1: When someone isn’t succeeding at work, they typically fall into one of two camps, Will Guidara writes in his terrific book, Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect.
The ones who are trying. And the ones who are not.
“The end result may be similar, but the two need to be handled differently,” Will writes.
We have to “move heaven and earth to help the people who are trying,” he notes. “Ultimately, this is one of a manager’s biggest responsibilities: to make sure people are trying and working hard have what they need to succeed.”
Early in his tenure as GM of Eleven Madison Park, much of the team was struggling.
As the GM, one approach would be to yell and shout. To get angry. To insist that performance improve.
Instead, Will got curious. Why was the team failing?
He became convinced that expectations were too high.
“We needed to solidify our foundation before adding more stories,” he writes. “We needed to slow down to speed up.”
2: So what did Will do?
“I drastically cut what we were asking the dining room team to learn,” he notes. “It helped that I wasn’t super knowledgeable about the kind of food and wine we were serving.
“Because I was learning the material right alongside my team,” Will recalls, “I had a better sense for what we needed to know—and for how big those pieces of information could be, while still remaining digestible.”
Slow. Down.
“Yes, I wanted EMP to have one of the best wine lists in the world and knowledgeable servers who could expertly guide our guests through it,” he recalls, “but drowning them in detail wasn’t the way to get there. . .
“Eventually, yes: we’d know all seven microclimates in a particular vineyard,” Will writes, “and we’d charm guests with tales of the winemaker’s grandfather and what his work in the French Resistance had to do with the enigmatic image on the label.”
But first, the team had to master the basics. “This is a 2005 Chardonnay made by Au Bon Climat in California, aged in neutral French oak. It’s bright and mineral with firm acidity, and it pairs perfectly with the Scottish salmon with daikon, baby leeks, and citrus.”
Will decided to begin testing all of the servers every two weeks.
“That probably seemed punitive to some members of the old guard,” he observes, “but it was part of the move toward clarity: now that we were communicating clearly what we expected people to learn, it made sense to hold them accountable.”
The managers put together the first food and wine test. Will reviewed it before giving it to the team.
“It was much, much too hard,” he recalls.
“Nobody’s going to pass this! I wouldn’t pass this,” he told them. “The point of these tests wasn’t to fail people or to call them out; it was to make sure they felt confident and knew what they needed to know.”
In time, the team passed the tests. They gained the knowledge they needed to “wow” their guests.
The importance of slowing down to go fast remained part of the culture at Eleven Madison Park.
Will would remind the team: “You’re busy, and there are a thousand things you need to do for your tables. But take ten seconds to double-check the order you’ve put into the computer, because entering the wrong dish has the potential to ruin your whole night—and that of your guests!
“Go too fast, and you’ll end up slowing the whole restaurant down.”
3: Will had waited to deliver a rousing speech to his team. He didn’t do it on his first day. Or his thirtieth. Instead, he offered it, he shares, only when he started “to feel confident that everyone was talking to one another and to me and knew what was expected of them.”
“We’re going to make this restaurant one of the best restaurants in New York,” he said. “It’s not going to be easy, because being the best is never easy, but we are going to try to make it fun.
“If that’s not right for you, I totally get it; we’ll help you find a better fit.
“But if the idea of working at one of the most exciting restaurants in New York gets you fired up, then I hope you stick around, because we’re about to take off.
“I promise I’ll try to be consistent, to do what’s fair and what’s right.
“We’re going to make the kind of place we want to eat at; we’re going to create the four-star restaurant for the next generation.
“That’s where we’re going,” he told the team. “Will you come?”
More tomorrow.
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Reflection: Am I pushing our team to go faster and do more, or am I ensuring we’ve mastered the basics before raising expectations?
Action: Review our current expectations; identify any area where we can clarify, simplify, or reinforce foundational skills—helping everyone feel confident before we accelerate again.
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