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Lesson #2: You’re Only As Good As The People You Hire

Ray Kroc Articles
Lesson #2: You’re Only As Good As The People You Hire

“None of us is as good as all of us,” Kroc would say. A strong proponent of teamwork, Kroc understood that his growing company could only continue its meteoric rise up if it had the support and the dedication of its workers behind it. In order to ensure staff loyalty and motivate his employees, Kroc did his best to guarantee that they were treated with respect and were able to operate on an equal playing field.

In the early stages of the business, Kroc personally took charge of the entire hiring process. Once he had made the decision to bring someone on board the McDonald’s team, Kroc would give each and every one of them a badge with the title of Management Trainee. It didn’t matter what their actual job was; Kroc wanted every employee to feel valuable and like an important part of the team. Kroc would then tell his workers to think of a better way to do their job or of any improvements that could be made in customer service, which could then be written down and placed into a Suggestion Box.

The effect of this was that it made McDonald’s employees, especially the new ones think that they were on their way up within the company. Even if you were just a janitor, as a Management Trainee you could feel like you were an important part of the management team. Kroc praised his workers and promoted them accordingly. In return, the majority of McDonald’s employees would love showing up to work every day and would deliver better service with a smile, which was a crucial component of Kroc’s strategy. “McDonald's is a people business, and that smile on that counter girl's face when she takes your order is a vital part of our image,” said Kroc.

Kroc’s Suggestion Box wasn’t just a means to make his workers feel like they were valued. Rather, Kroc would use the ideas given to him by his staff to try and improve the business. Indeed, many of McDonald’s most successful products all started with innovations that came from the bottom up. The Happy Meal, for instance, which has become one of the chain’s trademarks and most successful products, was the result of ideas generated from people working within one of the McDonald’s restaurants. Kroc understood that since he was relatively removed from the daily operations of the chain and its customers, some of the best ideas were bound to be those that came from the people who were actually in charge of what was going on inside the four walls of his restaurants.

“The success of additions such as the Filet-o-Fish, the Big Mac, Hot Apple Pie and Egg McMuffin…each evolved from an idea of one of our operators,” said Kroc. “So the company has benefited from the ingenuity of its small businessmen.” Kroc saw his staff, as well as his franchisees as his own internal customers and did his best to ensure that they too were equally as satisfied as the external customers they served.

It was by embracing innovation, fostering a sense of teamwork, and rewarding hard work that Kroc ensured his workers were on board 100% towards achieving his dreams.





Lesson 2 Youre Only As Good As The People You Hire

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Anne Barr
Anne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website

Jeff Foster
WebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas.  We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing
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John Brennan
John Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website

Stephanie Robey
Stephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals.

She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com   Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences.  Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.

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