Managing a small bakery business is challenging, especially if you’re doing everything by yourself. Having an inexperienced or mismanaged staff will only make your duty more challenging. You can only make your bakery business a success if you find the time to train your employees, teaching them about their duties and responsibilities.
You can’t find standard guidelines for managing your staff, but you can find different tips to build the foundation for growth and development. Following these tips will help you motivate your employees and improve their skills for the success of your bakery.
Below are tips you can do if you run a bakery business to attain success.
Earn the Staff’s Trust
You won’t be confident about leaving your staff unattended, especially if they have no idea how to complete their tasks or what they’re doing. You’re the manager, so you’ll have to check that your bakery has a comfortable environment where both sides can focus. Train your employees so that you can be confident about not supervising them. Direct your attention to the output they can deliver.
Not on the tiny details related to their tasks. If your employees learn about coordination, they can work without making any mistakes and streamline the business operations of your bakery. Earn each other’s trust so that both parties can work independently and make a few informed decisions independently.
Handle Any Problem
Despite your bakery’s success, you can’t avoid misunderstandings. That’s common if your employees disagree on a specific matter. If this happens, you’ll have to deal with the problem immediately to bring back the balance in your bakery. Balance being firm and approachable. Make it a habit to stand by your decisions.
If necessary, try out different approaches and methods with each person. That doesn’t mean you’ll have to relay inconsistent messages. Make sure you’re using techniques that relate to their strengths and preferences.
Be a Good Example
You’re the manager. You’ll be the one paving the way for your bakery’s success. With that kind of burden riding on your shoulders, your employees will always be looking up to your actions. Your team will share your goals, so make sure to always prioritize your bakery’s cleanliness, customer service, and safety.
Your team will always follow your footprints. Incorporate your bakery’s values into your operations. Be firm and stand by the decisions you make. Treat your employees with kindness and the utmost respect because they’ll do the same.
Be Kind to the Staff
You should treat your employees with kindness and the utmost respect. If you don’t, you might encounter higher turnover rates because they’re not satisfied with how you handle the team. Likewise, they won’t perform well. Your employees only dream of being valued and appreciated. Letting them know that they’ve done their best is the first step.
That will help them have more self-confidence and encourage them to be in their best shape. Nothing beats positive reinforcement. Indeed, it’s challenging to manage a team because they have different personalities, but being a manager doesn’t necessarily mean forcing them to work as hard as possible.
In short, you’ll need an environment where they feel empowered, valued, and motivated.
Handle an Accident
How you handle accidents is something that an employee will never forget. Maybe they might have miscalculated the measurement of an ingredient, like maple cinnamon butter. Or they might have made a mistake in your customers’ orders.
If you get angry for every mistake they make, you’ll only instill fear in them. You won’t be the first person they’ll approach if they have certain problems. You can’t avoid mistakes, but you’ll have to deal with them appropriately. You can use that mistake to teach your staff about preventing similar mistakes.
Openly discuss what happened and ask them to pitch in a few ideas on preventing similar issues from happening again.
Be Clear with Them
Misunderstandings in the bakery can start from not communicating clearly. Most of them will argue in person, through phone calls, or emails. But it’ll end in interpersonal and financial problems, significantly if it affects the customers. To avoid this kind of problem, you’ll have to set your staff’s responsibilities and expectations. Ease tension by relaying your plans directly and clearly.
You’ll also have to determine if the team understands what you want to achieve. Make sure to stop them from guessing or making assumptions. If you communicate what you have in mind, you won’t have to repeatedly remind them about the practices to use in reaching your desired outcomes.
Having a business can be challenging because you’ll have to focus on a lot of crucial matters. Your employees are the foundation of your business, so treating them right is only right. Make sure that they’re in their best condition to achieve success.
