When "epic fail" is on the menu

For some reason, this week's theme seems to be all about #communication.  Is it World Communication Day or something?  I've seen tons of articles and posts about it, and I, myself, can't help but notice communication issues all over the place.  

If you watch the news, you'll see all kinds of examples.  Even our protests and social movements are suffering from confusion, loss of message and "scope creep".  Communication is an absolutely key pillar in any business - regardless of size, industry or location.  Good communication keeps business (and government) running smoothly.  Poor communication can cause real issues.  

Like so many of you, I'm doing the #WFH (working from home) thing, the best I can.  As a hands-on consultant and business #improvement advisor, my business model is primarily on-site training, interacting one-on-one and working with groups, but mostly in person.  This has challenged me to find alternative solutions, like creating online learning content and providing virtual support.  (It still works, but it's not nearly as much fun).

The pandemic has freed up some of my time, so I took the opportunity to do some careful, private, social distancing, travel over the summer.  I drove from Tampa FL to the tip of the "thumb" of Michigan (Google the Michigan map and you'll see it).  We took a route through Charlotte NC to meet up with our adult kids.  And all the way from my neighborhood restaurants in Tampa to the little lake resort town we're staying in here in Michigan (and everywhere in between), I see this very weird paper menu phenomenon.  And by phenomenon, I mean, epic....EPIC fail.....in communication.

Apparently someone (they), who knows who "they" are (maybe the WHO, maybe CDC, maybe the US Government, maybe the NRA (no, not the gun people - we won't go there, The National Restaurant Association).  But the rule seems to be that everyone should use paper menus at restaurants.  As we're trying to implement "no contact" everything from grocery delivery to payment to even pizza packaging, a reduction in touching things in public seems like a pretty good idea.  Single use, paper menus that can be discarded after each customer use eliminates just one more contact point, thereby reducing #risk of transmission of COVID-19.  I like it.  A simple, relatively low cost solution.  And I have a real issue with "sticky" menus anyway.  I'm always curious how they get sticky.  You order and THEN the food is brought to the table.  How do we get ketchup and bbq sauce on all the menus?  I guess it's kinda like the glitter example of how we transmit germs from one person/place/surface to another.  Anywho, sticky menus are gross.

So, paper menus, right?  Love it.  Hand me one brand new, clean, paper menu.  I'll make my selection and the server will toss my menu and the next guy will get their very own, pristinely clean, paper menu.  But that's not happening.  The paper menus are indeed the "new normal" for restaurants.  But they're being collected and reused!  What?!?!  I mean, the photo above shows an actual pile of "new" v "slightly used" menus.  This got me thinking.  Why would this be?  I've got 2 answers.

1.  #Change is hard

When people have a "#routine" or a "#repeatable process", they can begin to do the task without even thinking about it.  Making a significant change to their routine can be difficult to fully implement.  Especially when it's a wide sweeping change affecting multiple people, with multiple supervisors/shifts/etc.  Some people bristle at new instructions.  Others just take many, many reminders before they actually adjust and normalize their habits. 

2.  Communication - communication - communication

The "paper menu" rule has been at least halfway implemented at I'd say 95% of the restaurants I've been in recently.  They all do, indeed, have paper menus.  But I'd also say the same 95% are reusing their menus.  I've only had one place in three weeks collect and discard mine.  My guess is that everyone "got the memo saying, "from now on, we use only paper menus".  But, my guess is that not everyone got the "why" on that. 

How many times have you seen YOUR organization do something like this?  I see this a lot, particularly with regard to forms and #documentation.  One of the first things we work on when starting a #lean project, is cutting out #waste.  And some of the easiest places to find waste is in documentation.  If we make a #processmap and identify the "paperwork" along the way, we almost always find a form, log or data entry point that no one can explain why it's being done.  Often times, it was a change intended to eliminate a #defect like "adding a check" to make sure that "doesn't get out again".  But then, better #correctiveactions are implemented and the defect has been eliminated, but the "extra check" is still in place.  Or a particular manager or supervisor might have been using a checklist or signature on a document as an accountability measure, and the process has since been automated.  SO NOW IT'S BEING DUPLICATED!  In any case, we do things all the time without understanding "why" we're doing it.  We just do it, because we're told to do it.  And we don't ask why.

This paper menu situation seems to be one of those.  So, the business has incurred the additional cost (albeit low) of printing paper menus, but the intended result (the reduction of risk) didn't make it to the table.  Maybe the servers are just used to handing out menus, then collecting them.  Maybe they're even very waste or environmentally sensitive and think they're helping the business by reusing them.  So, it is so important that communication be not only clear, but complete (including the "why").  Including the "why" let's a person understand more clearly the intended results, and potential consequences of not following a protocol or instruction.  

Sure, there will always be those rebels.  Sure, people will always make mistakes.  But, we can deal ourselves a better hand by making communication clear and complete whenever we implement a new process or a change.  

What kind of examples like this have you seen recently?  What's your local "paper menu" situation?

ISO9001 7.4 requires that organizations "determine the internal and external communications relevant to the quality management system, including: a) on what it will communicate; b) when to communicate; c) with whom to communicate; d) how to communicate; e) who communicates."  

In my online video series ISO9001 in Plain English, I break down this section, line-by-line to help you understand and easily implement ways to comply with the requirements but also #improve your business.  Watch the video in the series for 7.4 Communication for FREE!

And as always, keep improving!