must (re)establish and document their values, vision, and mission (VVM). I write “re-establish” because if these have not been re-examined since the pandemic, and a business is working from pre-2020 VVM, they will 99.99% be outdated and irrelevant to today’s employees and customers. Hint: They must include prioritizing your employee experience to achieve the ultimate customer experience. Before anything else is done in this area, I suggest taking action on this step, which will be your blueprint, your recipe for how to implement them into every part of your operations.
Next, all details of role requirements and expectations to be communicated must be developed long before you have a potential employee sitting in front of you. If this piece is not created and executed initially, you will always be disappointed in your employee’s performance. No one can deliver on goals if they do not know what they are or how they fit into the team to achieve them.
How to determine the growth path
To determine the growth path, I believe, as in most things, it’s rarely 100% one way or the other. It’s a bit of both, so I think it must be a hybrid approach for the highest efficacy and long-term results.
- Evaluate Role Requirements: For role-based paths, define the competencies, responsibilities, and certifications needed for each role. Be sure to outline and communicate expectations for growth opportunities clearly.
- Review Employee Aspirations; at First Interview and Regularly: For individualized paths, I suggest the first interview with a potential new hire include a conversation to discover who that person is and learn what their dreams, goals, and aspirations are both within the company and in life. This will set the tone and feeling they will have about your “caring culture.” This is what employees today are looking for! And then, of course, conduct regular reviews and adapt growth paths based on each employee’s evolving goals and performance. No two people are alike. Each offers valuable gifts and possible contributions if you create a system for an environment that nurtures this expression.
- Use a Hybrid Approach: Combining both methods is most effective. It allows for structured progression while being adaptable to individual goals.
Hybrid approach: Role-based and individual-based
Role-based growth plan: In this approach, career paths are designed based on job roles, focusing on predefined progression from one role to another within the company.
- Growth Journey Map: Clearly identify and define the ‘opportunity path’ one can take with their proactive initiative within the company, from entry-level to management.
- Skill-Based Training Program: Develop role-specific skill requirements for advancement. For instance, line cooks could attend specialized training sessions in kitchen management, recipe development, and customer service to prepare them for sous chef or chef positions.
- Certification Programs: Offer certifications for skill development that are beneficial at work, as well as knowledge and skills they can take with them in their next jobs throughout their working lives; information that helps them grow holistically and globally. A great example is the amazing Emmer and Rye restaurant in Austin, TX., which exemplifies a caring culture and provides growth paths within their Hospitality group of growing concepts. They offered a Sommelier Certification program to their staff. This expertise can be applied in their restaurant or anywhere else they take this knowledge with them (professionally and personally). Lastly, incentivize employees who achieve specific milestones through progressive advancement to more senior roles, such as bartender to lead bartender or supervisor.
Individual-based growth plan: This approach personalizes the growth path based on each employee’s ambitions, skills, and career goals, helping them chart unique paths within the company while recognizing who they are outside of being an “employee.”
- Personal Development Plans (PDPs): As mentioned previously, learn who your team members are as people at the start. Create profiles for each to refer to as they grow within the system. Set up one-on-one meetings regularly to discuss career aspirations and maximize each employee’s potential. For example, if a server wants to move into culinary arts, provide them with cross-training in the kitchen. In addition, learn what their personality type is regarding how they best communicate, receive information, problem-solve, etc. (Speak to me about Type Coach to understand what those personality types are and how to use this data to make informed decisions on roles and how to best communicate with each person, so they hear you.)
- Mentorship Opportunities: Pair employees with mentors in different departments. This will help them develop a deeper understanding of the business, which will create empathy for all. This exposure will make them a more well-rounded employee who can step in when needed in other areas.
- Goal-Oriented Training: If an employee expresses an interest in leadership, provide them with relevant management courses, shadowing opportunities, and a clear outline of steps to attain a managerial role. This can include essential EI (emotional intelligence) skills training, conflict resolution, and financial management. Without a goal, one has no defined direction for which to grow. Status quo, boredom, and confusion will ensue, and they will lose their way, their purpose.
The bottom line is to try to intertwine these two growth plan styles for optimum results.
The Path Forward
Creating growth paths that balance role-specific progression with individual aspirations can help cultivate a happy, reliable, resilient, and dedicated workforce. This hybrid approach directly enhances employee satisfaction and company culture. It’s a winning trifecta for the restaurant industry: a win for the employer who saves time and money from constant turnover, a win for the employees who grow personally and professionally while increasing teamwork morale and productivity, and a win for the customers who benefit from the content employees who become a truly cohesive work family.
Look out for Part 2 of this article next month. We’ll dive deeper into the expanded questions around whether to cross-train and how it may affect productivity outcome, collaboration or competition, and more.
If you enjoyed and gained something from this article, email your own culture questions to [email protected]. Have your questions answered and highlighted in a future Ask Jill! Develop Your Company Culture article.
