Whitney Greer

" The real surprise wasn’t watching each boy “fly the nest”, it was watching Lourdes transform into an iFly rock star. As she took the instructor’s hands, shot 30-feet straight up into the air and spun on the ceiling, she let out a huge whoop. The baker had learned to let go." Why do [...]Read More »

Why do business owners have trouble letting go of details and routine?  The same reasons parents have trouble letting go when kids grow up.

Examining the challenges at work often reveals the ones at home.   This is the InFlight Story of one amazing baker who took on both simultaneously.

Lourdes, a thriving teashop and bakery owner, struggled to launch her four boys ages 10 to 19 (following the loss of her husband) while growing her catering business.  Each day she arrived at 4 a.m. to bake, stayed until closing and then showed up for basketball or school events, squeezing in as much as she could.  With the help of her sisters and parents, she juggled it all, yet all those people in the mix gave her even more to manage.

As part of a television pilot, Lourdes agreed to work with me and parenting expert, Armin Brott, to jumpstart her catering business and move her boys toward greater independence.  Teaching the boys teamwork in the kitchen sparked a few hilarious moments when smoke filled the room and plates began to drop.  No one seemed to understand when to take ownership of a task or how he affected the whole –in this case of an egg and pancake breakfast.

When we gave the teashop crew, a similar challenge to rearrange the front similar scrambling occurred.  Everyone wanted to help, but no one had a specific job.  This opened a conversation on some observations we’d made earlier, which included lack of ownership over the front counter and customer experience.  Though passionate about fresh ingredients and daily baking, bakers, behind the counter showed up in stained aprons that undermined the “fresh” experience.  People standing at the counter sometimes went unnoticed unless Lourdes was in the shop.

The connection?  Like so many smaller business owners, Lourdes took the efficient route stepping in to do a job instead of leading the way and coaching her teams.  While it requires more time up front, a little attention to coaching can yield big results.  Here’s the recipe we gave Lourdes for team success:

• Share the brand and customer experience you want to support with everyone; in the bakery fresh and customer service became the watchwords
• Give everyone a role in supporting the big picture; for the bakery, it meant fresh aprons and having one person on customer duty at all times
• Try a dry-run; role play customer situations or have a supportive friend walk through the shop with “fresh” customer eyes
• After the dry run ask each person what worked and what he/she would change
• Make changes quickly; new aprons, better back counter organization, and new promotional materials gave everyone a sense of energy and commitment
• Stand back and let someone try; when the front counter person surveyed the cases instead of being asked to fill them, she learned to watch for empty scone baskets
• Celebrate small successes by sharing kind comments and compliments

After congratulating the teashop crew, we did just that — taking Lourdes and her boys on an indoor skydiving adventure.  The real surprise wasn’t watching each boy “fly the nest”, it was watching Lourdes transform into an iFly rock star.  As she took the instructor’s hands, shot 30-feet straight up into the air and spun on the ceiling, she let out a huge whoop.  The baker had learned to let go.