Non- verbal Communication

Another way to communicate: Non- verbal Communication

Non- verbal communication includes the following:
Gesture: express meanings. Include movements of the hands, arms, body, head, and eyes. A wave hello is a form of gesture. Gestures can be accepted or not within different cultures. Be careful with your gestures, they can be misunderstood by your co- workers and employers.
Touch: include handshakes, hugging, kissing, holding hands, and others. It is important to respect other’s personal space. For some it is acceptable a hug, or kiss when saying hello. However, for others can be inappropriate. The employer should always respect employee’s differences.
Posture: determines the degree of involvement and attention. Body movement can indicate the degree of involvement or not in an activity.
Eye contact: can direct interest, involvement, and attention. The amount of attention can be measured with eye contact when looking while talking, looking while listening, and with patterns of fixation.
Facial expression: can transmit feelings that are interpreted by others. By facial expression you can tell when somebody is happy, sad, angry, and worry.

Non- verbal communication is very important because express emotions, attitudes, self- presentation of one’s personality, greetings, and manages cues of interaction between speakers and listeners. Employers should have the right posture, eye contact, gesture, facial expression, and touch regarding in communicating non- verbally with employees. Employers and employees should always use non- verbal communication effectively or they can be interpreted in the wrong way.

Professional Writing Overview for Restaurant Owners.

Communicating During an Interview

Job interviews are a good example of when a restaurant owner will need to communicate effectively with someone that they may have never met before. Many times managers will conduct the interviews so the owner may not have to participate. However, when opening up a new restaurant, both managers and owners will generally conduct the interviews. Verbal communication should always be used on these occasions. This allows employers to “feel out” the applicant and assess their personality and social skills as well as how badly they want the position. Additionally this form of communication results in a rather quick exchange so employers can screen many applicants in a short amount of time to find the best suited.
Employers must be careful while addressing the applicants during the interview because verbal communication expresses tonality and intention. For this reason the interviewer can usually lead the conversation in a particular direction as they see fit. Both parties in the interview should be sure of their intentions and careful with their speech to ensure that they do not come across the wrong way. Employers should be cheerful and polite while maintaining a professional tone. They should also try to not seem too busy or rushed for the interview in order to provide all applicants with the same fair chance to stand out.
The interview process is one of the most important parts of running a restaurant. It is an opportunity to build up a strong team, with any characteristics the owner wants, that will work efficiently and effectively together.

Improving Communication Skills in the Workplace

As a child you learned the saying, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me”, but more than likely, as an adult, you realized differently. Words are very powerful. They can motivate and heal people. They can tear down and build up, yet we take them for granted. When was the last time you really thought about what came out of your mouth and the impact it would have? When used responsibly and intentionally, words can revolutionize the workplace.

Establish companywide agreements as to when and how employees will handle communication. Be clear about how you will communicate with employees and when your communication style might be different and why. For example, routine communication may take place in once-a-week staff meetings in a give-and-take way with a lot of employee input. In a crisis situation, however, communication may be much more top-down and direct.

For more informal dialogue, an open door policy may well end up being more disruptive than productive. Come to a consensus as to how interruptions are to be handled. All staff should feel comfortable expressing that they are not available at all times. It may be because they are they are having a bad day or are busy doing other things and shouldn’t be involved in certain kinds of conversations.

If you have an important message to convey, choose words that you can use consistently and frequently. In order for information to be registered in long-term memory, it must be rehearsed. The more often a person hears information, the more likely the words will stick.

Here are some practice tips:

• Know your employees. If you want to be successful in communicating, you must know who your employees are and be able to draw upon their strong values, myths and symbols. Different people can say the same thing and carry completely different levels of impact. Stylistic differences, inconsistent messages, body language or a lack of integrity are all influences that impact how what you say is absorbed.
• Dialogue, not debate. We are conditioned in our society to debate, not converse. It’s much like a game in which we score points to determine winners and losers. This is competition, not communication.
• Stay focused. Put down the drinks and stop running food if someone wants to talk with you. If you’ve set the ground rules for communication, you can assume the information about to be presented is important to the speaker. You should be aware of how your actions and words convey meaning to the person in your presence. By staying aware of both non-verbal and verbal dynamics, the impact of your words and theirs will not be overshadowed by less important issues.
  

Through the power of words, carefully chosen and thoughtfully used, you can build trust and create the kind of workplace to which people want to contribute their very best.

Writing Reprimanding or Confrontational Emails to Employees or Suppliers

When dealing with a lot of employees in a stressful situation such as running a restaurant, there is bound to be issues that arrive with employees or suppliers.

If an employee has had a poor work ethic, or has received complaints, it is important to deal with the issues quickly and in a straightforward manner. When writing an email or letter to reprimand an employee, it is important to maintain a professional tone, but also keep in mind the person to whom you are writing. After your introduction a full explanation of the situation and your reasoning for the reprimand. Be sure to end the letter with an uplifting note, and assure the employee that once the situation is confronted, it will be resolved, and better for the company.

If a supplier has not been faithful or has been charging your company for services not provided, a letter or email confronting the issue will be beneficial. As with the employee email it is important to remain professional, and to state the issue directly and all the mitigating factors. Also make sure the keep a positive air, but to be sure to leave the email with a request for a solution.

Progressive Discipline System

Having to let an employee go is a very difficult task for employers. Situations that lead to firing an employee are stressful to the manager, the rest of the staff, and sometimes the customers. Most of us usually try to avoid any kind of confrontation . However, a well designed progressive discipline system can decrease the chances of firing an employee. If you do not communicate with your employees about their performance, they won’t know they need to improve. Some methods of progression communication system are:
· Verbal warning/ written friendly warning
Is usually given for the first infraction. Writing a verbal warning in a simple form, like a friendly reminder. Always make sure to be clear about the reason for that warning, and offer ways on how the employee can correct that and avoid further problems.
· Written disciplinary notice
The written disciplinary notice is used after the verbal warning, or when something more drastic happens. This disciplinary notes explains the cause for that notice and the action to be taken. Employees must read it and sign the written notice.
Suspension or termination should be the last option. If those methods are used, employers can reduce those situations. Always make sure to communicate anything that is relevant to your employee, using simple and clear communication you will avoid stressful situations.

Restaurant Communication Comic

by kpgeoghe | Create your own Cartoon at www.toondoo.com

Servers Communicating With The Customers

Meetings and Emails- Effective ways of Communication

To keep the flow in the restaurant between restaurant managers and employees, it is essential to maintain effective communication. On a recent interview with manager Paulo Diaz, at Ferdo’s Grill in Fort Lauderdale, he explained to me why is so important to communicate with employees, and how they communicate.

The best way Mr. Diaz communicates with his employees is through meetings once a week. Every Friday morning, the employees get to participate in a little meeting to talk about any issues or anything that happened in the previous week in the restaurant. This method is effective because everyone gets to participate, and make sure that everything is running smooth. However, when there is any problems between employees, or employees with the manager, he will request a private “ meeting” only with those involved. Sometimes there is something private to be said, or not everyone needs to be involved on others employees issues. Mr. Diaz always tries to communicate individually with everyone, so that they do not have to expose something that they do not want others to know.

Another way they communicate is through email. This method is also effective, because some people think is easier to express something in email, rather than face to face communication or by telephone. Changes in schedules, any problems, announcements are also sent through email. Text messages are also used, especially when the manager is unable to reach any of the employees at that moment.

The employee’s that are currently working at Ferdo’s Grill are happy with the way the manger communicates fairly with everyone. According to the employees and the manager, effective communication is the key to the success of any restaurant.

Customer Negotiation Form of Communication

I was recently lucky enough, to get hired at a new restaurant that just opened up, called Johnny Malloy’s. The timing could not have been better because of this project we are all working on. I spoke with my manager/ part owner of the restaurant, Tim, about some of the plans he had for the restaurant in the near future; and in this conversation I picked up on a prime example of exactly how important it is for restaurant owners to be able to communicate effectively with their customers.

Tim planned on adding a very large patio with a bar to the back of the restaurant; however, he ran into some issues with the residents. Stoneybrook, the location of the restaurant, is a golf community, and this patio bar would slightly obstruct their course view. Tim is still pretty much set on putting in the bar but now he has to convince all of the residents that it would be to their benefit. He lets them know what he wants and at the same time he works very hard to impress them with great food and a 10% discount for residents. I believe the patio project is going through as a result of Tim’s effective communicating. Letting the customers know what you want, offering something they want from you, and providing an adequate compensation that makes everyone happy.

Tim’s method is basically a form of negation, but this is very common in all restaurants. Many owners try to entice their customers through discounts like this, which is an effective form of communication.

Writing Positive Messages to Your Employees

When running a business it is important to keep a good relationships with your employees.
Positive reinforcements for a job well done is very beneficial to the workplace. If an employee receives a good review from a customer, after encouraging them in person, it would be good to write them a positive message.
Make sure that your message is heartfelt, but still professional and to the point. When putting statements in writing, it becomes more real to the person you are communicating with. Writing positive messages will help your employees feel good about a job well done, and help your business increase in efficiency.

Inner and Outer Communication Through a Restaurant

For my post this week I decided to interview Scot, who is my Proprietor at Outback Steakhouse. His number one way of how he likes to communicate is face to face. If communicating that way is not available then he chooses to communicate through telephone and through e-mails.

When Scot communicate with his boss, they are mostly through e-mails and phone calls. With his boss living in a different area and having to take care of other Outback's in the area, it is a little bit difficult for them to always meet one on one. They usually meet either once a month or once every two months. When his boss has to give him information about a new item that we will be featuring he will send him e-mails; stating when he needs to order a certain item, when he needs to send his kitchen manager to a meeting so that they may learn how to make and present that item, and the date when that item needs to come out. Important information like that one is more useful when it is presented through an e-mail, so that Scot will be able to go back and re-read that information. They will communicate through telephone when Scot's boss just needs to remind him that his invoice is due or something else that doesn't involve too much detail.

When Scot deals with his purveyors he prefers to sit down one on one with them when they come to his restaurant once a month. For example, today there was a purveyor from the Budweiser Company, who came to the restaurant. When Scot was in the office with this gentleman, he had asked Scot if he was ready to get rid of Sam Adams Boston Lager on draft and replace it with Shock Top. However, the other day when Scot was going over his draft beer numbers for last month; our highest selling draft beer was Sam Adams at 262 and with Bud Light coming in at 200 drafts sold for the month. Even though Sam Adams is our most expensive draft beer, it is the top seller draft beer. After sitting down with the gentleman and explaining to him the numbers; he agreed with Scot and how we should not get rid of Sam Adams, well at least for now.

Finally, last but not least, is how Scot communicates with his employees. When asking Scot how he feels how he communicates with his employees, he states, how he feels that he is like their parent and mentor. Scot lets all of his employees know that they can come and talk to him about anything. When his employees want to talk to him, he usually likes to do it at the end of the shift, because he then will have nothing to do and he can give that employee his undying attention. Scot likes to make all of his employees feel good about working at Outback, if Scot takes care of his employees, then his employees will take pride in doing their work. When being at work Scot knows how to talk to his employees and let them know when they are doing something wrong and when they are doing something right, he will reward us when he feels as if we deserve it, and he will let him employees move up in the work area.

Over the years from working with different managers to being a manager to becoming a proprietor and owning his own store. Scot has been able to see what works and what doesn't work. Scot loves to talk to people and meet new people and by doing that he loves to communicate face to face. Out of all of the ways to communicate, Scot chooses face to face because to him it is the most accurate and most productive way of communicating.