Run Every Play to Perfection.
I am not a sports person, but I do love a good anecdote... so I'm going to share this one I recently heard on "A Bit of Optimism" Podcast by Simon Sinek when he spoke to John Burke (CEO of Trek Bicycles.. great listen- check it out...) 🎙️ Nick Saben was the basketball coach of Alabama State, and in the finals, they were up against Ohio who were 10-0. Everyone knew they were going to get absolutely killed... "We're playing the wrong game..." Alabama coaches thought, "We're trying to win, we shouldn't be doing that... What we should be doing is running every play to perfection. We do that, we'll do just fine." During practice before the big game, the coaches tell the team, "We're not going to pay attention to the crowd, to the scoreboard, nothing... all we are going to do is run every play to perfection. Every single one of you, every single time- you run the play to perfection." Game ends- guess who wins?! Nick Saben became one of the greatest coaches of all time because he never gave a shit about the scoreboard again... he only cared about running every play to perfection, and the championships kept coming. This is how we should lead our restaurant teams. Stop looking at the bottom line, sales, COGS, all that. We are coaches, day in and day out, and we must teach the team the plays... and help them run them to perfection on every shift. Your trainers and shift leaders are the MVP's, and with the right support, they will lead their teammates to greatness. This is how we take great care of our guests, our teams, and ultimately our bottom line. Coming soon to The Training Table, I'll release my courses on how to set up your systems (plays), and empower your star players to run them for you. Stay tuned, thanks for being here!