Pre-Shift Meetings

Imagine a soccer game, basketball game, football game, volleyball game, or hockey game where there was no pre-game communication from the coach, no game plan, no shared roles or goals. Well The Shift is a foodservice or retail manager’s daily Game. It’s where you make or lose money in real time. And quite simply put, if you don’t run the shift the shift will run you. And if you don’t share goals with your team members before every shift, your team members will presume you don’t have any goals. Not a good way to energize teams, serve guests, or generate revenue.

Here are the key things to remember about pre-shift meetings

Pre-Shifts should be Mandatory not Optional every shift, not just busy ones
Every Pre-Shift Meeting should relate to a “Big Rock” goal for that quarter or month
Stress WII-FM (what’s in it for me?) for your Managers to conduct pre-shifts: focused servers, happier guests, better results, more productivity, more sales.
Don’t practice on the associates (practice first w/one another at manager meetings)
Area Managers should attend at least one pre-shift per week in each restaurant or store
Execute One-on-One 30-second meetings w/ team members who come in later on “staggered” shifts
Skinny the monologue, fatten the dialogue when conducting the meeting. State the shift goals then ask each team member to repeat the goals and say what they’re going to do to achieve those goals.

During the shift, encourage the team to stay focused on goals and encourage them to stay on track.
After the shift, follow up with each team member on the goals you set before the shift. Did they achieve the goals or fall short? Recognize each effort and show appreciation and encouragement with each associate.

Measure before/after sales and service numbers and share the results in tomorrow’s pre-shift meeting.
Set the pre-shift topics for the next 30 days with Managers at your monthly meeting.
Share pre-shift success stories with fellow managers to keep the momentum going.

For more insight, ideas and resources on how to execute pre-shift meetings, download our FREE pre-shift meeting planning template on our home page at Sullivision.com or check out our best-selling DVD about Pre-Shift Meeting best practices called Jumpstart, only $99 at our online store.

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