Pizza Today - September 2023 - 51

S
o many of us are guilty of
falling into the same trap:
over time, we develop great
faith in our people, so we
continually provide what we think are
opportunities for their advancement.
After all, they are punctual,
responsible, caring, excellent at
__________ (fill in the blank). What
many of us fail to ask is: " do you
actually want this opportunity? " And,
further, do they have the necessary
personality traits to succeed? Instead,
we believe that continual promotion
is the end-goal of most employees.
We believe in these people and are
astounded when we promote them
to a position they struggle in despite
our teachings and their proficiency.
It's not that they cannot learn, it's that
their personality is not suited for the
proverbial shoes!
How did this revelation come
about? I had an employee who
was extremely competent at making
pizza - one way. The same exact way,
over and over. He could make pizza
continuously for the entire day and
they were beautiful and identical.
Didn't matter if the dough was cold,
warm, over-proofed, tight or yielding.
He approached it in exactly the same
manner. In time, he asked: " what can
I take off your plate to make your
life easier? " Since I both respected
his abilities and believed in him, this
is where our relationship began its
descent. I put the wrong shoes on
him. After handing over tasks and
responsibilities that caused him to
reach his level of incompetence, the
frustration set in. What I later learned
in discussing this paradigm with John
Arena was that there is something
called the " Peter Principle " . It states:
" members of a hierarchy are promoted
until they reach the level at which
they are no longer competent. " BAM!
At this point, I realized that all
of our top management should
take a personality profile so that
this idea of " putting the wrong
shoes on an employee " would
cease. It was mind-blowing. The
reports came back and made me
rethink the position each person was
in, because their personality did not
align with either the responsibility
or the attributes necessary to master
the task. Reading the employee
above's summary was an eye-opening
moment. It essentially said, " You tend
to master a single task and dislike
anyone who tries to make you more
well-rounded " . BINGO. And here's
the moment I began considering
taking the wrong shoes off of people.
However, just like a psychological
mobile, moving any one piece shifts
the entire group. It caused disdain,
frustration, contempt and, in the
end, an exodus. This was a painful
lesson and I'm responsible for part
of the pain. Why? I let it go on for
far too long. Since this time, I have
carefully introduced employees to
positions based on their answers
to questions about what they see
themselves as proficient doing
combined with my observations and
those of management along with
co-workers. Some employees believe
they are meant to be servers but are
overwhelmed by a full dining room
and hide behind the pass-bar wall.
Others are single-task oriented and
enjoy doing the same thing over
and over. Now, I no longer try to
push people into a role they don't
necessarily want despite them being
good, loyal, strong, etc. And I will
never promote anyone to manager
again without the testing that
confirms my observations and beliefs.
There is a young man in the
store now struggling with
multi-tasking after attending
chef school. While observing his
struggles, I've given many pointers
and asked the right questions.
Recently, he jumped on dishes and
proclaimed: " I love doing dishes,
there is only one task to perform " . I
heard him loud and clear. Shortly, I
will ask: " if I offered you a position
with only one task, would you prefer
it over a position that forces you to
multitask? " If he says yes, I will offer
the dish position to him because it's
something he may excel at. Personally,
I feel that being a dishwasher is a
great escape from the difficulties of
management for the very same reason:
no one bothers you and you have only
one task.
The personality testing I
mentioned above is worth every
penny. It's administered by the
Gallup organization and is titled
CliftonStrengths.
Personality testing is not the
solution to all your woes. It must be
combined with a different approach
to management. If an employee
displays the abilities and personality
traits you believe are necessary for the
position, administer a test to confirm.
Beforehand, ask if they actually want
the position while having a discussion
about where they believe their
strengths lie. My favorite question is:
" Where in this restaurant are you best
suited? " Follow that up with: " What
would you like to learn if you could
have any position here? " The resulting
discussions will give you a better idea
of their thought patterns and what
they're looking for.
If you help people achieve their
goals and put them in the most
appropriate positions (not merely the
position that's open because someone
quit) your odds are far higher that
the retention and attention of this
employee will be long term.
ANTHONY DESOUSA owns Antonio's
Real NY Pizza in Estes Park, Colorado.
Pizza Today - September 2023

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