Delivering Excellence
I made my favorite stop from Minneapolis to the cabin the other day: Culvers. Their food is fresh, I interact with kind people who always say please and thank you, and their custard, well, need I say more? I stop at Culver’s often, and I’ve come to realize it’s not because of the ButterBurgers, it’s because of the experience. As I walked into the restaurant and placed my order, I had a chance to observe Culver’s operation. 12 to 15 young people, roughly 15 to 25 years old doing their jobs. But they weren’t just doing their job, they were excelling at their job. All wore the same Culver’s button down, tucked in, with belted black pants. The women had their hair pulled back in a tidy bun, hats in place, aprons clean, with energy on their faces. They scurried about filling orders, and when not busy with customers, they refilled drink cup inventory, or ketchup, or cleaned up drips from the custard machine. Not one of them was standing around or on their cell phones!
What’s so remarkable about what I observed, however, is that this was not unique; I have the same experience in Kansas City, MO, Tucson, AZ, and Eau Claire, WI. It is an excellence that seems to be built into their culture. I interact with countless managers and executives in the coaching work I do. They often lament that “no one wants to work hard anymore,” particularly referring to millennials. Yet, observing the nationwide Culver’s experience, I’ve come to realize that its not the young people who don’t want to work, its us Gen Xers or Boomers who don’t want to take time or know how to train them.
My brother and I have children about the same ages. When they were little, I asked my brother’s wife about her experience with babysitters. I complained that my experience was almost not worth going out. I’d come home to find toys everywhere, dishes in the sink, snacks in a mess on the table, with the sitter watching television after my children were put to bed. When I asked her, my sister in-law said her babysitter experience was just fine. She said she points out to the sitter where dirty dishes go, in the dishwasher, toys go in the bins, and that she expects anything the kids eat to be cleaned up afterwards. In short, she trains her babysitters. I adopted this strategy with my next babysitter, and vola: the house looked great when my husband and I returned from our date night.
Young people aren’t lazy, they just need to be shown how. It’s quite simple. Set expectations, describing what “good” looks like,” train them in how to perform the required tasks, and then monitor their progress, offering suggestions for even more stellar performance. This simple formula, I believe, is the secret sauce of Culver’s.
As leaders, we can take the lead from Culver’s example.
Set clear expectations. This includes even highly experienced employees who are new to their role or to you,
Train them in what’s expected, either yourself or a team member who has previously demonstrated strong performance in the task,
Provide useful, actionable feedback that looks forward at how they can be even more effective, rather than criticizing past mistakes.
This is so simple, yet, as busy leaders we don’t make time to do it. Don’t believe me? Step into a Culver’s, any Culver’s across the U.S. and observe how easily expectations can be set and sustained.