Ensure a nice-looking Counter Product Display
Critical Thinking
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What does it mean?
Mastering the skill of Critical Thinking means the ability to identify areas of improvements in a store and providing unbiased constructive feedback. This is based on a guests' point of view as well as your own optics in optimising Operational Excellence.
This requires a strong Daily Concept Workflow and a clear set of guidelines of what performance is expected from morning to evening.*
As a leader, you can never expect your stores to deliver great guest experience and brand behaviour if the fundamental structures are not in place.
Main Theory
Introduction
A BM is usually spending all their time working hours in the same store, so what they see on a daily basis becomes their “new normal”. Without new input, inspiration and guidance, they will not be able to identify lacking performance. All performance relates back to how well a DCWF is executed, trained or followed up on. The RM is responsible for guiding the BM in how to execute and maintain the best possible DCWF through Critical Thinking.
In short, the work related to this leadership skill can be divided in 3 sections:
THE 3 STEPS OF CRITICAL THINKING
1) Critical Observation
Observe a store to ‘investigate’ the following:
- Is the DCWF working in the best possible way?
- Is the BM properly trained in how to follow it and uses it effectively?
- Does the Juicers BTC show great motivation?
- Is the store capable of delivering great guest experiences?
Compared to company standards, evaluate what needs to be improved in order to get the ideal journey through your critical thinking.
2) Structure & Action Points
Based on the critical observations: Connect the issues to your journey. What structures and actions points should be implemented in order for the issue to get solved and ensure a sustainable performance?
3) Convey The Message
Create the structure and action points in corporation with the BM by explaining the Why. Make them eager to follow the structure and action points going forward. And make sure the BM prepares the team to get on board.
The purpose of using critical thinking in your daily work is to support and guide the BM in the store journey and to make all stores reach their full potential every day. This will ultimately ensure great guest experiences and increase turnover! If you practice the above 3 steps every time you are in a store, you will succeed in this leadership skill.
The Journey of Critical Thinking
The Joe store can be divided into 4 rooms, where each room has its own criteria. We can’t continue to the next room before all criteria has been fulfilled.
When you’re entering a store with a critical thinking mindset, you should always have in mind that your observations of the journey are followed in a chronological order. This is to ensure the store delivers a satisfied journey.
The Ideal Store
To deliver a satisfied journey, the RM must focus on the very fundamental structures in a bar before being able to deliver the full Joe experience. The RM will go room by room, and being enabled to continue to the next when the criteria is fulfilled. The rooms are described as the following 4 criteria:
1.STRUCTURE
The very fundamental structures must be in place for us to operate and run a fully functioning and healthy store for all employees to thrive in.
2. TRAINING
Sufficient training of the employees needs to be completed for all Juicers to perform and live up to company standards and expectations.
3. TEAM MOTIVATION
A highly motivated team is achieved when the employees are engaged and find meaning in the work they do whilst having strong peer relationships across the team.
4. GUEST INTERACTION
Every single guest should have a feeling that we care about them as a person and that the staff is including them into our culture.
Bad example:
You walk into a store observing the team having fun behind the bar by doing flair. That will come out as an unserious behavior, if the customer area is messy and untidy.
Secondary Theory
Identifying the Gaps
An RM’s never-ending daily task is to enter a store and help the BM to seek improvements. You already have the knowledge, and you should expect the BM to live up to the ideal performance. You should constantly compare the ideal performance with what you observe in the store, identify the gaps and work with the BM in order to reach the optimal performance:
Through your experience and knowledge, you know what the ideal store looks like as a RM
What is not optimal in the store? What is the performance gap?
In an ideal world all stores would live up to the expectations set and have no performance gaps at all. However, the RM’s job is to identify these gaps in performance that don’t live up to the ideal expectations and ideal DCWF. Ask yourself: what is missing for this store to have the ideal performance? No one is coming to do the changes for you! The RM is the one to guide and develop the BM adequately. They are the ones who constantly seek change and push the store towards operational excellence.
There are no limits in terms of the tasks to be critical towards. Critical Thinking is a tool to perfect the DCWF and the way the BM and Juicers are executing it. We should expect even the smallest tasks to be executed to perfection every day. Every little detail should matter to you.
Example: Is the Customer Area floor clean to perfection? If not, how far away from perfect is it? What action is needed to reach perfection so our store and brand can reach the full potential?
Ideal Performance <— Compared to —> Current Performance = Perfomance Gap
Develop Broadened Optics
In order to have a critical mindset, it is necessary to keep broadening the optics to avoid Tunnel Vision. It is important even for RMs to keep broadening their own optics to push themselves to become completely unbiased when observing a store to identify performance gaps.
To develop broadened optics, ask yourself these four key questions:
It all starts with you. Ask yourself these questions on a daily basis and work with how you can be honest towards the performance of your stores. You can then direct these honest questions further down to your BM and work with how they can become more unbiased towards their own performance.
Setting The Right Expectations
Happiness and hereby a satisfied guest journey is identified by the gap between your expectations and reality.
Happiness = Expectations - Reality:
Different approaches:
- If the store performance is below expectations = Provide constructive feedback
- If the store performance is above expectations = Recognise and praise the performance
Level of the BM:
Depending on the level of the BM, an RM can also adjust the level of expectations to be more realistic and to avoid any surprises.
An RM should ideally have less expectations to new BM’s compared to BM’s with a lot of experience. Create goals and targets based on the situation and meet people where they are instead of expecting a 10/10 performance if the person is not even trained to have the required skills to perform.
Examples:
- If BM is not trained = Be more supportive and mentoring
- If BM is trained = Be more direct and delegating
Learn more about this approach in the upcoming ‘Mentoring’ module!
Sum Up
Practice the 3 steps of Critical Thinking on a daily basis
1) Observe Critical issues in performance and DCWF
2) Setup structures and create action points to solve the issues
3) Make the BM and team understand why and encourage them to reach ideal performance
The Ideal Store = The four criteria of a satisfied guest journey
Identifying the Gaps = Constantly seek towards change and improvements in the daily tasks working towards the ideal expectations
Broadened Optics = Being honest towards the performance having an eagerness to keep developing in how you are able to identify improvements and develop what you understand as the ideal performance
Setting the right expectations = Happiness equals expectations minus reality
Training Plan
The training of Critical Thinking is divided into 4 x exercises and 1 x exam preparation that the RM must go through together with The Trainer.
This means the RM and Trainer have to meet up 5 times to cover all exercises with a total OH hours of 9 hours each. If the Trainer believes the exercises need to be revisited, use the allocated exercise OH hours once again and request approvals from the Market Manager or HR Manager.
Exercise 1: Experience Store Journey
Choose a store in corporation with the RM in their own region. The exercise should preferably take place at: 11.30am - 1.00pm
Theory Explanation
Tell the RM to teach you the most important aspects of the theory. Following areas should be covered by the RM:
- Explain the 3 steps of critical thinking and consider how it could be done in practice.
- Explain what identifying the gaps means?
- Explain the difference between Ideal & Observed performance and how you can compare them with each other.
- Explain what Broadened Optics mean and what the postitive effects are?
- Reflect on the 4 key questions of Develop Broadened Optics and describe why they are useful to work with.
Begin Exercise “Experience Store Journey”
Objectives
In this exercise the RM will practice to re-experience the guest journey. They need to act completely unbiased and expect the very best in each step of the exercise! The objective is to build up the right mindset by observing and identifying areas of the guest experience that doesn’t live up to the expectations.
Tell the RM to sit in the outdoor seating and write down the thoughts based on the four steps below.
Step 1 - Structure - 10 minutes
Tell the RM to start outside (10 meters away from the store), tell them to walk towards the store and take a seat in the outdoor area. Inform the RM to reflect on following questions:
- How is the outdoor area organized?
- What is the overall look of the store?
- How is the overall cleanliness?
- Is all necessary equipment working?
- Has the store run out of any ingredients?
Step 2 - Training - 10 minutes
Tell the RM to order a juice and consider following questions:
- Is the team practicing team positioning procedures?
- Is the team following IMS on product making?
- Are the till discipline procedures being followed?
- How is the overall waiting time?
- Do all employees seem confident on their stations?
Step 3 - Team Motivation- 10 minutes
Tell the RM to consider following questions:
- How is the attitude of Juicers behind the bar?
- Is the team communicating positively with eachother?
- Does the Juicers seem energetic?
- Do you see any juicers smiling?
Step 4 - Test customer area - 10 minutes
Tell the RM to consider following questions:
- Are Juicers welcoming guests upon entrance?
- Are guests being invited to dialogue withJuicers?
- Are guests directed to sit down in the customerarea?
- Does the music fit to the situation and type ofguests?
Step 5 - Make a conclusion - 20 minutes
Tell the RM to write down a minimum of 5 action points (more is only great) that they identified from acting as a guest. Once the critical points have been written down, inform the RM to write down solutions to how they are going to solve each of the critical issues. Guide and help them if needed. Explain the following illustration that shows how to create actions points.
How to videos
Exercise 2: “Store Walk-Through With BM”
Objectives
The objective of this exercise is to practice how the RM can advance the optics of the BM. This will ultimately secure a better execution of DCWF. If the RM only provides action points and doesn’t teach their optics further to the BM and the team, no sustainable development will be realized. In this exercise the RM is using the learnings from Exercise 1, but the main learning is now how to teach the optics and daily expectations further to the BM.
Introduction
Tell the RM to choose a different store than Exercise 1 was executed in. Ensure that the RM informs the BM to meet up with both of you in the store preferably between 3:00pm - 4:30pm (after lunch rush).
Step 1 - Expectations - 5 minutes
Let the RM explain to the BM about what expectations there are towards the Guest Journey. If we pay attention to every little detail in the store, the overall experience of a guest visit will get better, ultimately resulting in them visiting more often.
Step 2 - Take the BM by the hand - 45 minutes
Inform the RM to “take the BM by the hand” and go through the same journey as in Experience Store Journey: Structure - Training - Team Motivation - Guest Interaction. Explain to the RM that the BM doesn’t need to write anything down, but that a conversation about each area should be initiated between the BM and RM.
Step 3 - Create action points - 30 minutes
The conversation should mainly consist of the RM asking the BM similar questions as they answered themselves in Experience Guest Journey. Tell the RM to ask the BM what they think of each part of the journey and if they can find any action points themselves. Make the RM agree on some action points with the BM and let them form solutions together.
Step 4 - Feedback - 10 minutes
Give feedback to the RM on how they managed to expand the optics of the BM. Share your thoughts on how they could be even more inclusive and how they managed to convey the purpose of each part of the Guest Journey.
Step 5 - Take Away
Inform the RM that they should practice advancing their BM’s optics, preferably every time working together. There is always something new to learn for them and the RM are the ones to push, guide and monitor their learning. If the RM slowly builds up the BM’s optics, they will over time fully understand the daily expectations of running a Joe & The Juice store.
Exercise 3: “Competitor visits”
Objectives
In order for the RM to be critical towards what they observe on a daily basis, they need to practice their observation skills. By visiting competitors, the RM can broaden their optics as they practice observing how similar situations at another brand can be dealt with.
Introduction
Inform the RM to meet with you at a scheduled location to initiate the competitor visits. You should preferably visit 52 competitors on your journey. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a direct competitor to JOE. It can also be a restaurant or a cafe. The RM should be taken through following steps at each competitor visit:
Experience / Reflection / Take Away.
Step 1 - Experience
At each competitor, begin a conversation with the RM in order to evaluate the experience in the store. Talk about the good and bad parts of the experience you get from visiting each competitor. Following areas should be discussed:
- The Look: Does the competitor seem to focus on maintaining high cleaning standards and focus on good-looking displays of what they sell?
- DCWF: Does the competitor seem to have good procedures in how to maintain a good workflow and how does each employee seem to work? Do they have designated responsibilities?
- Products: What kind of products do they sell? Why do you think that is?
- Design: How is the design of the competitor? Customer Area, Bar, Store front, Outdoor area, Toilet, Furniture? Is it working well? Do you like it? Why/why not?
Step 2 - Reflection
In corporation with the RM, reflect on how the competitor is different from JOE?
- What is each competitor doing different from us?
- How is the concept different? Is it working well or not?
- Do the Compare & Contrast: Why do you think they do things differently? What do they get out of it? On which parameters do you believe our concept works better? And which parameters do they perform better than we do?
Step 3 - Take Away
Let the RM form conclusions of the reflections.
Have they learned anything from the visit? Either if it is a negative or positive experience, the RM should get some kind of inspiration:
- Experiencing something working well: RM should reflect on how they can incorporate the positive element in their own stores. We can always do something better and it is good to get some perspective on how that could be done.
- Experience something that doesn’t work: RM should do everything in their power not to make the same mistakes. When seeing critical issues elsewhere, their sense of detail gets stronger as they can compare same scenarios in different settings with each other.
Both outcomes will make the RM's observation skills stronger.
Tell the RM to write down all positive and negative experiences from the competitors and tell them to save these observations for their final Critical Thinking Exam.
Example 1: “Experiencing something new working very well”
You experience that within 15 minutes two employees were checking and cleaning the Outdoor Area at a competitor ensuring high cleaning standards.
Take Away 1: You suggest that a Juicer must visit the Customer Area + Outdoor Area minimum every 30 minutes and every 15 minutes during busy days.
Example 2: “Experience something that doesn’t work”
You experience that the toilets look really messy, and there is no soap left in the soap dispenser. You reflect on how it affects the experience in a negative direction making you expect that the cleaning standards are generally low as they can’t even keep the toilets organised.
Take Away 2: The following week you apply this reflection in your own stores and follow up on how all BM’s and SM’s maintain the toilets. You do not want the same “bad experience” to happen for any guest in one of your stores. If you experience that one of the stores have bad cleaning standards on the toilet, you sit down with the BM and agree on what action is needed to solve the critical issue.
Exercise 4: “Visit Your Friends House”
Objectives
The objective of this exercise is to learn how to observe the performance of a store with a completely clean slate (no presumptions) as this exercise isn’t taking place in the RM's own region. At the end of the exercise the RM needs to deliver the findings to the RM of the store, whilst practicing delivering the feedback in a proper way that is easy to understand.
Introduction
Choose a store out of the RM's region to practice the exercise 4 in. Agree with the RM of the store to meet up with you and the RM once the practical part of the exercise is over and the intel is gathered ready to be ‘served’ for the RM. The practical exercise takes 2 hours, and the feedback takes 30 minutes. The exercise should preferably take place 11.30am - 2.00pm on any given day.
Step 1 - Experience store journey - 30 minutes
Inform the RM to enter the store and go through the same journey as in Experience Store Journey: Structure - Training - Team Motivation - Guest Interaction. Make the RM write down a minimum of 5 action points regarding the first four parts of the store journey. Support them if they have trouble identifying critical issues and parts of the guest journey that aren’t optimal.
Step 2 - Enter the bar - 60 minutes
Tell RM to enter the bar and work 1-hour BTC while observing following:
- How does the store work over lunch rush?
- How well are the structures put in place?
- How are the Juicers performing on the tasks and routines that aren’t related to product making?
- How do the Juicers maintain the look of the store? Displays: Coffee / Juice / Back Shelf / Counter Displays
- How are the Juicers maintaining the general cleanliness of the bar? Do they keep a clean and tidy bar?
- Is the prep going to last for the entire day?
- Is the stockroom clean and organized?
Write down another 3-5 points of performance that are not living up to the ideal expectations
Remember to only expect the very best at all times, also if the store is more busy than usual.
Step 3 - Gather the intel - 30 minutes
When the hour is done, inform the RM to gather all their thoughts and feedback in a word document or an email. Include both action points from Experience guest journey and Enter the bar. Try and form solutions for each action point, but the RM should also let the RM of the store come up with additional ideas of how to solve the critical issues. It should be an open conversation where the RM can add their point of view (just like the BM Store Walk-Through exercise) where they can learn from each other.
Step 4 - Handover the feedback - 30 minutes
Meet up with the RM of the store and let the RM present the findings of the exercise. Give the RM some guidelines in which approach they should take for the conversation: They should deliver all feedback in a positive way even though negative performance areas are being evaluated with the RM. Sit down and go through all action points letting the RM practice how they can deliver the feedback in the best possible way. The RM of the store will gain great insight on how the store is working when they aren’t present themselves.
Step 5 - Evaluate exercise
When the suggested action points for the store is given to the RM, evaluate with the RM how they managed to give feedback to a person that is at a higher MoneyBall level than themselves. They should act totally honest and should not be afraid of sharing feedback and insights with the more experienced RM.
Evaluate following:
- What was the quality of the action points?
- Could any action points have been explained in a better way?
- Did they choose the right approach for the conversation?
- Did they manage to find solutions in corporation with the RM of the store?
Exercise Sum Up
Each of the taught objectives in the 4 x exercises are the foundation of the RM's abilities within the leadership skill Critical Thinking. Therefore, it is important to apply the exercises in the daily work going forward to continuously expand the capabilities within the skill and to support and develop the BM’s.
Go through the above illustration with RM and agree how the learnings and objectives should be applied in the RM's work going forward.
Clean Seating and Tables
Clean Trash Bins in Customer Area
Deep Clean Centrifuge
Clean Bar Bins
Clean Bar Lamps + Speakers
Clean Cleaning Tools
Clean Drains
Clean Floor Panels
Clean Ice Machine
Clean Menu
Clean Sandwich Grills
Clean Toilets
Clean Walls and Pictures
Clean Fridges
Deep Clean Stockroom + Fridges
Clean Bar Front
Clean Bar Filters
Clean Fruit Baskets
Clean Dishwasher
Clean Sinks
Clean Centrifuge Cave
Deep Clean Mazzer
Deep Clean Mythos
Deep Clean GB5
Clean Blender
Clean Centrifuge
Clean Seating and Tables
Clean Trash Bins in Customer Area
Deep Clean Centrifuge
Clean Bar Bins
Clean Bar Lamps + Speakers
Clean Cleaning Tools
Clean Drains
Clean Floor Panels
Clean Ice Machine
Clean Menu
Clean Sandwich Grills
Clean Toilets
Clean Walls and Pictures
Clean Fridges
Deep Clean Stockroom + Fridges
Clean Bar Front
Clean Bar Filters
Clean Fruit Baskets
Clean Dishwasher
Clean Sinks
Clean Centrifuge Cave
Deep Clean Mazzer
Deep Clean Mythos
Deep Clean GB5
Clean Blender
Clean Centrifuge
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