After watching the election results last night, one theme kept popping up.  America seems tired of the establishment.   People wanted to make their voices heard.  People are frustrated and feel that the leaders are not leading. 

• From a business point of view we need to ask ourselves if we are really aware and listening to the needs of our team members?  As the leaders in our store it is up to us to engage every team member on every shift to ensure that the overall team happiness level continues to rise.  It is our combined job as a leadership team to do this together.  We all must be the blow torch on our shift and bring the energy level up.  The energy level in the store usually starts with you!  Even if it is lowered by someone else it is up to you to change the temperature.  We have talked before about being the thermostat but it bears repeating.  As leaders we must set the temperature and not react to a negative feel.  We all must be consistent and we all must deliver the same message every shift so there is no confusion on the overall vision. 
• Here is one question to ask every team member on your team.  Do you love coming to work?  If they say no or not really, ask why.  Find out what we can do to make Culver’s a better place to work.  We have the ultimate power to create the type of workplace that we want to achieve.  If the team doesn’t love coming to work it is a reflection of our leadership.  Given the current increase coming to minimum wage for AZ the battle for great team members is going to be tougher than ever.  Our best strategy is to retain as many team members as we can.  It will be much easier to retain 80% of our team than it will be to hire multiple new workers. 
• The answer to retaining team members is that we need to have a better culture in our workplace than anywhere else.  Peter Drucker once said “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” 
• We all need to work on creating a great team culture every shift.   
  • Talk to the team members every day.
  • Build a personal relationship with the team members.
  • Set shift goals / praise accomplishments.
  • Communicate our expectations clearly and often.
  • Hand out our scoop cards every shift.
  • Keep the energy level up.  Be the blow torch, not the candle!
• Remember our mission statement: “Everyone that chooses Culver’s leaves haply!”  This means our team members as well.  Do our team members leave work happy every day?