Restaurant Management:
Creating The Creative Team

A few years ago, my wife and I took the kids to Disney World in Orlando. Actually, at the time, we LIVED in Orlando, but we decided to "do it up right" and take the kids to one of the Disney hotels for a weekend stay.

While in our room, we turned on the "Disney Channel". As you might suspect, information about the parks was presented. What really caught my attention was the announcement for an attraction at EPCOT Center, called "Innovations."

In an excited voice, the TV announcer said, "There are things at Innovations that are beyond your wildest imagination!" I turned to my wife and asked her, "What do you think is in there?"

"How should I know," she replied. "He just told us it is beyond our wildest imagination!"

That is the problem with really spectacular things - they are beyond our wildest imaginations. So, we have no idea what we are looking for. How could we, if we can’t even imagine it?!

What’s New?

We are all limited by our personal experiences. Most of us are really not able to look ahead, to create something that does not exist now. Oh sure, we can MARGINALLY improve something. In our businesses, we can come up with some ideas that are slight MODIFICATIONS of things that already exist. But only a few people are able to create something different - a breakthrough.

One of my great heroes is Thomas Edison. Almost everyone knows that he invented the light bulb. But do you know the story behind the light bulb? It is fascinating.

Edison tried filament after filament, trying to find one that would give a good quality light, would last a long time, and would be economical and practical. In fact, he tried about 800 different filaments before stumbling upon tungsten fibers. Imagine that, 800 filaments. How many would you have tried before declaring that it just couldn’t be done? I think I could have gotten to maybe 30. At that point, I would have told friends the experiment was over. And, I would have been very confident when I made my announcement. I would be SURE it couldn’t be built.

Not Edison. He tried 800 DIFFERENT filaments. And, here is the big question. How many filaments WOULD he have tried before giving up? I believe the answer is ALL OF THEM. He would not have given up until absolutely every possibility was exhausted. The, he probably would have tried some of them over again.

Beyond His Imagination

But think about it. Edison didn’t even know what a light bulb looked like. He didn’t even know if a light bulb COULD be invented. He had to go beyond his wildest imagination. He had to work in conditions, and with materials and procedures, that had never been used before. Isn’t that incredible?

And, think about this. He could only work during the daytime. He hadn’t invented the light bulb yet! How did he do it? What drove him? How could he keep going, ignoring the skeptics, trusting only in his own ability to discern the impossible dream that he could someday push back the darkness?

I don’t know. It is beyond my wildest imagination!

Compared to the Light Bulb…

How does your business compare to pushing back the darkness? Is what you do easier than inventing something that didn’t even exist except in the minds of the visionary? Probably. I know MY job is easier. I am not worried about spending a lifetime on something that will never work. I have seen other people do what I do. It isn’t so hard.

The money probably became hidden because people begin to get complacent. The business is running pretty well. You have a fairly good income stream. The customers appear to be happy and loyal. So, you begin to lose sight of the fire that can drive a business. Yes, you are making money. But you are leaving a lot uncollected. Now is the time to set a creative team in motion that can unleash their imaginations on a relatively simple problem.

Creativity and Innovation

James Higgins, Ph.D. is a man of many talents. He wrote three books on creativity and innovation. They are 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques, Innovate or Evaporate, and Escape From the Maze. Jim is also an outstanding consultant and speaker. His books, which have become standard reading in many organizations, take readers through a complete training course in innovation.

Jim really got my interest with the title of the first book, 101 Creative PROBLEM SOLVING Techniques. You see, that is what creativity is for. It is to solve problems.

There are reasons why problems exist. They exist because no one has found a way to solve them. In order to change the situation, you must come up with some new thinking. The process of looking at a problem and coming up with a list of solutions is called creativity.

We all know some creative people. They tend to be excitable and flighty - right? No. Creative people come in all sorts of personalities. Just because someone is quiet doesn’t mean they are not capable of having the spark of great imagination within. ANYONE can be creative. It is simply a matter of letting go a little bit - of separating ourselves from the past and not being bound by it.

Here is a true story. A woman was showing her daughter how to cook a roast. She demonstrated how to cut the ends of each side of the roast before putting it into the pan. "Why do you do that?" asked the daughter. "I don’t know," replied the woman. "It is just the way my mother always did it. She showed me how to cook a roast."

They phoned the grandmother to ask her why she cut the ends off the roast. "Well," said the older lady, "years ago, I had a roasting pan that was always too small. So, I had to cut the ends off the roast. You aren’t still doing that, are you?"

We are trapped by our pasts. We have habits and practices that are VERY difficult to change. Aren’t you always hearing, (and maybe even thinking or SAYING), "That is the way it has always been done. People like it that way. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it." Those sayings initially seem to make sense, but they are really the same as cutting off the ends of the roast - making no sense at all!

The first step in being creative is to realize that it doesn’t HAVE to be done a certain way.

But, while there may be lots of creative solutions to any problem, there may only be a few PRACTICAL solutions. Creativity that leads to a practical solution is called innovation . An innovation produces a permanent (or at least semi-permanent) solution to a problem. An innovation is something that WORKS.

You must apply the creative process to come up with an innovative solution to your problems. If you want to uncover the hidden money in your business, you must develop innovations. These are changes in the way you DO business. They may be changes in marketing, production, processing or customer service. But they are definitely changes in the SYSTEM, THE WAY YOU DO WHAT YOU DO.

A Team Approach

So, if creativity isn’t enough to try to solve problems, then simply having some creative people on your staff is not enough either. It takes a team of people to develop innovations. I once conducted a marketing seminar for the International Special Events Society (ISES). Now, these are creative people. I asked each person to describe the most significant challenge his or her company was facing at that time. One man had a very astounding reply.

"We have all these creative people working for us. What we REALLY need is someone who can think INSIDE THE BOX. We have lots of terrific ideas, but we can not seem to put them into practice because we are all running on to the next project."

Here was a company with creativity, but without the sustained effort to produce innovation. What did they need? Someone who could use the ideas to CHANGE the way they did business. This man was WORRIED that his company would fail because they could not innovate. It is important for ANY company.

The Nature of the Beast

Before you can put together the creative team - the group of people who are going to help you uncover the money hidden in your organization, you must first understand WHY they will do it. What drives your people? It is not going to be the same for each person! Now isn’t that a complicating factor?

People respond to their needs. Each one of us is totally unique, and therefore have different needs. But each of us is seeking one thing. There is one word to describe what every individual wants. That word is more . Whatever it is they have, they want more of it. You have to discover, by asking them, what they want. Then, show them how to get more of it! Link that reward to the accomplishment of the innovation necessary to uncover the hidden money.

Primarily, if you want people to help you find some hidden money, then money is a good reward. By now I know what you are saying. "In all the classes I had in college, they taught us that money is not a motivator." That IS true, in a sense. It IS true that they teach that in college. It is not true that money will not motivate people. It will. When they did the experiments that tested the theory that money did not motivate, they were comparing a slight difference in pay. In other words, they looked at the difference in motivation between someone making $10 per hour as opposed to someone making $11 per hour. Of course, THAT amount of money is not a motivator. But we are talking about potentially VERY BIG sums in this book. I want you to take the lid off any incentive program you have. Let people make a FORTUNE if they can think of ways to solve problems, and make an even LARGER fortune for your company.

Does that make you nervous? Does it sound kind of crazy? Well it probably does. Why? Because most of us are stuck in this corporate culture, that says that all jobs pay a certain amount of money. Further, it is believed, if someone suddenly makes a whole lot of money, they will leave the company and go somewhere else.

A Case in Point

This is a true story about the University of Central Florida in Orlando. (And believe me, if a UNIVERSITY can do this, ANY type of business can do it.) UCF started an incentive program for their employees. If anyone came up with an idea that saved the university money, that person would receive a PERCENTAGE of the savings - WITHOUT LIMIT - FOR THE FIRST YEAR. Further, the employee’s BOSS would get a piece of the money, and, the people who would actually have to DO the thing would also get money. What a great concept.

If your boss gets money from your ideas, isn’t she/he likely to ENCOURAGE you to spend time on idea generation? And what about the people who would actually have to put the idea into practice, (that is, the people who would turn the creativity into innovation). Don’t THEY deserve something as well? Of course!

The best example of the program at work was the case of the huge lecture hall where the lights were never turned off. They were all on - weekends, holidays - whatever! Someone noticed this, and made a formal suggestion. An investigation of the problem later revealed that the lights were always on because there was no way to turn them off. The light switches had been covered up when a new black board was installed. The solution? Cut a hole in the blackboard to expose the switches. The employee who suggested that one got a nice chunk of money. Would he have bothered with the suggestion if there were no reward? Well, he probably would have MADE the suggestion to look into it, but undoubtedly, no one would.

If you want to have additional plaques and other knickknacks as a reward, fine. But give the innovators and the creative types something MEANINGFUL for their work.

The Process

There are five steps in the process of creatively solving problems with innovations. They are simple, yet crucial. But remember, rewarding the people who come up with and implement the solutions is still the most important step! The five steps are:

1. Idea Generation - Become known as someone who welcomes ideas. Don’t judge them. There is plenty of time for that later. Just get all the ideas out on the table.
2. Branching - In a brainstorming session, use the creative team to "branch off" ideas with new, even more imaginative thoughts. Again, there are no wrong answers here. Encourage the process, and discourage judgement. Nothing kills an idea session quicker than someone who immediately tells you why it can’t be done.
3. Choosing - Okay, you have been waiting for this. Now it is time to critically examine each idea for its possible implementation. But don’t do this until all the ideas are on the table. And don’t close out some new ideas just because you have moved on in the process!
4. Implementation - Here is where you need the innovators. Reward the people who will actually have to put this raw idea into practice.
5. Evaluate and reward - Set clear goals for the program. State the rewards in advance. If the goals are met, IMMEDIATELY give out the rewards. This will spur your team on to new ideas and innovations.

Now you have the structure to start innovating and finding all that hidden money. Don’t forget, the people who have that money right now are your suppliers and customers. The people who are going to help you uncover the money are the members of the creative team. Let them share in the wealth.

Money Making Strategy # 4 - Let’s Get Creative

This is a two part strategy. First, you will give your creative team some exercises to get them warmed up. Second, you will plan some policies for rewarding the team when they do create an innovation.

The Exercise

Gather your team together and ask them to answer the question, "What is half of eight?" Tell them to write their answers on a piece of paper and to come up with as many variations as possible. At first, they will all write down "4". But, as they think about it, they may come up with IV, Quattro, or some other way of expressing the number. Some may say "0" (which is the top half of eight) or "3" (which is the right half of eight). Give them time and let them get their minds in shape to turn loose their creativity.

After they have a few minutes for this part of the exercise, ask them to "Write down all the uses you can think of for a broom". Give them a few minutes, then divide them into small groups and ask each group to do the same thing. After a few minutes, point out to them that people have different perspectives. Ask them if they all thought of the same things. It is a great lesson in how to use other people’s thinking to initiate further creativity.

Now, it is your turn. Carefully develop a policy that rewards innovation in your company. Clearly state the goals, the rewards and the method of determining the viability of the suggestions. Then, go to it!

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