You get the team your business deserves.

Let’s start with a moment you may know well.

It’s a Friday night. You walk through the door, and within thirty seconds you can feel it. The floor’s out of rhythm. Two tables are waiting too long for a menu. Someone’s on their phone behind the bar. The kitchen is loud, but not in a good way.

You look at your manager. Your manager looks back at you. And you’re both thinking the same thing:

“Why can’t we get good staff anymore?”

I’m going to say something that might sting a little. I say it because I care about you, your business, and the people who work in it.

The team you have right now is the team you built.

Four Decisions That Got You Here

Every single person in your business is there because of four decisions. Each one was made by you or your managers.

1. You selected them.
You wrote the ad (or didn’t). You decided where to post it. You chose who got an interview and who didn’t.

2. You hired them.
You sat across the table, or the bar, or the Zoom screen. You said yes. Maybe you were desperate. Maybe it was a busy week and they “seemed fine.” Either way, you said yes.

3. You trained them.
Or you threw them on the floor with a buddy for two shifts and hoped for the best. Be honest. Which one was it?

4. You lead them.
Every day. Every shift. Every time you walk in, your energy, your standards and what you let slide set the tone for everything that follows.

So if your team isn’t performing, the business has let them down in at least one of those four areas. Sometimes all four.

That’s not a comfortable sentence to read. I know. But it’s also the most empowering thing I can tell you.

Because if you created it, you can fix it.

This Isn’t About Blame

I want to be really clear here. I’m not saying you’re a bad operator. I’m not saying you don’t care.

Most owners I work with care too much. They’re working 60-hour weeks, covering shifts and carrying the whole place on their back. They’re exhausted.

And that’s exactly the issue.

When you’re stuck in the business, you don’t have the time or the headspace to build the systems that create great people. You hire in a panic. You train on the run. You lead reactively. Then you wonder why things keep going sideways.

It’s not a character flaw. It’s a systems gap.

Great employees need great systems to work with. Great employees dropped into a messy system will eventually look like average employees.

What Getting It Right Looks Like

Let’s walk back through those four areas with fresh eyes.

Selection: Know who you’re looking for.
Before you write another job ad, write down what a 5-star employee looks like in your venue. What do they value? How do they treat guests? How do they treat each other? If you can’t describe them, you won’t recognise them when they walk in the door.

Hiring: Slow down to speed up.
A bad hire is the most expensive shortcut in hospitality. Use a structured interview. Ask the same questions every time. Do a paid trial shift with clear criteria. Check references properly. And never hire someone just because you need a body on Saturday.

Training: Build it once, use it forever.
If your training lives in someone’s head, it walks out the door when they do. Document your standards. Create simple, visual SOPs & checklists (cloud-based). Build an onboarding plan with checkpoints, and make sure your managers actually use it.

Leadership: Show up the same way every day.
Your team is watching you. If you let standards slip on a Tuesday, don’t be surprised when they slip on a Saturday. Hold regular one-on-ones. Give feedback in the moment, good and bad. Celebrate the wins out loud.

Those are a few steps as a checklist to compare against your current systems & practices.

The Choice in Front of You

Here’s the truth that most owners don’t want to hear.

You can keep doing what you’ve always done. Keep blaming the labour market, the younger generation, or “hospitality just being hard.” And you’ll keep getting the same results.

Or you can decide, today, to do something different.

Five-star guest experiences come from five-star employees. Five-star employees want to use five-star systems and be led by level 5 leaders. There are no shortcuts. But there is a clear path.

You built the team you have. Which means you have the power to build the team you want.

And you don’t have to figure it out on your own. Surround yourself with people who’ve walked this road before. Learn from experienced people who’ve already turned it around.

If you need some advice on how to get this right, book a 1-hour call with me for some guidance.