Better Today Than Yesterday (BTTY)
Better Today Than Yesterday
A Change Framework & Lessons From A Full Size Horse Lamp
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A Change Framework & Lessons From A Full Size Horse Lamp

🎧 #34 | Listen Now (5 Min) | On change, getting close to the problem, and why change is not linear
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Once upon a time, I worked for company that had a bar in this hip area of NYC. I was on the job for about a week, and my new boss said, “go extend the bar by four feet.”

Being just out of the military, I barked a crisp “roger that” and marched off to execute. I was excited because I now had a chance to prove my worth. After all, I was back in the restaurant business after eight years galavanting around the Middle East and Central Asia. New York City is arguably the most competitive restaurant market in the world, and there was no small amount of self-doubt dancing in my head.

Speed of Service

While we called it a bar, it was really a nightclub. NYC 20-somethings were living their best lives dancing in what was once a subterranean horse stable under the streets of the Meatpacking District. Arches hid little nooks with retro furniture under 200-year-old bricks and a full-sized plastic horse lamp stood next to the DJ booth. True story.

If you got past the colossal man standing at the door, you would find a bar that was five deep. People couldn’t get their drinks fast enough, which was the crux of our problem.

It was not a speed of service issue for us. Our inability to get drinks out quickly was costing us money. When you have a 50%+ margin business, it’s real money. The idea was if we could extend the bar by four feet, which was technically simple, we would be able to improve drink flow and, correspondingly, revenue.

Sitting at a small table near the bar with the Director of Construction and the Beverage Director, we started to make our plans. We saw a simple problem with a simple solution. Or so we thought.

Meanwhile, the bar was getting set up for the night. A handsome bartender, let’s call him Emilio, was doing his thing. Emilio was what you would expect in a popular NYC nightclub. Confident, cool, tie a little loose, sleeves rolled up, and a swagger backed up by what was probably 140 IQ. To top it off, he also had a law degree.

I looked over and saw him shaking his head as we pontificated solutions to a problem for which we didn’t understand reality. I walked over and introduced myself. Emilio laid it on me.

Emilio: “Hey man, here’s the thing. I spend 50% of my night using that slow soda gun down there, filling glasses of water for the servers so people can try and avoid a hangover. Also, see this rack of bottles here? It’s only 24” inches long. I have to split up most of my bottles and spend too much time going back and forth between this rack and that rack.”

Me: “How do we fix it?”

Emilio: “If you give me a 48” rack here and a high-speed water pourer that the servers can use themselves, I know we will be 25% faster.”

Emilio gave us a solution that was not only cheaper but incremental. It was a two-way door. We could try this, and if it didn’t work, we could always return to the bar extension idea.

Most importantly, it was his idea, and he would be executing it. Remember, he is financially rewarded based on volume, so he is incentivized to help us solve this problem. Our interests were aligned.

The Change Process

I learned a few lessons about change that day. I’m still learning, but here is a framework that I’ve found helpful. I don’t think it’s linear, but a process that repeats as change never ends.

  1. Understand reality: We didn’t know the reality - Emilio knew the reality, and no one asked him.

  2. Identify Key Players: The key players weren’t the suits and it wasn’t me - they were the bartenders.

  3. Collaboratively Decide: We weren’t being collaborative. We were in our corporate bubble. The decision needs to be as close to the problem as possible.

  4. Execute with Buy In: Execution needs buy-in and alignment

  5. Stay Based Reality: We had to implement a mechanism to ensure we clearly understood results AND could stay based in reality.

We did what Emilio recommended. We took what was a $20K project, spent $1,400, and saw a 25% increase in sales. Not only was this a lesson in the change process, but also the people process.

Hire great people and ask them for help to solve your most challenging problems - if you listen to them, they usually will.

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Kelly Vohs