Public Management 101: Bartending Basics
by Leah Vincent on April 30, 2008 in Opinion
When I was 22, I took a job as a bartender in Manhattan to earn some extra cash. As a longstanding teetotaler, I was initially derisive of my new job - until I realized that bartending was in fact a fountain of public management knowledge.
In the months I spent behind the bar, I learned about the effects of alcohol, the rules of hustling and the curious mating games played by American youth. I also learned about myself, our culture and humanity (or lack thereof). But most relevant to my studies at HKS, I learned everything I need to know about running an organization.
Lesson 1: Front Line Employees Are the Most Important
At their core, all bars are identical. They serve the same types of alcohol, and most people order one of six drinks. What differentiates bars, what makes them successful or not, are their environments, and these are shaped primarily by bartenders.
Any company in the service industry is defined by the providers who interact with customers. In many ways, the service providers are even more important than the CEO. Organizations are
often tough on front line employees while fawning over the bosses, like a top-heavy pyramid at risk of crumbling from below.
A classic example of how a front line employee can topple an organization is what I call “Sara’s Revenge.”
Sara had been highly frustrated with our bar’s obnoxious manager Janice. One morning, while slinging drinks and serving food to the Sunday brunch customers, Sara took action. By 11:30 a.m., the place was packed. Drink orders were piling up, and the bar was lined with people throwing back Bloody Marys and tearing through tent-sized omelets.
At 11:31, Sara picked up her purse and walked out the door. At 11:50, Janice realized she didn’t have a bartender. So did more than 100 angry patrons.
Like the bar, most nonprofits are in the service business. We have to remember that the staff providing services are the core of what we offer, and our most important resource. That means taking care of them so that they don’t walk out on us.
Lesson 2: Take Inventory
Or don’t, as I failed to do one Saturday morning after a double shift. Twelve hours later, back at the bar, I made half a dozen vodka martinis with gin. In the process, I lost six dollars in tips, half a bottle of alcohol and six customers for life.
From that night on, I restocked religiously, and cleaned and ordered my liquor supply, napkins and garnishes. It was hard to do at 3:30 a.m. after a seven-hour shift, but it’s impossible to manage a bar without taking inventory every day.
If only the managers of far more precious services - like, you know, healthcare, education or development aid - would invest the same kind of time into assessing their tools, resources and the state of their organization, then it might be as easy to get children their vaccines as it is to get a businessman his dry martini.
Lesson 3: Swiftly Reward the Good
Perhaps the most powerful lesson I learned as a bartender is how important it is to tie performance directly and immediately to one’s personal profit.
With a glut of artists, models and out-of-work actors desperate for a buck, bars can afford to pay their employees next to nothing. So most of a New York City bartender’s salary consists of tips.
The average tip per drink is one to three dollars, and provides instant feedback to the bartender on her performance. Every dollar I earned as a bartender reflected the quality of my work. I’ve never worked so hard in my life.
This is a difficult lesson to apply to the public sector, where rewards are not always monetary and results can take months, if not years, to observe and tally. But those organizations that do make an investment in analyzing the outcomes of their daily work and swiftly rewarding achievement will see a significant return in motivation and efficiency as well as the bottom line.
Sometimes, I am intimidated by the elegant theories and sophisticated models of management I am learning here at Harvard. Then I remember the simple truths I discovered on my feet - glasses in hand, taps flowing - and realize they are not that complex after all.
Cheers!
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