3. Do I hold people accountable?
Good boss: Yes.
Bad boss: No.
Phil Wilkins, a four-unit McDonald’s operator in Lexington, Kentucky, believes people want to do a good job. “But, if there are slackers out there, they will try to get away with it,” says Wilkins, author of Own Your Business, Own Your Life. “And they hurt morale.”
Wilkins learned this lesson the hard way at a former store.
“In Cincinnati, I didn’t hold people accountable,” he says. And his employees walked all over him. A few years wiser and more experienced, he corrected that management flaw when he opened stores in Lexington. Always professional, Wilkins says, he was more assertive.
“I learned my lesson being in the business up there,” Wilkins says. “If you don’t hold people accountable, to me, that’s as bad as being a tyrant.”
2. Do employees refer their friends?
Good boss: Yes.
Bad boss: No.
Referrals are much more effective than stale red and white help wanted signs, and they suggest “the boss is doing a good job,” says Wally Adamchik, author of No Yelling: The 9 Secrets of Marine Corps Leadership You Must Know to Win in Business.
Let’s face it, quick-service restaurant jobs are a dime a dozen and all pay about the same. Your employees are the best advertisements for open positions.
“If I am happy with my current employment situation, I will speak of it favorably to my friends and people I talk to,” says Adamchik, a former Arby’s employee and Marine officer. “If I am unhappy, I will tell them how miserable it is.”
1. Do I reward good employees and managers?
Good boss: Yes.
Bad boss: No.
For grunt workers, there’s nothing like a pat on the back. Zabriskie says frontline workers care more about gratitude than money.
“When we survey them about what motivates them, the overwhelming response is ‘being appreciated for my work,’” she says. “Interestingly, money is often not as important as ‘thank you.’”
Then there’s the managers. Good managers boost profits. Bad managers hurt operations. A way to attract and keep good managers, Wilkins says, is to offer quality rewards.
“For our managers named outstanding restaurant manager, we’ll provide them with a four- or five-day trip, like a cruise,” he says. And if they earn the Ray Kroc award, McDonald’s systemwide restaurant manager award, “we give them a week off, plus we recognize the whole management team by giving them vacation days.”