CIO Straight Talk - Issue 11 - 51

there to be a lot of red tape I would have to cut
through and that I would need to respect the
hierarchy. However, I was pleasantly surprised to
learn that there were no such barriers. And there
was no hierarchy. I could talk about anything
with anyone at any time. From the challenges
I was facing to explaining why some projects
might take a long time to complete, I was
comfortable sharing all my concerns with the
team at Chili's with no hesitation.
This firsthand experience showed me the value
of teamwork.

COMMUNICATING
ACROSS BORDERS
Ten years later, I'm now the vice president of
information technology at Chili's and in my time
here, I have tried to create a similar culture and
encourage open conversations with our offshore
vendors as Chili's team members did with me
when I worked offshore.
It's crucial that our external partners have a
direct line of communication with me and my
team because it leads to better results. One way
we encourage this is through video conferencing,
which provides an opportunity for the teams to
address questions about the rationale behind a
project, reasons for a particular project's time
frame, and much more. We see better results
from our IT partners when they understand the
ebbs and flows of our business - for instance,
our need to roll out gift cards before the holiday
season, when we expect a high volume of traffic.
Chili's also encourages what we call "Above
the Line" behavior. This provides a way for
us to keep our teams motivated. When team
members go above and beyond their day job,
we recognize them by handing out an Above
the Line recognition card to highlight a tangible
example on how a specific team member or team
positively impacted the business. This is a smaller
gesture, but it goes a long way in keeping our
team's morale up.
In addition, we often share small tokens of our
appreciation, such as a Chili's t-shirt or plaque,
with our team members working offshore. These

small gifts allow them to show their colleagues
and say, "Hey, this is what came from the
customer!" Travel is also helpful. We often fly
offshore team members to Chili's office in Dallas
or we fly our team members to the offshore site.
These in-person visits make communication
across teams a lot easier and help make our
offshore team feel that they are part of a bigger
team. We never want our offshore team to feel
isolated because it takes us all communicating
with each other and working as one to achieve
our goals.
We apply a similar philosophy to our
international restaurants. Chili's operates in
31 countries now. Most of these international
operations are either managed by franchisees
or local partners as joint ventures. We need
to clearly communicate to them exactly what
we are doing and how they can add to the
capabilities that we are implementing in the
U.S. And I'm talking about capabilities, not
technology. We often have to tailor the process
to fit the resources and requirements of
another country. You can't just cut and paste a
technology solution that works for the U.S. - you
have to find out what each locale needs.

IF YOU WANT HAPPY GUESTS,
YOU NEED HAPPY TEAM MEMBERS.

KEEPING THE
GOAL TOP OF MIND
Communicating across teams internally is equally
as important as communicating across borders
with our offshore team members. I report to our
chief digital officer, Wade Allen, who manages all
digital business for Chili's, which includes digital
marketing and technology. Wade and I work
closely on all our initiatives - but we don't meet
just to debate the marketing case versus the
technology case. We always look at the business
goal first. From there, we consider what kind
of technology we need to use to support and
enhance that business goal. At the end of the
51
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 11

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CIO Straight Talk - Issue 11
