The ‘Q’ factor is the one element in our business that is very often over looked or forgotten. To many of us the ‘Q’ stands for quality and so it should, because we all recognize that in the fresh business, Quality is the corner stone of every perishable department.
For this discussion, I am not talking about the function of operations or standards of the product. What I am talking about is the ‘Q’ in questions. Voltaire wrote, “Judge people by their questions rather than their answers.” Sir. Francis Bacon said: “Who questioneth much shall learn much, and contend much.”
Almost everyone in business today is ringing their hands looking for good employees. Without a doubt there is an interested employee crisis. Therefore there is an opportunity for employees to choose employers. The question is “what is it you want?” Employers are employees too, what is it they want? For certain we all want security, income to feed, clothe and shelter our families and ourselves. There is little doubt that we all want a safe and friendly environment. Then we all want to be respected and appreciated for our efforts and contributions and some want my job, and that’s ok. Your supervisors and managers are charged with another responsibility and that is getting results through the people they work with.
We all know that people come with different knowledge, ability, experience and personality. We also know that everyone can’t play on the same team. Therefore it is necessary for recruiters, managers and supervisors to ask the right questions in the interview. It is necessary to ask the question when training, when delegating and even when operating in a subordinate or leadership capacity. In my mind, the 5 W’s of who, what, where, when and why, when is irrelevant if you don’t know the why. I suppose that is the reason I shudder when I see a person in the service business with a ring through their nose, lip or tongue. Or when I see a picture of a beautiful young person before crystal meth and picture a month later of the same person looking gaunt, haggard and old.
We all know that there is only one life per customer. The only thing we can’t determine is when we are born and when we die, each of us makes up the rest. Since most of us have to work, we all have the choice of working for someone they respect, someone who has integrity, someone who recognizes, respects and treats everyone as equals. Once I was approached about buying into a hotel business. The fellow who was selling me on the project was the manager. The reason I didn’t invest with him was not that he didn’t have high operational standards, rather how he treated his laundry staff. He wasn’t nasty, he just didn’t even recognize them as people. To him they were no different than the machines.
Our company philosophy is, we are all people and each will be appreciated, respected and understood even when it is necessary to part.
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