The Power of Team and Teamwork

The Power of Team.

Recently I was talking to my young kids about the games they were playing in school and it led me to reflect on the games that I used to play at their age. One teamwork game in particular that I remember was called Red Rover. It involved two teams lined up directly across from one another holding hands like a human chain. One side would then start a “Red Rover” chant asking for a specific team member to run across and into the human chain directly across from them. If the person was successful in breaking the chain, they could steal a member of that team to absorb into their own team. On the other hand, if the chain held, then that member would now be part of the team that held together.

The Power of Team and Teamwork - Bottleneck Team @ Snowball 2014_3

For some reason, this story resonated with me all day because of its striking parallels to our business. At Bottleneck Management we take a great deal of pride in promoting the philosophy that no one works for the company, but we have a great deal of team members that work with the company. Just like the game Red Rover, one weak link can begin to unravel great teamwork. On the other hand, when the team holds together under fire it gets much stronger.

The Challenges of Teamwork within an Expanding Team

As Bottleneck Management has continued to build over the years, we have placed a great deal of emphasis on building the strongest team. We have also noticed that as we have grown, the caliber of applicant that seeks us out for a career has been getting stronger, allowing the strength of the team to perpetuate.

This week I was alerted to a negative review by one of our patrons. We take all reviews seriously, as it allows us to reinforce great service moments and, hopefully, improve areas that we did not live up to our high standards. This review started out with a guest who did not feel that the host did a great job of welcoming and seating them. This led to them not getting served as quickly as they should have, food that did not taste as great as it should, was priced higher than it should have, etc. What this review shows me is that the guest experience is beginning to form immediately when they walk in that door. It is our job to welcome them into our “home” with a pleasant smile and a caring attitude. Would the guest’s food have tasted better, service seem to arrive quicker and prices have been more reasonable, if we had greeted out guest with exceptional hospitality? We will never know, but I have a suspicion that it would have altered the experience.

Almost all of our reviews revolve around the service experience. Some go into great detail about how the service was exceptional and it made the customers visit into something they will remember for a long time, while others focus on the weak link in the chain, which forces us to review why we failed to live up to our expectations. Regardless, hospitality is a teamwork business and we will succeed as a team and fail as a team.

Chris Bisaillon

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