Communication affects employees, customers and yourself

Being able to communicate is critical to your professional growth and to the growth and expansion of organizations. Your ability to communicate can affects three groups.
These include:

• Employees. Your ability to communicate with employess influences the
  work environment, the relationship and impact you have on
  the team.
• Customers. The way you communicate with customers influences profits and organizational growth.
• Yourself. Your ability to communicate influences how well you can
  reach your professional goals. If you cannot communicate effectively it will affect your business, consequently yourself.

Employees have expectations of their managers, since a manager is the primary source of information for them. A manager communicates many things, including simple updates, changes in procedures,feedback on employee performance, and organizational changes in goals and missions. The consistency, and way of delivery these messages affect the work environment. Good communication builds trust, and also raises productivity. Bad communication will do the opposite.Managers who communicate on a regular basis are able to help employess to feel more connected with the organization. A manager’s credibility with employees is also enhenced with effective communication.Customer interaction is also vital to the success of the organization. Without happy customers business will not succeed. It is important to welcome all guests with a warm and hospitable greeting. The manager's communication skills will give the customer's a perception of the establishment. A manager who communicate effectively and also has relationship-building skills during a guest’s dining experience, will ensure high guest satisfaction.
It is very important to communicate well with employees and guests. However, you must also consider your own professional development. Take time to explore ways to improve your communication skills. To grow professionally, it is essential for a manager to become a confident speaker.

Effective Methods of Communication within an Organization

There are several effective methods of communicating within an organization. First however, several things must be considered when selecting the appropriate medium. You must consider the context, audience, and purpose of your communication. Listed below are various acceptable modes of communication and a brief description of their applications.
Letters
Letters are appropriate for official business communications outside an organization and first contacts with new associates or customers. Letters with a printed letterhead and a handwritten signature represents formality, respect, and authority. This ensures that the information is accurate and that the sender will honor it.

Memos
Memos are appropriate for internal communications among members of an organization. This applies even if the offices are geographically separated. These will usually be printed on company stationery or attached to an email and will usually be standardized within the organization. Memos are convenient for a wider variety of functions than letters: announcements; short reports; etc.

E-mail
E-mail is used to send info, maintain professional relationships, elicit discussions, collect opinions, and transmit many other kinds of messages. E-mail is less formal than both letters and memos. One great advantage is that the same info can be sent simultaneously at great speed to many people. However, they should always be written with care and reviewed for accuracy before being sent since recipients can easily be printed out or forwarded to others.

Faxes
Faxes are most appropriate when speed is essential or information must be viewed in its original form. They are also useful when the recipient does not have email access or when graphic material has not yet been converted in to electronic form. Faxes are even acceptable in legal correspondence in most cases. Faxed letters should always be sent with a cover sheet or a commercially prepared fax stick-on label.

Phone Calls
Telephone calls are most useful in resolving misunderstanding or clarifying information since participants can interpret tone of voice. Phone calls are considered informal and no official record is taken. Participants should therefore be sure to take notes for their own information.

Emailing your suppliers.

When emailing your suppliers you need to make sure that you are clear in your writing and maintain a professional tone. Make sure that you have informational headings, and state your objective concisely. It may help to list things needed using bullets, instead of in a paragraph, in order to make it easier to read. It would also be beneficial to keep your paragraphs short. Make sure that you use an easy to read font, and a bold, or different font for your subject lines. Keep in mind that maintaining good relations with suppliers will keep your restaurant business running smoothly.

7 Ways on How Managers Should Communicate With Their Employees

Managers need to be able to communicate well with their employees. By communicating properly you will be running a successful business, where customers are going to want to come and eat at your restaurant. The number one reason as why employees leave their job, is because of "poor supervisory behavior". Here are seven ways on how managers should communicate with their employees:

• Being a better listener. Pay attention to your employees. Hear what they have to say, sometimes they will tell you an idea that could help your business out in the long run.
• Making time for employees. Have a one-on-one meeting with them. Let them know that you care about them. Talk to them about their careers and if they see themselves staying with the job.
• Putting out the consistent message about your values. Knowing who you are and making the right decisions, will help your employees be able to make their own decisions.
• Getting the word out to those affected as efficiency as possible. Have a message board at work letting them know about different changes in the restaurant.
• Giving regular feedback, avoid surprises. If their is something you feel that employee is doing wrong, let them know right away what it is. Don't let them find out from another employee or at a meeting and it comes up. That employee might not know what he or she is doing wrong.
• Hiding behind e-mails. Their are some situations that need to be done in person.
• Being effective in speaking to groups. If you can't speak well to your employees at a meeting then you happen to lose credibility as a manager. Learn how to speak well in front of groups, by doing it in front of a mirror, to your family and friends, or taking a class.

Managers by following these steps you will be able to run a successful business, just by learning how to communicate with your employees. If your employees are excited to come to work everyday, then they will be doing their job correctly, and everyone will be able to communicate properly. Just remember, the key to a successful business is for everyone to communicate to each other.

Managers Communicating With Employees

One thing that I found to be useful from a past job experience that definately helped my managers communicate with the employees was through a shift meeting. Before each shift the managers would get all of the servers together either in the BOH (back of house) or outside the restaurant to tell us about any changes to the menu or daily specials that we should know about. They also incorporated positive reinforcement to make the shift meeting kind of like a pep talk. They also would encourage us to have a great shift. So that might be an idea.
As far as owners promoting their business to companies we could have business cards made up which we could hand out to companies inviting them to come eat at our restaurant, however, actually having meetings will only cost servers and the restaurant time and money. What we could do is allow those companies to have call ahead seating or reservations unlike other guests. Basically we have to have some sort of incentive for them to want to come to this restaurant.

by Kyle

Tips for the Success

Running a successful restaurant business is not an easy task. Here are some tips for the success of your business:

• One tip for a successful restaurant is the location in which you restaurant will be situated. It is important to be accessible.
• Another tip is to have friendly employees at your restaurant. Happy staff will lead to happy customers. People want to have a good experience when visiting a restaurant. It is important to have fun while working, making sure to attend all the customers needs. Remember keep on a happy face!
• There must be consistency in serving the customers. A customer who returns to your restaurant would be expecting the same kind of service he had during a previous visit. It is mandatory for business to flow in the righ direction providing an outstanding service every time. This will keep customers coming back. It is easier to retain existing customers than getting new ones, and in order to get new customers, a good reputation is key for new customers to visit your restaurant.
• Serving good quality food every time is essential for success in the restaurant business. If you are serving poor quality food, you can't expect the customer to come back. Differentiation is also important. You want to have in your restaurant what other places don't. " That restaurant has the best pizza I ever had". There is something unique on your food that makes people prefer your restaurant.

Remeber: people go to restaurants for good quality food, but the overall experience at the environment it is essential for business success.

Writing Professionally as a Restaurant Owner

Managing a restaurant is a big undertaking, which is why effective communication is so important. Whether is be communication with employees, suppliers, prospective businesses, or designing your menu, it is important to get your point across effectively. When writing professionally it is important to know your audience what information they already have, or what information you need to give them. Also, the level of familiarity that you have with them is important to monitor. For example, you may be able to have a slightly less formal writing tone when communicating with your employees than you would with a supplier. Knowing your audience will help you to effectively communicate your ideas.

You are a Restaurant Owner, Not a Superhero!
A Day in the Life of a Restaurant Owner
By Lorri Mealey, About.com

I think one of the biggest reasons so many restaurants fail within the first three years is because owners do too little (see Five Restaurant Myths for more on this) or they do too much. It is easy as a restaurant owner to want to do everything yourself, from the cooking, to the marketing to the bookkeeping to repairs and maintenance. However, trying to do everything, whether out of financial concern or simply because you don’t think anyone can do it “right” will quickly run you and possibly your business into the ground. Remember, you are a restaurant owner, not a superhero. You can’t do everything and be everywhere at the same time.
Day In The Life Of A Restaurant Owner
Here is a common scenario on any given weekday at any given restaurant:
The owner is prepping for lunch (to save labor cost, of course). He gets called out of the kitchen for a phone call by one of the wait-staff. It is a telemarketer. He waste five minutes on the phone explaining that he does not need a deluxe emersion blender at the moment.
The bookkeeper spies the owner out of the kitchen and calls him into the back office. She has a question about last night’s paperwork. The owner spends fifteen minutes trying to sort out tips that don’t match their credit card receipts (even though the wait staff should not have been allowed to go home with mismatched paperwork).
Finally the restaurant owner starts back to the kitchen when a local fundraising group arrives, seeking a donation. Who can say no to the Girl Scouts/ Boy Scouts/ Jimmy Fund/ Make a Wish Foundation/ Middle School Track Team? Or any of the other various groups that ask for donations on an almost daily basis. So he takes another ten minutes making out a check and getting a tax deduction form and returning it to the office to the bookkeeper, who has another question about last weeks liquor order.
Meanwhile….Customers are now starting to trickle in for lunch. Because the owner has been dealing with every single item thrown at him, he has not prepped for lunch. Which means when things get busy in the dining room, the kitchen will get backed up and customers will leave unhappy. Get the picture?
As a restaurant owner it is imperative that you learn to JUST SAY NO! No, I can’t help you with that at this moment. No, I can’t take a call right now. No, you will have to wait a few minutes.
Take Steps To Avoid Common Restaurant Owner Pitfalls
So, how could this restaurant owner keep his customers happy and still manage his business? With these simple steps:
1. Learn to delegate tasks to others (like the staff he hired). 2. Learn to prioritize tasks. 3. Have clear guidelines that all staff is expected to follow.
Let’s take a look at that scenario one more time, avoiding the pitfalls of the other day.
In the kitchen the Prep Cook is doing the lunch prep. Of course this means the restaurant owner is paying the cook. But sometimes is more cost efficient to pay someone else then try to do it yourself. All the prep cook has to do is prep and get ready for lunch. He won’t be dashing in and out of the kitchen for phone calls and impromptu meetings. Lunch will be ready to go when customers arrive.
Telemarketers continue to call, almost hourly during the workday. But the restaurant owner doesn’t have to deal with them, because of the policy that wait staff should just take a message.
The restaurant owner reviewed the paperwork policy with the staff, including the night manager and bartender, who collect the server’s money and credit card receipts at the end of the night. No one is to be dismissed until their paperwork matches 100%. Now the restaurant owner doesn’t have to pay his bookkeeper to try and figure out the paperwork, nor does he have to waste time doing it as well. And all the other questions the bookkeeper has? She knows that the restaurant owner will meet with her each day at 2:00 pm (after the lunch rush) to go over them. Now she can also be more productive, since she won’t be chasing her boss all over the place.
Remember the fundraising group? Thanks to a new policy, there is a standard amount for the first ten groups who ask for a donation every month. Each group gets $20.00. Once the $200 mark is met, that is it for that month. Groups are asked to return the next month, if they would like a donation. The wait staff can track any donations and receipts right in a handy binder next to the cash register or POS system.
So there you have it. Simple steps to becoming a more productive restaurant owner. Hang up your cape and learn to delegate, prioritize and organize instead.

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