Long Week.

A 13 hour day mostly spent in Production, followed by a 9 hour day mostly spent in Production, followed by today, a rough morning and a long 8 hour day. I am beat.

Career Growth.

I have taken strong ownership of my store, and all that happens within it, being a professional manager, while learning how to fulfill my commitments to my store and my position and my people within the McDonald's system and structure.

I model the behaviors of a McDonald's Assistant Manager by offering as much lead-by-example role modeling that I am capable of. I give my all to my store nearly all the time.

I am constantly learning new tasks, practicing the ones I've already learned, and trying to pass along knowledge to the managers in training when they're receptive.

I have started, completed and maintained organization and anti-clutter projects in my store, as well as implemented (amid much skepticism and resistance) comprehensive procedures.

Customers come first, last and always. Good customer service is my primary goal when I'm working and I try to follow the 5 Hospitality Cues all the time. I have some solid skills with customer recovery, turning potential McHaters into loyal customers nearly every day by following the 6 Steps.

I arrive on time, nearly always do everything I need to do (Saturday night's close I left two under-counter drink station trashes overflowing. I didn't even look to see if they needed changing). I'm the man with the plan (Pre-shift plan that is!) and am able to communicate effectively with my team, even when they don't speak the same language as me.

I am able to diagnose problems and find the best-fit solution to them more often than not with a minimum of collaboration or help.

When I am frustrated or confused or unable to find the answer, I have no problem opening up communication to my store manager, my operations manager, the training coordinator or the owner to discuss my difficulty or my problem with them, seeking solutions.

I am doing the very best I can, and giving all my focus while I'm at work (and often when I'm at home and should be focused on my family).

I was just told yesterday that my promotion to Assistant Manager, which was supposed to occur immediately after the current A.M. moves to the newly acquired store (the changeover occurs this Thursday), will be held off until my Advanced Shift Management course, at least - which is mid-May.

I'm trying to decide whether or not my effort is delivering the result expected, and I'm getting damn little information with which to make that decision. If it's not, then ... well, I'm not capable of not delivering full effort, but I'm damn sure not able to allow myself to get the short end of the stick.

Roll Call.

There's about 40-50 people who read this blog about once every three or four days, and another set of random visitors totaling about 10 people a day. My peak daily visit count was 62 visitors in one day on a day recently when I didn't even make a post.

So, who are you visitors? You know a bunch about me, and I'd like to know a little about you, beyond what your favorite Dollar Menu item is or an estimate of your "regular" order.

Take a few minutes and tell me your name, where you're from, your role in your McDonald's (if you have one), and if you feel like giving me appreciative or constructive feedback, by all means, please do so.

Thanks.

An Easy Friday Night.

I did nothing special, or extra tonight. I worked 7-close, which is 11 PM for Dining Room, 1 AM Drive-Thru.

I came in about 6:15, did my Pre-Shift work, breezing through all of it without extra focus or my typical level of attention. I worked in Service with J. with one guy, C., in Production for a half-hour when my other Production crew was on break. Later, I worked in Service with C. and the other J. in Production when J. was on break. It was pretty hectic, and at that time I ended up telling people my Dining Room is closed for the night about 15 minutes early (I was just too deep in Drive Thru). All in all, for those bursts of customers, we held KVS times of about 65 seconds and Drive Thru times of 190. Nothing great and well outside the goals, but before the closing team decided to become stronger (I believe I inspired this), those numbers would have been considered a pretty good night, if that was every hour's times. Our day ended about 110 in Drive Thru and under 50 in KVS times.

My last customer we screwed up her order, and only made her a 10 piece nugget instead of the 20 she ordered, and she was the last customer. So she waited until well after our closing time, getting her last nuggets.

After everything, we ended up getting out 50 minutes after closing. Our goal is 30 minutes, but a realistic goal for Friday and Saturday, in my eyes (not from the Store Manager's viewpoint) is 45 minutes.

So, nothing special, we passed some goals, as far as time is concerned, but we did about 40% more sales this week than we did over the last 3 weeks. I know, I checked the DSRs.

A Conversation.

My week has been almost interminable. It's been a great week, to be honest. I did quite a bit of thinking and problem solving this week, spurred by conversations.

The first effective conversation I had this week was called by two other managers, both right around a year into their first career in management. Both are female, hispanic managers, and I'm only pointing it out because it is so. Both seem to feel that I speak to them poorly or am disrespectful to them. They addressed this with S., who is upper-management in my organization. She basically called a meeting between these two managers, my store manager B., and me.

The two women were offered an opportunity to open communication with me, they feel there's a problem with me. They apparently told S. they did not like the way I spoke to them. However, what they addressed at this meeting was that I take control of a shift when I'm in the store. One specific complaint that was voiced was regarding a day earlier this week when I came on the floor at about 8:10 and there was no positioning guide completed, no Pre-shift work at all. In fact it was being so poorly managed that it spurred a previous post entitled GROWTH.

So I came in and took over, by doing the Pre-shift planning that should have already been done. I positioned everyone and started giving out breaks, and signed our Accountability Sheet, which basically is a manager's signature that they have done a customer-visibility travel path (where the customer can see) and made sure everything was right.

This incident was mentioned. However, let's take a flashback one week prior to the manager's meeting held the previous week. These same two managers complained that no one else filled out the Accountability Sheet (which may actually be true) so we all agreed, at their urging, to take a more active hand in getting that particular item taken care of.

Now, within the course of a week, their specific complaint became the direct opposite of what it was originally, regarding a specific task. I felt attacked unjustly, but I was able to keep my cool. This doesn't always happen, but I did it.

I voiced the switch in bitching they were making, and pointed out how silly it is. Further, they claim I'm off the floor for hours at a time, patent bullshit. However, I addressed that very well also.

I asked them to think for a moment about 3 months past, how they saw their job and responsibilities, and if they thought then about most of the things they do now. Both of them were honest and said, well, no, not really. So I asked them to imagine 3 months from now, can they really see all the new responsibilities they may take on, and the new details of their jobs? Both agreed, no. Meanwhile, B. is nodding his head off. Then, this is when I had their attention. (This is the first direct quote I've made on this blog.) "Now, Ladies," said I, "I'm seriously a few years further along that responsibility path than you. Do you even want to try to imagine all the details I've got delegated to me, to take care of during the times I'm on the clock?"

I further explained that it's necessary, when possible to dip off the floor for 5-10 minutes at a time, taking care of the store and running things.

I think I got through to them. However, S. was completely focused on how they didn't like how I communicated with them. The problem is, apparently, that I'm brisk with words, I'm a very big and handsome guy, I've got a deep bellowing voice, and I'm commanding. (Picture Zaff Branigan from Futurama, with pants.) I can't help any of those things.

Not the Best Day Ever, Still a Great Day to Be Alive!

So, my day was off to an odd start from the beginning. My alarm didn't wake me up this morning, and I woke up at 5:30 AM instead of 4:00 AM. I should've taken the 5:45 bus, but that wasn't happening. I would've arrived at about 6:20 AM, enough time to eat and pre-shift. I didn't start my day off early like I should have. Then, the 6:22 bus arrived at 6:16 while I was still across the street from it.

Now I was really late. So I got to work late, didn't get to pre-shift much at all and didn't have any breakfast. I was definitely not the best role model when I showed up to work, but I finished my pre-shift within my first 30 or 40 minutes and even got the positioning guide done.

But while I was running around, and working, one of the managers who was working Front Counter position, J., was leaning against the counter, holding that sucker up for all he was worth. I asked for his attention for a moment and explained to him that whoever is working Front Counter is responsible for cleaning everything from HERE to HERE, including the HLZ, the runner's station, the OJ machine, the Iced Coffee Station, and the shake machine and the McFlurry Station. If they've got a free moment and that's done, they are responsible for keeping the Drink Station clean as well. It's really not that much, and a good Front Counter crew member like T. or the other T. or even E. could keep those areas clean. Maybe the last part was over-stepping the bounds, because he got all pissy with me. He claims to be so good at what he does, and gets defensive of his actions when his behavior gets corrected. It's just that there are many behaviors to correct in the store and damn if that is my fault and damn it if my job isn't to correct behaviors.

We ran a good lunch, if a little tense, then I was off to work on schedules. I stayed an extra 3 hours doing schedules. Now, an hour blogging while listening to music. Today has been pretty cool so far, in general.

Growth.

So in around a week or so I will be the Assistant Manager at my store. I really do feel I've done the job of Assistant Manager for the past few months or so.

In fact, I came into my store doing a better job at being a Shift Manager, more wholly exhibiting the behaviors of a role model, maybe having been short-tempered a few times, and willing to apologize for it (people seem to think I'm too high strung) when I've been wrong. Usually, though, I do feel that if I've increased the volume of my communication to a direct and absolutely clear, resounding level, it's usually been an appropriate reaction in the situation.

In any case, I'm not too high-strung. I'm just exactly high strung enough to be me.

I take care of quite a few areas and particular systems, because it just feels like no one else is following up on them. It's difficult sometimes because even such a basic, simple system as PRE-SHIFT PLANNING gets left behind by nearly all the managers. I am glad to come in and assess the store, check things out and find out about the day. I like communicating with my staff and fellow managers and checking sales projections versus actual sales and taking a guess at how my store will perform that day.

I absolutely revel in setting realistic, achievable goals for the day and for our peak hours. The best part of my day is my first real people travel path when I communicate those goals to each employee.

Really, I can't understand how any manager can not travel around the store, checking the restaurant and equipment and people and product to .. I mean, fuck, PLAN THEIR DAY! I work with many managers who want the store to run itself, and crew to develop themselves and for teams to grow themselves with as little interaction as possible. I on the other hand have a passion to watch all those things, but to help create successes in my store, on my team, and with my crew.

Pedantic as it may sound, I see every satisfied customer as a success for the Brand, and the success of the Brand is something I want to be a part of. It's been an opportunity for men, some greater and some lesser than I, to become successful.

Why McDonald's is Successful.

It's not hamburgers. It's not the commercials. It's not massive corporate contracts with Disney and Coke. It's systems.

McDonald's has some phenomenal systems in place, developed and proven by the input of Billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of man-hours worth of research. The systems they offer are effective, or they would not be in place - and when the systems and procedures that are not effective are proven ineffective, they're changed.

Any unsuccessful McDonald's - whether unsuccessful from the customer's point of view (poor quality, slow service, dirty restaurant) or unsuccessful from the employees' point of view (drama, bickering, lack of teamwork) or from the O/O's point of view (unprofitable) - can be grown into being a successful McDonald's restaurant by implementing and vigilantly following up on the systems and processes and procedures that the McDonald's system offers.

The most important thing that leads to McDonald's success is managers willing to do what it takes to follow procedures and implement policies that ensure employees follow procedures, not to mention riding crew and other managers' asses in regards to training those procedures and following up with them on the procedures, all the time!

It's a heavy responsibility for a manager who wants to do the best they can everyday, because it's pretty likely most of the people around you do not wake up and set out to excel every day. The majority of crew and managers in any McDonald's are just people showing up collecting a paycheck, looking to finish their shift and get away as fast as possible! So if you are "that manager" who wants the best for your store, your crew and your own career, you'll have many obstacles in the way - but the obstacles are only people.

It's nearly always possible to motivate any person, no matter how difficult the personality is. Honestly, if what you want is your crew and managers to follow procedures, the easiest way to - I'll be blunt here - manipulate those human beings to do what you want them to do, is to show them how it benefits them and how their actions can affect others.

Production crew? Explain to them the severity of following Food Safety procedures - How would they feel if their child/loved one/spouse/parent were to come in to the store on a day that Food Safety procedures weren't being followed, they get E. coli and, if they survive it, they may have to live on dialysis for the rest of their life.

Service crew? Ask them about a situation where they got poor customer service, and how they felt about it. Get them to describe the whole situation. Help them to realize for themselves that when they aren't smiling, when they aren't pleasant, when they aren't providing and instant greeting, and fast, accurate service, they make someone else feel exactly how they felt in their poor customer service experience.

Managers? Well, honestly, I have a hard spot for managers who don't want to do their best. I know that it's really no different than crew, but I really, really get angry over some "managers" who chooses to be lazy, inaccurate, or fail to follow proper procedures. I work hard, so hard, to treat lazy, work-avoiding, procedure-skipping managers the way I would crew, and counsel them and coach them and give them new skills to work on, and follow-up on them often with constructive and appreciative feedback. It's difficult though, and it's my own area of opportunity to work on. The most difficult thing about these type of situations is that the manager who needs to improve is likely to be a peer or even a superior. How does one enforce behaviors on someone who you can't provide consequences to?

In short, systems are great. There are some amazingly simple systems in the McDonald's program, and for just about every situation you do encounter, there is a system in place to help you win in that situation, efficiently. Use the resources provided to you (MDP materials, Operations and Training Manuals, SOCs, e-Learning, and the experience that your peers and colleagues can offer) and remember - BE HERE NOW.

New Iced Coffee Flavors.

OMFG. Caramel Iced Coffee. HOLY SHIT is it good.

Career Growth.

I was unofficially officially told I would be staying at my current store, instead of moving to the new store my O/O is purchasing. I am a little disappointed because I'm not headed to the newest store, and being a part of the powerhouse team that is going to be managing that store. Mostly, though, I'm really excited about being promoted into an Assistant Manager position. I've been doing the job of Assistant Manager for a few months, and my Store Manager B. and I have got a solid rapport and we both have a similar vision for where our store needs to go for us to grow. It's going to be nice to be paid at Assistant Manager scale for Assistant Manager work.