The goal of every restaurant or retail store manager is to have a store full of independent, competent employees.
These employees know where to go for answers, how to handle unique situations, and can solve problems on the fly.
In a perfect world, employees would first exhaust all resources before interrupting a manager to assist in completing or training on a specific task, but restaurants simply don’t work that way.
Self-sufficient employees are not hired—they’re trained.
You’ll notice top-performing restaurants and retail stores have invested a great deal in training in the last year.
Franchises like Chick-fil-A, Buffalo Wild Wings, and McDonald’s are all seeing improved employee performance (and ROI) since boosting their employee training efforts.
Below, we explain exactly how they’re leveraging on-the-spot training to keep both employees and management in their proper lanes.
Provide a Resource
Restaurant and retail workers are often young people, and this may be their first job.
While you can certainly throw them in the water and they’ll learn to swim, they won’t learn how to swim in tandem with the whole team.
This is why they’ll need a resource.
Most owners and managers provide new employees with training videos, PDF’s, and binders of material that can often overwhelm them.
It’s not that the information isn’t useful or correct—it’s simply too much for the employee to handle.
Not only is this a lot of information up-front, but it’s not a feasible solution for employees encountering problems on the fly.
That’s where accessibility comes in.
Make Sure Your Training Is Accessible
Let’s say you’ve got clear instructions on “how to defrost the ice machine,” but those instructions are in a binder in the back office.
It’s doubtful that a young employee will dig that out before asking a manager for help. Simply put, it’s easier to turn around and ask, “Hey Jeremy, can you show me how to do this?”
To curb this sort of request, you’ll need to make accessing your training materials as simple as asking a manager for help.
To accomplish that, you’ll need to store all your employee training material in one place and make that easy for employees to access.
By moving all your training materials to a digital solution like Jolt, employees will be able to quickly check their phones, or the store’s tablet, for the latest trainings on any preparation, operation, or machine.
With your training now instantly accessible to the entire team, your managers can now concentrate on—well, managing.
Train Employees to Default to that Resource
Because you can’t change employee behavior overnight, you’ll need to remind everyone to check Jolt before asking a friend for help.
Once employees realize how immediately they can find the answer themselves, they’ll be less likely to interrupt managers or other workers.
That’s the real mark of improved employee performance.
“Did you check Jolt?” should be the mantra of your team when making the switch to digital training (and digital checklists, for that matter).
This is especially true for unique problems and rare occurrences at odd hours.
Training your team to check Jolt before asking a manager is a much smaller ask than flipping through a binder of papers—and you’ll see that reflected in your store productivity.
Enjoy Independent Employees
Once your team knows Jolt is their ultimate resource, you’ll see a massive shift in productivity.
Owners and managers won’t be required to spend so much time in the store, and employees will feel capable to handle daily problems on their own.
Digital training in Jolt allows everyone to get a perfect training on-the-spot, even without a manager or senior employee in the store.
Tie those trainings in with digital checklists and even new employees will know how to accomplish most tasks without asking for help.
Ultimately, you’re looking to cut down on interruptions and retraining.
Using a digital training solution like Jolt will help you boost employee performance for the better.
Want to see how it works?
Giving employees a reliable resource for solving all the problems in your store gives management more time to manage, and equips employees to handle problems on their own.
If you’re curious exactly how this works in your restaurant, retail store, or service environment, request a free demo here.
We’ll walk you through the 7 Pillars of Restaurant Success™ and help you identify precisely what to improve in your store.