At a time when the world feels more divided than at any point in my lifetime – and I’m sure we can all think of examples of division - it feels appropriate to talk about the blame game.
When things haven’t been going as well as we’d like, it can be tempting to try and blame someone else for that. The blame game may appear to work as an effective defence mechanism. It seeks to deflect attention and, at some level, cement the status quo. In the short term, it can defer the repercussions of poor performance by shifting the perceived responsibility for that elsewhere.
But division never ends well, wherever it occurs.
Take Rendezvous; a little known restaurant in the village of Glasstap that specialises in French cuisine. Things haven’t been going well for a while, and the blame for this obviously lies with the Front of House staff who often delay putting the, sometimes unclear, orders in, pile dirty plates in ‘clean’ areas and generally get in the way. The Finance team are no help either.
Obviously, then, the Front of House staff are to blame.
Unless, of course, you work in Front of House, in which case it’s obvious that the blame lies squarely with the other teams. The Kitchen team, for example, can take up to half an hour to prepare food, and then often fail to follow simple instructions given on behalf of customers. The Finance team regularly delay producing the bill or produce a bill that’s wrong.
The Finance team will, of course, have a different perspective altogether. They’re annoyed at the food wastage, the fact that orders from the kitchen arrive late, the fact that their team never gets a thank you for finding cheaper alternatives or helping bring supplies to the kitchen, etc.
So, what would you do to help the staff at Rendezvous build bridges and work more co-operatively?
Restaurant Revolution is a fantastic exercise, developed in collaboration with one of our customers, that helps teams:
- Understand their own needs.
- Recognise the needs of others.
- Identify the actions they can take to assist other teams.
We may not, on our own, be able to heal the world’s divisions, but exercises like Restaurant Revolution might help you heal some at an organisational or team level.
Want more on this topic? Here's a relevant article from Trainers' Library, completely free:
As always, all feedback is welcome on my blog. Until next time...