Perhaps because they toil so far from the limelight, or because of their relatively small numbers, or because they are dismissively labeled as “middle management” by unenlightened investors, foodservice multiunit managers have routinely and unfairly been underserved, overtold and undertaught.
They’re expected to grow their people, performance and profits through pluck, luck, guile and nerve, but often without enough resources, training and clear direction from their concepts’ owners or executive teams. If they are given succinct plans, headquarters frequently will roll out untested systems or change directions more often than a Democratic candidate in a Republican attack ad. It’s time to rethink the developmental road map for multiunit leadership.
The multiunit manager, or MUM, position is challenging to say the least. MUMs build brands, fuel growth, raise families, work crazy hours, juggle insane schedules, rack up more miles than a traveling circus, nurture talent and have fun, all while supervising a multimillion-dollar business from a combination automobile dashboard, corner booth and home office. They are fast-thinking, number-crunching, paper-pushing, service-driven mobile leaders whose weapons of choice are their brains and their BlackBerrys. Most important, they are effectively regional CEOs, overseeing six to eight to 10 units that can collectively generate as much as $50 million. MUMs influence and shape the experience and success of thousands of managers, hundreds of thousands of hourly crewmembers and millions of customers. And they do it by indirect influence, not hands-on control, a fantastical skill often admired but rarely mastered. They embrace technology, pool talent, generate revenue, keep operations safe, deal with acts of God, fit 30 hours into a 24-hour day, and mentor both the delights and demands of Generation Next. And that’s just on Tuesdays.
Most MUMs learn their jobs the hard way, trial by fire, because their companies lack the resources, patience or awareness necessary to develop them slowly, prudently and with guided practice. As a result, most MUMs are promoted on the battlefield and left to the Darwinian development process of sink or swim. But experience teaches only the teachable. Most survive, many don’t, and it’s a quick learn-by-doing process when your company leaves you to pretty much figure it out on your own. In fact, our research shows that most foodservice companies invest more time and money training their hourly associates and unit managers than they do their multiunit managers.
It’s ironic that so little time and effort has gone into the care and nurturing of multiunit managers when they are in fact the stewards of the brand in the most important marketplace: the restaurant, where the company meets the customer. So we decided to investigate the best practices of multiunit leaders. We began our research nearly two years ago, and we recently completed it by interviewing more than 480 high-performing MUMs. They worked for more than 35 foodservice chains, but they shared seven common growth stages on the learning curve from general manager to multiunit leader. Let’s look a little deeper at each growth stage this month, and see how your MUMs—area directors, regional managers and franchise business consultants—stack up to the industry’s dream teams.
Stage 1: Brand Ambassador. This competency is the foundation of successful multiunit leadership. Brand Ambassadors both model the way and preach what they practice. They know that the “shadow of the leader” determines the behavior of the team. The best multiunit managers are standard bearers and culture keepers who know the way, show the way and go the way. They excel at both financial data analysis and team performance.
Stage 2: Talent Scout. Building bench strength and constantly seeking a balance of outside-in and inside-out expertise are key characteristics of high-performing MUMs. They know they’re hired by the people they report to but fired by the people who report to them.
Stage 3: Servant Leader. A MUM’s achievements are measured by how much or how little the team accomplishes. Servant Leadership is a shared responsibility framed around a simple notion: “My customer is anyone is who isn’t me.”
Stage 4: Head Coach. The MUM role is a thinking, not a “doing,” job. One of the first things a new MUM realizes is that he or she has just transitioned from hands-on leadership as a GM to a role that requires the finesse and discipline of indirect influence. This new role is both challenging and frustrating, because you cannot be a successful MUM by doing the same things that made you successful as a GM. “Super GMs” make poor multiunit leaders. A Head Coach stresses the fundamentals daily; gives managers “stretch” goals that are not too hard, not too easy; and is “thoughtfully unreasonable” from time to time. They resist the urge to do it themselves, opting instead for the more time-intensive, but greater-payback approach of guidance, thoughtful inquiry and personalized development of both GMs and junior managers.
Stage 5: Marketing Guru. The best MUMs are always marketing for a simple reason: They know that all restaurants are sales-controlled, but unfortunately, not all restaurants are sales-driven. They understand the difference between—and the importance of—preventive, external and internal marketing. Connecting each restaurant to its community is a core element of the DNA of any successful MUM. It’s what keeps you in business and the competition out of it.
Stage 6: Synergist. Here’s what high-performing MUMs should be synergizing: the company to the customer; employees to training; training to performance; specialized knowledge to shared integration; goals to strategy; and talent, tools and resources to execution. The Synergist knows that the nature of all meaningful restaurant visits is developmental, not inspection, and that they are visiting people, not stores.
Stage 7: Goal Getter. The world does not pay for what a person knows, but it pays for what a person does with what they know. Execution is everything. In the real world, results, not efforts, call for rewards. Only in Little League do they reward effort for its own sake. So the Goal Getter stage focuses on bridging the knowing-to-doing gap by getting better every day at being a role model, brand builder, talent scout, coach and self-starter.
Being a multiunit manager is like wearing a Speedo at the beach: Anyone can, but not everyone should. It takes a special mind-set, skill set and determination. MUMs are true brand architects, today’s change agents and tomorrow’s CEOs. It’s time to invest in both the nature and nurture of our multiunit managers, area directors and franchise business consultants. Who on your team—if not MUMs—is more deserving of leadership skill enhancement? What better level of supervision is there to invest in, get better at and build strong bunkers of leadership within? Which level of leadership delivers the greatest return on investment?
MUM’s the word.
For a more indepth look at this story as well as other topics, visit http://nrnpods.podshowcreator.com/ and listen to Jim Sullivan's podcasts.