Photo by Kike Salazar N on Unsplash
Of the hundreds of lessons one can learn from bartending that directly relate to the workplace, this may be the simplest and the most important one. It’s an easy question that most people don’t like to ask: How do YOU make a margarita?
From the least experienced bartender who can’t figure out a wine cork, to the classically trained mixologist, every bartender knows how to make some version of a margarita. So when you start at a new bar and someone orders a marg, it seems like a no-brainer. You’ve made a million of these to the delight of your previous patrons so you whip one up without issue. To your dismay, your first customer seems unhappy, no longer excited to talk to you! They complain, as they are a regular, and this does not taste how they like it. They are upset and ask you to remake it. Confusion and frustration set in as you scramble to find out what could have possibly gone wrong with making such a basic drink from your repertoire.
This situation could have easily been avoided. You know how to make drinks but what you don’t know is how THIS specific bar makes those same drinks. The question of how do YOU make drinks does not say you don’t know what you’re doing. It says that, even as great of a bartender you are, you are still willing to keep learning and training and work with the team on making a memorable experience for your customers no matter who is serving behind the bar.
This works in every single work environment.
You are amazing at the work that you do! If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have been hired at your new company. You may even be the absolute best at the kind of work you do, but asking that question will always give you brand new insights about your job. It not only shows that you are willing to learn the ways of your new company, it also encourages collaboration. It immediately opens up a dialogue of sharing multiple techniques for doing the same task. It shows that you are open to putting yourself, and your way of working out there, to a new group of people, which can be scary but ultimately rewarding.
This question puts you in a position of learning, and also teaching, right away to your new co-workers. That spreadsheet may have been made using a premade mix for years and all it took is for you to share that sometimes fresh lime juice can be more efficient. Adding a little agave and a different kind of salt to client meetings could be exactly what you and your new company needed to close a huge deal.
So use this quick and easy tool when you are starting that new position, or even taking on a different role within your company. You are a pro at your job but a great employee is always willing to learn more.
I know how to do it this way, but how do YOU ……….?
Written by: Kurt Norval, Senior Search Consultant at Hunter Crown, LLC
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