CIO Straight Talk - Issue 11 - 52

day, we keep both our goals and the business
goal top of mind and stay focused on achieving
those goals.
That led us, for instance, to go with an open
source e-commerce platform. It made sense for
the business and for IT. Before we adopted the
platform, we would have to take our site down
for four hours when maintenance was needed,
which translated to a loss of revenue, unpleasant
guest experience and operational deadlock. Now
we don't have to do that. We can scale up our
website without taking it down and it is set to
auto-scale. We have been able to support almost
5,500 concurrent users, something we couldn't
have done before. And it gives us a foundation to
innovate on digital initiatives.

ONCE YOU'VE PRACTICED "SEE
IT, OWN IT, SOLVE IT, DO IT" FOR
A WHILE, IT STARTS TO BECOME
SECOND NATURE.

engagement, we are all able to positively impact
our guests, which is the ultimate end goal. I
strongly believe that if you want happy guests,
you need happy team members.

CULTURE IS KEY
The foundation of effective teamwork is
accountability. Great things happen when
everybody comes together and our culture is
built around that.
We have a mantra at Chili's - "See It, Own It,
Solve It, Do It." This is a behavior that encourages
us all to act if we see something isn't right. We
don't passively assume it's somebody else's
problem any more than a player would leave an
unattended ball on the soccer field. Instead, we
identify the problem, take charge of it, come up
with a solution and then fix that problem. After
practicing the mantra for a while, it starts to
become second nature.

Another principle we have is "Feedback is
Priceless." All team members are encouraged
to provide constructive feedback in a respectful
Another business goal was to increase team
manner and with the right intention to anyone
member engagement. In order to achieve this,
on any team across the Chili's organization.
we implemented a new system so that when our
No matter what position I'm playing or one of
team receives
my team
a positive
members
comment from
is playing,
a guest about
we're playing
* Your success depends on the strength 0f your teamwork,
a particular
as a whole, and
and the strength of your teamwork depends
restaurant or team
we're
playing on
on your culture.
member, my team
the same team.
sends it directly to
Therefore, feedback
* The ability to give respectful feedback to
the concerned person
should be given
anyone in your organization can be a source
or team. Technology
without hesitation to any
of real competitive advantage.
also allows us to measure
team player.
* Make sure your external team
how many guests each
feels that they are a part of
team member can handle
At the end of the day, business
the team. Direct
per hour. And we're also able
is a lot like sports: success is
communication and
to provide team members with
often determined by the quality of
recognition are
practical information, such as
teamwork. As I like to say, there are
both extremely
shifts that are available for them to
no individuals on a team. You either
important.
work. By increasing our team member
win as a team or you fail as a team.

52
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 11

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