The Union Club of Cleveland’s Lawrence McFadden, CMC, GM/COO, provides a retrospective look at 2020, noting lessons learned that he’ll carry with him into the new year.
When reflecting on how the pandemic has impacted of food and beverage, it got me thinking of Toyota’s architecture of quality Taiichi Ohno statement, “ask why five times.” Used more as a metaphor, it gave meaning to our club’s revised standards, focus on sanitation, space allotment, and service methodology.
While enhanced quality and processes are “lessons learned,” my mind wondered to Mr. Ohno’s original statement. It gave me pause to add “why” to some of my leadership learnings.
1. Why doesn’t the term “wisdom” celebrate the same “buzz” as leader, change agent, or innovator?
Even to question “why” sidetracks a reason that challenges bring out the best in creativity. The unique ideas that are today’s present-day survival tactics often turn into tomorrow’s operational standards.
Some of the greatest concepts came out of wisdom learned during rocky times. Not always is the slogan, “build it and they will come.” Rather that’s a bandaid for unadvised pandemics or financial downturns. In fact, challenges, changes, and choppy waters, define, improve, and navigate great concepts to richer maturity.
Wisdom can only be gained by going through a challenge, while creating, editing, and publishing the results for the next one down the road. This pandemic should not be forgotten, covered up or tossed aside, or so goes the professional wisdom obtained.
2. Why weren’t we more flexible before the pandemic?
Often clubs feel their existence originated in strict standards, not on alignment in shared beliefs and habits of members. Chefs carry that burden, worried about the service impact of a menu’s flexibility in the hands of member adjustments. Even occasionally challenging the members request for the greater good of timeliness might deprive the member of their wants or needs.
Our club certainly moved heaven and earth before the member counts dropped or participation shrunk. Our wisdom of this pandemic is a busy club with special needs both on and off the menu can be quickly taken away again.
Today, after ten months, the kitchen has a revitalized appreciation in a busy operation where dietary or habitual dining norms are front and center. The service staff understands taking a few more minutes to extract the exact expectation fortifies a seamless member experience. Simply said: We look forward to full restaurants with endless members requests in 2021.
3. Why didn’t we appreciate the vocal members more, and our reactions to their needs?
Often, the more vocal member is the most engaged and is personally vested in the club’s successes. He or she is very often the most frequent visitor. Their comments drove excellence providing guidance for a larger, quieter audience. Maybe they could be more engaged, slightly celebrated, and certainly respected.
The rule of thumb is now, “when one person has a comment, ten just didn’t say anything.” So, in the case of objective observations, we must value these vocal comments and act on the ones representing the greater good of the club.
Maybe the adage, “absence make the heart grow fonder” is a perfect description to this “why.”
4. Why didn’t we push for more interactive and customized members events before?
Zoom is here to stay since our members know how utilize but and since it customizes and personalizes their club experience on their terms. Our staff has found a personalized, warm yet relaxed member on our zoom screens while sharing their hobbies during countless events.
Why did it take a pandemic for us to capture a creative to-go program with unique selections or invest in unique brand specific packaging and specialty touches for memorable experiences pushing pass the normal door dash service model?
And while cooking classes, or kitchen style lessons were always schedule events, a search for additional member participation post pandemic inspired frequent virtual cooking classes. It took a terrible global virus for us to customize recipes, ingredients and personalized cooking of dishes members have enjoyed for years.
5. Why are we so mentally drained when we did half the revenues?
Like a cook, feeling the “work” on their body would justify a good day’s shift. A leader being mentally worn out means you pushed creativity, empathy, or even secured answers to never requested problems. Maybe you even foraged for solutions to member services completely foreign a year ago.
In 2020 we certainly did not come to work, execute the norm, and anticipate the historical patterns of our past club business. From March until sometime in 2021, we twisted, turned, torqued, and tethered together action plans, hoping we had a job tomorrow.
And if you finished the shift, being “mentally drained“ was the gift for superior leadership.
In closing, good, bad, or ugly the pandemic left its mark on our business and we will certainly emerge different. And while some speak of wasted time spent worrying, others will champion lessons learned of a greater wisdom in hospitality.