In The People Business

Those of you who know me know that I work in a big franchise corporation, an international brand that is recognisable throughout most of the world.

Many of you would consider that I am in the food business. But lately, I have begun to see myself in the people business. Because lately, it has become clear to me. The success of our business heavily depends on our people to deliver the best service possible. So in that sense, if our people don’t deliver, then our business will not.

Being an international franchise, I have had the luxury to visit different countries and know different people. But what I didn’t count on was to hear some amazingly inspirational stories. Stories that made me realise that I cannot just be in the food business, but I have to be in the people business. Not the usual sense of the term but I'll explain later. This came to me because the success of our business heavily depends on our people to deliver the best service possible. So in that sense, if our people do not deliver, then our business will not.

Let me share with you one of those stories that I have just heard recently.

Our restaurants around the world are in constant scrutiny from the regional headquarters. Every month, they would hire a third party company to send mystery shoppers who will visit the restaurants and act as a normal customer. But in actual fact, these mystery shoppers have a list and a set of criteria that each restaurant and staff must adhere to. And thus, it is not easy to achieve a 100% scorecard.

But there is this one branch in Hong Kong that a few years ago, has been getting 100% for 16 months straight. In other words, throughout that 16 months, it has never scored anything less than 100%.

Naturally, the regional headquarters in Singapore heard about this and the training officer, a friend of mine by the name Stephan, got curious as to how this branch was able to achieve such a feat. So he decided that he has to make a trip to Hong Kong to find out.

He contacted the Hong Kong office and said he’s coming in and wanted to meet the Branch Manager. So the Hong Kong office arranged everything and that morning, he got dropped off at that branch and was asked to wait there for the Branch Manager. It was still early so not many customers were there. He found a table in the corner, sat down and waited. He waited for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, but still nobody came to say hi.

So finally he got up and went to the counter and asked for the Branch Manager. The staff immediately pointed to one young man sitting alone at the other corner of the restaurant. So Stephen said, alamak – he’s Singaporean so he knew how to use alamak. So he said, alamak, I’ve been waiting at this corner for half an hour and he was there waiting for me at the other corner.

So he went over to introduce himself. But before all these, Stephan has already built this person up in his mind. He imagined this person would be someone who is authoritative, demanding and perhaps even scary. Because to achieve 100% for 16 months straight, he must at least be someone who was intimidating enough that all his staff would follow his every instruction.

But instead, this Branch Manager was physically small, timid and quiet. When he spoke, his voice was barely over a whisper. Not only that, this Branch Manager was actually very shy, that’s why he was sitting in the corner minding his own business.

So they began to chit chat and after a while Stephan drilled down to the real question. He asked what special things did the Branch Manager implement in his restaurant. All the Branch Manager said was, I just picked a few weak points of the restaurant, focus on them everyday with every single staff.

So for example, when the restaurant was weak in cleanliness, he would lead his team to do cleaning and teach his staff personally how to clean properly. And when his staff was weak in smiling, he would check each staff when they came before they started their shift, looked at them from head to toe, make sure they look good, gave them confidence, and reminded them to smile.

So this Branch Manager knew that in order to make a big difference, you have to start with the little things.

They went on to chat for a while and after their meeting, before they parted ways, Stephan asked the Branch Manager one final question. He asked, if you were to be transferred to another branch, can you still do it? Guess what the Branch Manager said. He said, Stephen, it is not where I am, it is who I am.

Ladies and gentlemen, how many of us actually realise the truth behind that statement? Every individual, if they are not aware of what they are doing or how they are affecting others around them, then they will not be able to perform to the best of their ability.

This is why John F Kennedy’s quote is still well-known to this day. Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. If we are more worried with the benefits and entitlements, then this selfishness will be our downfall.

So how can I not be in the people business? And it is not just through my role in the company, but I take it as a responsibility to my community, that I spread this awareness to everyone. So that is what I mean by being in the people business.