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POINTING
OUT DIRECTIONS: Advice
for the Career-Lorn
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What
do I do?
Q.
I'm a project leader of a mid-sized cross-functional
team. The team has tight deliverables and timelines.
Unfortunately, we have one member, representing a major
stakeholder, who disagrees with the objectives and constantly
takes meeting discussions down tangents. She also has
a tendency to throw out disparaging comments about other
organizations represented on the team. I have had several
one-on-one conversations with her about the team objectives
and the problems her non-collaborative approach are
causing, to no avail. Keeping meetings on track and
making progress on our deliverables is a continual challenge.
How can I stop the pain and stay productive?
A.
The first question I would ask is if the problem-team-member
truly represents the views of the stakeholder she is
representing. Since you have already spoken with her
directly to try to solve the problem, you need to go
up a level.
As
project leader, you need to speak to her management
and determine whether this person is acting out a personal
agenda, or that of her organization. Asking this question
straight-up from her management will determine your
course of action. Call and schedule a one-on-one meeting
as soon as possible with her management, subject: project
status and progress to date.
Suggestions
for the management meeting:
-
Walk into the meeting with a tight agenda for the
discussion and stick to it. You want to make it clear
that you respect their time.
-
Provide the manager with a high-level summary of the
project and work that has been done to date, as well
as the projected roadmap. This is an important conversation
to have because it is possible that the management
perspective has been based on incomplete or misrepresented
information. It is important not to assume this, but
simply to provide a good background. This ensures
that you and the stakeholder are working from the
same point of reference.
-
Outline briefly your objectives for the meeting. If
you want to request action be taken, let them know
that you want to discuss the current situation and
walk away with a plan of action to resolve it.
-
Bring specific examples of the negative behaviour.
Don't make this a complaining session; keep it professional.
You will want to make it clear that you are not bringing
up anecdotal references, but specific actions and
statements that are counterproductive to delivery
of team objectives. This results in wasted of corporate
resources.
-
If the meeting appears to be taking a negative direction,
and it is apparent that the management is not supportive
of the team's objectives, disengage. It is time for
Plan B. Remember to end it in a positive fashion,
something along the lines of : "Mr. Smith,
it appears that your organization is unable to support
the objectives this team has been tasked with accomplishing.
It might be best if we re-visit this with the other
stakeholders and determine our best course of action.
Let me discuss this with my management and touch base
with you on next steps …"
-
If the meeting is going in a positive direction and
it appears that the manager is very supportive of
the project, you may have 2 potential courses of action:
-
Request a replacement team member: this is tricky
because it leaves a "bad taste" in everyone's
mouth and it can be difficult to re-establish
a teaming spirit. However, if the behavior has
been so intolerable that the other team members
are all under tension because of the behaviour,
then it may be viewed as a relief by the team.
-
Request an additional team member: I tend to like
this approach in cases where the manager is supportive
but the staff member is problematic. It is helpful
to come prepared with a recommendation on the
team member you would like to request from the
organization — choose someone with a reputation
for collaboration and results.
This
approach sets everyone up for success. The negative
team member has the opportunity to change their problem
behaviour. They now know that their conduct will be
reported back to management by a 3rd party from within
their own organization. As project leader, you now have
an alternate team member who will be paralleling the
project. If the negative behaviour does not change,
you can go back to the manager and request that person
"a" be removed from the team (redeployed on
another effort), and that person "b," the
"additional" team member, become the organization's
project representative. This is a more graceful way
of removing a team member while helping all involved
to "save face."
Good
luck!
Q.
My wife and I would like to open our own ethnic restaurant.
I am in the computer industry and she is an educator.
We have no prior experience, however, we both enjoy
cooking and entertaining. Are we crazy to be thinking
of leaving good jobs for an uncertain future?
A.
Regardless of the field you are in, the future is
always uncertain. Companies fail because of mismanagement,
the economy, or the inability to adjust to a changing
market. We, as people, change because we are always
learning, always growing. This website is full of articles
and ideas that speak to the changes we all go through
as part of our day-to-day life. Check out: Finding
Your Passion.
Now
to the heart of your question — how risky an undertaking
is this were you to move forward into the restaurant
business? The answer really depends on your current
financial condition and level of commitment.
Can
you make due living on one salary for a year or two?
One approach is for one of you to resign your day job
and work the restaurant full-time while the other one
stays in their existing job until the revenues grow
to a point that the restaurant can support you both.
Do
you have enough financial
resources to keep your restaurant's cash flow supported?
You will need to purchase equipment, tables, chairs,
tablecloths, food supplies, etc. One of the more expensive
items will be the refrigeration and freezer units. If
you are lucky enough to rent a location with equipment,
make sure to have the units professionally checked-out
to be sure they are in prime working order.
One
suggestion is for you to take a part-time job at a favorite
restaurant so that you can get a sense for how the operation
works. This will provide you with valuable insight into
how to run a restaurant and tell you if you love it
or hate it.
You
mention that it is an ethnic restaurant. That is excellent.
We already know that Americans like a variety of cuisines
and these specialty restaurants fall into a special
category of their own. There is a very successful Ethiopian
restaurant in our neighborhood. Since they are in a
college town, the restaurant is something of a novelty
experience for students, visiting families, professors
and regular neighborhood clientele looking for a sense
of travel and adventure without leaving home.
Make
sure you invest time and research into setting the mood
— it's important. Fabrics, music, pictures, even
paint colors, set a tone that will factor into the decision
on "where to go for dinner" that night! There
is a steakhouse restaurant in Colorado that has settled
nicely into a cowboy theme by having a floor that is
littered with the peanut shells their patrons discard.
It works for them.
A
Syrian restaurant my family likes to frequent, has fabric
draped from the ceiling, and walls painted in rich and
vibrant shades to give one the sensation of dining in
a desert tent. The meal is quite good, service friendly,
and the ambiance provides food for the senses. It becomes
a total experience.
Bottom
line, you need to do your research. Begin by analyzing
your finances. If you are willing to live on less money
for a while, and have enough saved to get you through
"emergency" periods, then it's time for the
next step.
Put
together a project plan of all the tasks that have to
get done. You will probably want to set up a legal corporate
entity, for example, a Limited
Liability Company (LLC) . This is relatively easy
and inexpensive to do.
You
will need to set up your Employer
Identification Number for tax purposes, to hire
employees and open a bank account. You will need to
get in touch with your attorney, insurance agent and
accountant. They can all help you through the mechanics
of what you have to have in place before you can open
your doors to the first patron.
Determine
up front what job roles you will need, who and how many
people: Chef, prep cook, host/hostess, servers, washers,
etc. Determine your hours of operation, this will let
you determine scheduling and therefore the number of
people required for coverage.
After
you have decided on your location, make sure you work
with the interior you have available to keep expenses
down. Make the most of what you have. For example, the
location we rented for our bakery had previously been
an Italian restaurant. The walls had rock arches to
give it the "Italian villa" appearance. The
bakery was specializing in "home baked" goods
with the elegance of English tea time.
Peel-and-stick
8"x8" floor tiles with tiny pink rosebuds,
a cupboard with lace doilies, an antique tea set and
a few other accessories, transformed the space from
an Italian veranda to Aunt May's parlour. Check out
these sites for quick and easy decorating: Home
and Garden Television, Trading
Spaces and While
You Were Out.
Make
sure the location is suitable for a restaurant: adequate
parking, easy access, visibility, sufficient traffic
during evening hours, good outdoor lighting, enough
seating space to generate the revenue you require, and
a grease trap.
It's
exciting to own your restaurant. It is also a great
deal of work. Remember that at the end of the day, you
and you alone are responsible for your restaurant. If
you are willing to invest the time, money and energy
that it will require, this can be a very rewarding opportunity
in life.
Best
of luck!
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