Our “Shift Clearing” Philosophy — What is it? And Why You Need It.
You work on the frontlines. Regardless of your position or role in the organization, the business is run in shifts, and those shifts are led by you or through you.
We all have experienced the shift that got away from us, the one that was complete chaos. We know what that's like, and it's not fun. To be constantly behind, running into each other, frustrating each other. Some of us have worked in places where that was every day. And when that's the case, everyone feels it - the team, and the guests.
Poor shift management is likely the largest frustration in your organization … and the #1 reason people quit.
Why do shifts go bad? Likely due to the following reasons:
Lack of training systems for shift leaders
Lack of communication systems between shifts
Lack of perceived ownership of the shift
I was tired of getting calls at home … and so were my leaders. Frontline businesses are notorious for “off shift” communication … and it’s often a crutch for poor leadership. Our top leaders were bombarded with phone calls/texts at home about issues that could easily be solved by the people on shift. So, why weren’t they solving them?
It was due to three reasons —
They didn’t know how (lack of a training system).
They didn’t know it was their problem to solve (lack of clarity).
My top leaders said they were delegating true ownership when they were actually just delegating tasks (lots of ego).
So, I came up with “Shift Clearing” — simply put, this is the ability to pass on full ownership of the shift when you leave, so that when you are not at work, the business continues to work without you.
It’s shocking how seldom this is reality in many frontline businesses. Most often, people are consistently communicating about work items when they are not at work. The team is relying on them to respond and quickly the boundaries between when we are working and when we are not begin to blur. This should not be the case (a recipe for burnout). Instead, we should have the ability and the expectation as leaders to fully transfer ownership of the business when you leave.
So, how do we do this?
I would argue that your training for shift leaders has to be the most scalable and consistent training you offer. Often, this is not the case. We have production training and top leader training but often fail the in-between.
Consistent shift training determines the team’s perception of fairness. If you are not consistent in your approach to running shifts, the team will see it, and they will lose trust in the organization. If your morning leaders run shifts differently than the evening leaders, or if there are different 'rules & norms' under one leader vs. another, it breaks down trust and unity in the culture of your team at large. Consistency is the team's perception of fairness.
The only thing that can solve this is a shift management training system. On the quest for self-sufficient shifts, I created that, too.
Once shift training is in place, a critical next step is the idea of the escalation filter … a clear system for when you need help, and when you have authority to make decisions. In other words, clarity of who “owns” the problem.
Not everything can be prepared for or trained on. Things come up throughout the week that have not happened before, or happen so infrequently that you will not have a process or training around them. The escalation filter is a tool meant to address these challenges and provide the system through which expectations get set and decisions get made.
With solid training and ownership, a shift becomes self sufficient and full of leaders who know what they are doing, gain credibility and trust amongst their teams and create an environment where each shift stands up on its own. Who benefits? Everyone — the team member all the way to the guest.
We here at The Frontlines are partnering with frontline employers all over the country to insert shift management training into their business. We have also designed several courses in our Lead Higher Academy that help teams work through their own shift management best practices. If we can help support you in this work, please email me.
~~ Lauren Silich, CEO & Founder
