I have a belief that there is an opportunity to improve Communication between Management and Line-Level employees, particularly in the service industry. After having experienced an extreme lack in communication when coordinating my event at Cabo Flats last week, it led me to think about whether this lacking was due to management poorly communicating with their staff, the staff not retaining the passed on information, or that there is no standardized way to get the information out to each other. For this reason, I felt there was a need to standardize or make communication between staff easier to therefore promote accountability. I believe that this "need" varies from operation to operation, as more specialized industries seem to have adapted effective methods (such as the construction industry's BIM Modeling and use of iPads on Job sites), however I've noticed a serious deficit in service-oriented industries such as Restaurants or Hotels. I would hope to establish some form of Standardized Training Procedure or method of communication that can be provided to these organizations that tend to suffer. This may include a "Portal" page outlining who is scheduled on-shift, items currently "86'ed", large parties expected to arrive, or special accommodations that need to be recognized such as food allergies. This is especially apparent in interdepartmental communication in a facility such as a hotel when a guest checks in at the front desk, notifies the agent of an allergy but it does not get passed on to the on site restaurants or room service. I believe this need has always existed, but it is one that must keep getting reformed as society changes.
Interviewee #1 - Food Runner/Server at Ethos Mediterranean Grille
Q) Describe the Structure of your department. Do you have Direct Reports? How many Bosses do you have?
A) Owner/CEO, vice CEO, acting AGM for sister restaurant, general manager partnership, night manager, servers (shift lead each night)
Q) What do you feel is the number 1 thing your department needs to improve on?
A) communication between management to servers; sense of urgency with manager’s duties
Q) Describe the process of communication in an example of a last minute change being made to an event or large party. Who does it start with and how do you fit into it?
A) catering manager will take it over and will defer to the chefs with changes. Everything will then verbally be communicated to management and then to servers.
Q) Do you use any kind of technology to communicate?
A) scheduling app called 7Shift- they have used this frequently with message boards but there is still a lack
Q) If no, do you feel your team would benefit from having some form of technology for this purpose?
A) no, it would conflict the other ones we use
Q) Do you feel that communication is satisfactory in your department or organization?
- If so, do you feel this is an individual belief or is it the consensus? Is it a industry-wide belief or does it apply only to your company/department?
A) no; general consensus. Industry-wide through small restaurants and businesses not through large chains
Q) Is there a constant need to improve communication?
A) yes
Q) How do you currently handle communication in an unsatisfactory situation?
A)listen, apologize, find manager for solution and thank the guest for their cooperation and patience
Q) Do you have any practices that you excel at as a department that other companies may benefit from?
A) Adaptation
Q) Does poor communication ever affect your day-to-day productivity?
A) yes especially if a large policy has changed. I will have to come back to things later
Q) On a scale of 1-10 how effective do you believe your communication is?
A) 5; not terrible but could be improved
Q)Why?
Q) Do you feel your communication style is effective and efficient for your company/department/team?
A) No, I feel like this should be continuously improving. It causes a lot of confusion on shift.
Q) Do you think overall communication from Top Managers to Line-Level is satisfactory?
A) No
Q) How can this be improved?
A) By finding a more standardized way of communicating or receiving effective training for all of staff.
Interviewee #2 - Assistant Director of Front Office at the Boca Raton Resort & Club
Q) Describe the Structure of your department. Do you have Direct Reports? How many Bosses do you have?
A)
Q) What do you feel is the number 1 thing your department needs to improve on?
A) Individual Empowerment
Q) Describe the process of communication in an example of a last minute change being made to an event or large party. Who does it start with and how do you fit into it?
A) Updated group resume sent out to everyone regarding changes highlighted; email notification to department heads; meeting with meeting planner to discuss changes; changes discussed in pre-shift stand up meetings.
Q) Do you use any kind of technology to communicate?
A) Shiftnote, email, WhatsApp for VIP Tracking, phone communication
Q) If no, do you feel your team would benefit from having some form of technology for this purpose?
A) Only thing additional would be radio and headsets for quick communication
Q) Do you feel that communication is satisfactory in your department or organization?
- If so, do you feel this is an individual belief or is it the consensus? Is it a industry-wide belief or does it apply only to your company/department?
A) Yes. Both my individual belief and general consensus; no, I feel like it applies industry-wide.
Q) Is there a constant need to improve communication?
A) Always
Q) How do you currently handle communication in an unsatisfactory situation?
A) Documentation
Q) Do you have any practices that you excel at as a department that other companies may benefit from?
A) Individual one-on-ones and annual reviews on performance
Q) Does poor communication ever affect your day-to-day productivity?
A) It can, but we have established a momentum in which it does not usually. If it does, it is on a smaller scale such as rooms not being ready in time.
Q) On a scale of 1-10 how effective do you believe your communication is?
A) 8
Q)Why?
A) There's always room for improvement so it will never be a perfect 10
Q) Do you feel your communication style is effective and efficient for your company/department/team?
A) Yes
Q) Do you think overall communication from Top Managers to Line-Level is satisfactory?
A) Yes, but not from Line Level to Top Managers.
Q) How can this be improved?
A) Implementing Best Practices and establishing good habits of over-communicating on completion of tasks, guest issues, etc.
Interviewee #3 - Director of Membership Operations and Foundation Development at Associated Builders & Contractors, Florida East Coast Chapter
Q) Describe the Structure of your department. Do you have Direct Reports? How many Bosses do you have?
Q) What do you feel is the number 1 thing your department needs to improve on?
A) Interdepartmental communication.
Q) Describe the process of communication in an example of a last minute change being made to an event or large party. Who does it start with and how do you fit into it?
A) Ideally, it would be a phone call, but last resort would be through e-mail outlining the change. Depending on the issue, it would start with the VP of membership and end with me.
Q) Do you use any kind of technology to communicate?
A) E-mail
Q) If no, do you feel your team would benefit from having some form of technology for this purpose?
A) Yes; any sort of business-oriented direct messaging would make a difference.
Q) Do you feel that communication is satisfactory in your department or organization?
- Do you feel this is an individual belief or is it the consensus? Is it a industry-wide belief or does it apply only to your company/department?
A) No- Even though we are small, communication is lacking because it is either assumed and there is little accountability. If there is no paper trail, there was no conversation. I feel it is the general consensus in the office. I think it applies only to us as an association.
Q) Is there a constant need to improve communication?
A) Always. It is extremely important across all industries.
Q) How do you currently handle communication in an unsatisfactory situation?
A) Ideally one on one with immediate email follow-up; Paper Trail.
Q) Do you have any practices that you excel at as a department that other companies may benefit from?
A) Our extreme turnaround time of idea genesis. We are able to have new ideas come to fruition within a short amount of time.
Q) Does poor communication ever affect your day-to-day productivity?
A) Yes- every day. We can say "Poor Communication" as improper because sometimes throughout the day, my direct boss will disrupt my work flow with excessive and irrelevant communication.
Q) On a scale of 1-10 how effective do you believe your communication is?
A) 7/7.5
Q)Why?
A) While we're not the most efficient at communication internally and externally, we are good at being consistent.
Q) Do you feel your communication style is effective and efficient for your company/department/team?
A) I do. I think it compliments the "old-school" mindset that tends to follow the construction mindset.
Q) Do you think overall communication from Top Managers to Line-Level is satisfactory?
A) No
Q) How can this be improved?
A) There needs to be more direct and less passive.
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Overall Reflection:
Through the three interviews I conducted, one thing that stuck out to me was the difference in opinion about the communication satisfaction between line-level employees and Department Heads. In reviewing this, I believe it solidifies my idea that there is a serious disconnect between the two. This is shown in the Food Runner/Server as well as the manager with no direct reports. It was surprising to me that there was a general consensus between the department heads that they believed their communication was effective while the line-levels believed it was not. I found it interesting that the department heads believed their communication to be efficient while their industry has an extremely high turnover rate.
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Summarization:
All of my original opportunity remains. In fact, I believe that the disconnect between the line-level employees and the department heads solidifies my recognition that there is an opportunity. For this reason, I believe some form of standardization should arise where the Department Heads and their reports should sit together to develop the best way for each of them to communicate rather than one party telling the other "this is how it is going to be". Through this method, both parties will believe their voice is being heard and will take the necessary steps to communicate with the other. I believe my opportunity is refined. Rather than saying I believe there should be a standardization portal, I now believe there should be a standardized process to developing effective communication between the two parties, as it differs in every situation. Based off of these conclusions, I believe entrepreneurs must adapt to the feedback of the customers. The entrepreneur likely has a skewed opinion on how their product may benefit the consumer (much to the similarity as the department head having a skewed opinion on how their communication is satisfactory), and if that differs significantly while the entrepreneur holds firm, the consumer will have no interest in their product and the entrepreneur will likely fail.
