Stop, collaborate and listen
The first step in establishing a collaborative management style is
to find out what everyone is doing. The most effective way to do that
is to simply set up some informal meetings. In fact, many of Ott’s
meetings are two-minute conversations with employees in the dining room during a slow period of their shift. The key is to meet with
every level of employee, from managers down to the hourly workers.
“You have to understand what’s going on in everybody’s world,” he
says.
During these meetings, Ott tries to determine the challenges that
face each section of the staff.
“You have to ask probing questions,” he says. “Little things like,
‘How’s your equipment working? What do you see that’s not liked by
the guests? What would you like to change in the restaurant?’”
Once he has their answers, the second phase of collaborative management begins. He takes the information he’s collected to his management team to be discussed.
Ott is constantly amazed at how often his initial ideas to improve
Claim Jumper will be modified and enhanced by his team.
It’s at this point that many CEOs stumble in their adoption of the
collaborative style by resisting changes to the original idea.
“It doesn’t change direction and blossom or grow, and they end up
with an idea that ends up breaking because it hasn’t been built
strong enough yet,” Ott says.
Massive egos can be massive roadblocks when you’re trying to
establish a collaborative management style because it’s not really collaborative if no one can challenge the boss’s idea. Ott escaped the
ego trap by focusing on the bigger picture.
“Over time, you may achieve a certain amount of success, and then
you realize what really matters isn’t your success — it’s the success
of your staff and the success and longevity of the business,” he says.
“To me, that far outweighs any individual concerns.”
As an idea grows from a single thread to a thick rope, the management team strengthening that idea undergoes a transformation,
as well.
The people involved in the decision-making process develop a
synergy between them as each decision they make alters the course
of the company. With each successful move, the team becomes more
confident.
“Collaboration works on success,” Ott says. “It feeds itself.”
However, he says assembling a great management team becomes
more difficult as the company grows larger. Getting the right people
on that team is very important to the company’s success.
“At this level, you can’t make every decision correctly,” he says.
“You have to rely on those around you to make those decisions at
times — to make the right decision based on better input, based on
being in the trenches more than you are or a better understanding
of the decision being made.”
That is why Ott says a collaborative management team must
have representatives from each area of the company to be successful.
“If we make a decision regarding an item we’re going to put on our
menu and I don’t have buy-in from our service operation team, our
kitchen operation team and our regional management team, it’s not
going to work right,” Ott says.
No matter how great the idea is, it has a good chance to fail
because the key people affected by the decision weren’t asked for
their input. If they don’t buy in to the new idea, then the employees
they manage won’t buy in to the idea.
If representatives from each affected party support the decision,
their support will flow down through the layers of the company, and
the idea will have a better chance of being successful.
Of course, sometimes the members of the team disagree about
whether an idea is right for the company.
“If someone feels very passionately and strongly about something
and they’re convincing, usually the one or two people who have a dissenting viewpoint will acquiesce,” he says. “If it’s wrong, then we talk
about why the decision was wrong, and we make sure that, as a
group, we don’t get swayed by someone who maybe is preaching the
gospel about something that’s passionate to them more than looking
at the facts and making sure it’s the right thing to do for the business.”
