Transparency
It’s crucial to set one another up to do our best work. This means setting and agreeing on clear expectations. We regularly share our numbers, our processes, and our philosophies with our teammates because we trust that they are better equipped to take on a job if they know what’s at stake. Transparency doesn’t just allow a teammate to satisfy their responsibilities, it inspires trust and buy-in, it creates a work environment where every employee is empowered to give feedback and think creatively.
Likewise, we are transparent with our customers. We tell them how we make our spirits, where we source our ingredients, the names of tanks and production team-members. Hell, we take them back and show them. If there’s something we’d be ashamed to show a customer, we just don’t do that thing.
Midwest Candor
Most problems that befall a team come from a slip or breakdown in communication. We are a unique workplace, and one thing we know about ourselves: We are deeply Midwestern. Our products are Midwestern made with Midwestern ingredients in our very Midwestern town. As Midwesterners we are characterized by an earnest work ethic and modesty. Being a small-scale operation allows us to do what we love because we love to do it, and because we love this community and we believe we can make it a happier place to live. We don’t expect the New York Times to write a story on us (though they have!), we just appreciate a job well-done. And as for conflict–have you ever felt it easier to fib than risk offending someone? You have Midwestern Nice to thank for that.
This is why we strongly believe in encouraging candor and rewarding honest feedback. It’s not always easy, but dang it we’re willing to try. Speak to your teammates with natural kindness, but don’t beat around the bush–challenge yourself to say what you know and need, and believe you’ll survive it. Likewise, don’t feel scandalized when a teammate brings up an issue; instead feel appreciative that they trust you can handle it. Be accountable, never leave anything unresolved or only partially-communicated. Seek to understand, seek to be understood. Try asking yourself, what do I know, who needs to know, have I told them, do they understand?
The Theory of Constraints
The Theory of Constraints, or ToC, is a guiding process we use to identify and eliminate problems that inhibit our capacities to thrive financially and culturally. It’s how we confront material problems: the market, space, labor, suppliers, infrastructure, etc. This means we must be devoted to collecting information and willing to adapt. If things change around here, it’s probably because we’ve identified a constraint and we’re out to quash it. The process of the
Theory Of Constraints can be reduced to the five focusing steps:
- Identify the system’s constraint(s).
- Decide how to exploit the system’s constraint(s).
- Subordinate everything else to the above decision(s).
- Elevate the system’s constraint(s).
- Warning! If in the previous steps a constraint has been broken, go back to step 1, but do not allow inertia to cause a system’s constraint.
Communication Tactics
Did a pipe burst in our distillery? Do you need a material to complete a task? Want to set-up a meeting? Do you want Justin to know it’s 4:20? There’s a system of communication for you:
Call. Call for all urgent matters. Call whoever needs to know right away about that burst pipe.
Slack. Slack is a great place for updates. It’s also a great place to reach one or many teammates at once with your less-than-dire but still timely questions. Want to know if there are enough coozies in house for your event tomorrow? Slack the #marketing channel. There aren’t? Slack your manager.
Asana. Asana is best for more complex tasks and projects that might benefit from the focused archive of a communication thread. Posts can get swallowed up in Slack’s message board interface, so use Asana when you’re working on a project or issue with someone.
Email. Email is generally only used for external communication with people outside of Cardinal Spirits. Sometimes email is also useful for long-form communication like memos and reports. Most times those kinds of things can be shared via Google Docs links though.
Checklists and Balances
To be consistently excellent, we must always hold ourselves to a high-level of discipline. Every position has written out instructions and responsibilities, usually in the form of a checklist. Every bartender uses a jigger for every cocktail, and follows the cocktail builds to the tee. Every server completes the closing side work list before clocking out. We also managerial checks and balances to ensure nothing falls through the cracks, while keeping in mind each employee’s current level of independence and aptitude.
“In a complex environment, experts are up against two main difficulties. The first is the fallibility of human memory and attention, especially when it comes to mundane, routine matters that are easily overlooked under the strain of more pressing events…A further difficulty, just as insidious, is that people can lull themselves into skipping steps even when they remember them…Checklists seem to provide protection against such failures. They remind us of the minimum necessary steps and make them explicit. They not only offer the possibility of verification but also instill a kind of discipline of higher performance.”
From The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande, writing about how the initiation of checking vital signs every hour in hospitals led to a drastic drop in patient mortality.