Introduction:

Today we are going to talk about taking your average, not-so-great, good, or great employees and turning them into diamonds – the best or excellent employees. Diamonds that shine, sparkle and do everything you want them to do and everything you want them to be. They’re an investment. Average diamonds are available everywhere, but great diamonds go up in value. It’s really no different with your employees.

Constant and gentle pressure:

What I’m going to talk about now is something that I call constant and gentle pressure. If you’ve been yelled at or if you’ve yelled at an employee before, that’s a large amount of pressure in a very short period of time that might yield a short term result. But in the long term you’re not going to get the result you want. I’ve been pulled into the walk-in of the hotel’s restaurant to get yelled at by the chef many times. I will admit that’s what I used to do to my staff and it doesn’t work. If you’ve never been yelled at in a walk-in, it’s not because it’s cold in there it’s because they’re pretty soundproof. I could yell and scream as loud as I wanted and the people in that dining room wouldn’t hear a thing.

It’s a terrible little trick – don’t do it! Don’t yell at your staff. If you’ve been yelled at you know it sucks and you’re not going to get results. I understand we’re in a high-pressure business. You’re feeling a lot of stress, pressure and sometimes the emotions take over you. What I want you to start thinking of is constant and gentle pressure. What do I mean by that?

Let’s think about a fake diamond, there’s many different methods to manufacture fake diamonds. One of those methods is to apply an enormous amount of pressure in a short period of time. This is the method used to make a cubic zirconia diamond. You get a pretty good result but it’s not a real diamond. We all know that real diamonds are formed over a very long period of time. It’s not exactly gentle pressure, diamonds require a lot pressure, but the point is it’s done over a very long period of time.

If you’re trying to make changes in your personal life, with your staff, or in your restaurant, believe me they don’t happen overnight. The decision to make the change happens instantly, but the work that goes into making that change takes a long time.

Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to make those changes instantly. Give yourself time but make sure that you’re applying a constant and steady amount of pressure over that period of time.

Athletes, musicians, or highly successful people respond to a little bit of pressure. They step up to the plate. But if you put an athlete, especially a rookie, into the most pressure-packed situation ever – some will rise but most will struggle. If it’s their 3rd or 4th season and they’ve been to the playoffs or world series, now they’re used to that pressure.

We ratcheted it up slowly, we all know the analogies. But what I want you to think of in your restaurant, business, or in your life is instead of applying massive amounts of pressure by yelling or screaming, think of it over a long term of constant and gentle pressure to get the results that you want. I hope you enjoyed this week’s video and I look forward to bringing you another one like it. Have a wonderful day.