The Challenge:
The owner of a small breakfast and lunch cafe wanted to retire after 35 years of running the business. However, he was having a hard time letting go of control of the operations. He had a general manager who was ready to take over, but the owner was reluctant to delegate and trust him. The owner also had a lot of institutional knowledge that was not documented or shared with anyone else, such as vendors, local contractors and contacts, recipes, inventory management and customer service standards. The owner and the GM needed help to prepare for the leadership transition and ensure the continuity and success of the cafe.
The Solution:
Lodestone Leader provided technical consulting services to help the owner and the GM capture, document and optimize their institutional knowledge during the leadership transition. We used our proven methodology that consists of four phases: analysis, design, optimization and evaluation.
In the analysis phase, we worked with the owner and the GM to understand their current policies and procedures and identify the gaps and opportunities for improvement. We helped them map out their workflows, processes and systems and evaluate how well they support their goals and standards. We also helped them locate, categorize and format their institutional knowledge and assess how relevant and reliable it is.
In the design phase, we worked with the owner and the GM to develop and implement solutions that address the gaps and opportunities for improvement. We helped them update their policies and procedures documents, such as manuals, guides, checklists and templates. We also helped them create the tools and platforms that they need to store, access and share their institutional knowledge.
In the optimization phase, we worked with the owner and the GM to optimize their policies and procedures and ensure their alignment with their new leadership vision. We helped them review, edit and format their policies and procedures documents to ensure their clarity, accuracy and consistency. We also helped them test, validate and refine their tools and platforms to ensure their functionality, usability and security.
In the evaluation phase, we worked with the owner and the GM to measure and evaluate the impact of our technical consulting. We helped them collect and analyze the data and feedback on their policies and procedures documents, tools and platforms. We also helped them assess the outcomes and benefits of our technical consulting, such as improved efficiency, effectiveness, quality, compliance and innovation. We also helped them identify the next steps and opportunities for continuous improvement.
In addition to our technical consulting services, we also provided coaching services to help the owner and the GM with their strengths and mindset. We helped them find the psychological safety needed for the owner to let go of control and the GM to take control. We also worked one-to-one with key employees to help them adjust to the leadership change. We facilitated a meeting to identify and capture some processes that were not documented and identified processes and procedures that were ineffective.
The Result:
The cafe is currently running smoothly under the new leadership of the GM. The owner has successfully retired from the business but still maintains a relationship with his former employees. The cafe continues to be a profitable enterprise providing a valuable service to the community. The cafe has a comprehensive operating manual that contains all the institutional knowledge that was captured during our technical consulting. The manual serves as a reference guide for current and future employees. The cafe also has a culture of growth and empowerment that encourages collaboration and innovation among its staff.
Lodestone Leader is proud of our work with this small cafe. We are confident that we have helped them successfully navigate through leadership change and achieve remarkable things together.