Q. How do you empower employees to perform?
I let my managers manage. If they have a problem, they’re going to bring it to me for my guidance, but I let them manage.
They hire; they fire. I don’t stand in the middle. When an employee comes to me with a problem, I don’t put myself in the middle of my manager and that person. If a person gets fired or they’re disciplined, I don’t put myself in the middle unless I see an overriding legal issue or an unusual problem that my manager may not know of, then I may inject myself.
However, if there’s something that I would have my manager know that they may not have known, I’ll do that in a meeting with my manager, but it would be my manager who would then still either bring that person back or not.
Q. How do you handle underperformers?
Disciplinary action takes many, many forms, from minor to major. Once you invest in a person, you want to give them every opportunity to succeed, from just a little private meeting with no write-ups involved and encouragement and understanding what’s holding a person back, to a write-up, to a suspension, to a fine, to whatever it takes to motivate that person into performance. Everyone responds to different stimuli.
I’ve always likened that to the more you ride, you understand a horse. Some horses, all you’ve got to do is [click your teeth] and you have the best ride of your life. Others, you’ve got to break a stick off a tree, not hit them with it but just show them it’s in your hand. They’re going to pick their ears up and rock and roll, the best ride of your life.
And others just need a little tap. And some, you can hit them and it won’t even matter.
In many ways, people are the same way.
We don’t beat people with a stick, but showing them the stick means you can be fired, a suspension. Certainly for us the stick is, ‘You are fired.’
Everybody has a different motivation.
How to reach: Mango’s Tropical Cafe, (305) 673-4422 or www.mangostropicalcafe.com
