You can't get where you're going unless you KNOW where you're going. This is a key element in leadership—most of the books of the subject call it “vision.” Having the picture in your mind of what success means. Visualizing the landmark that lets you know you've arrived. Knowing what that is (and being able to communicate it to your team) will be the difference between greatness and mediocrity.
That being said, what the vision is happens as important as simply having one. I've been involved with many different organizations that all defined success differently. I've worked for companies where the sole goal was to make money for the owner. I've worked for companies where client satisfaction is the only thing that matters. I've worked for companies where the vision was broad—“We want to be the best in all areas”—and narrow: “How low were controllable costs this week?”
If you're a manager working for the company, it should be pretty easy to determine what the grand vision is. Your supervisor will probably tell you outright what's important. If not, the numbers you report to the office wants every week is a good indicator. The PNL or Key Business Items sheets are usually long and full of varied (and important) information...so pay attention to the items your District Manager asks follow up questions about. If you're always asked, “Why is your food cost such and such?” but never, “What are you doing to improve sales over last year?” then you've got a good idea where to focus.
If you own the place it's a little trickier: You have to decide what's ultimately important. You should have figured this out before opening the doors, really, but if you haven't give it some thought. Is superior customer service your key to success? Incredible food? Cleanest bathrooms in town? Is sales per labor hour your key metric? Cost per burger?
Once you know how your success is defined, you can plan on how to achieve it. If you feel that having the best customer service in town is your goal, you can hire friendly peppy people and based performance reviews on that. If cost per pizza is your key metric, you know to watch portioning.
You also know what can get a little less attention. If you feel that delicious food or fast service is more valuable to your customers than a smiling face, then you can hire a skilled person who isn't a “people person.” You can clean the lobby once or twice a day instead of every hour. You can spend more on the ingredients and less on the decor.
The point is, know where you're going. Then, you can decide (in a million small ways) the best route to get there.
