Page 196 - Everything I Know About Business I Learned

Everything I Know About Business I Learned at McDonald’s

had difficulty understanding the logic behind whatever you were
proposing and how it related to them locally. This led to some
pretty intense discussions between the corporation and the
licensees. But many times this process also had a tendency to help
a campaign develop and morph into a better one with their input.
It was all about synergy and respect for one another’s position.
As Paul saw it, “As we grew, it became obvious that you couldn’t
do that [make decisions out of one central location]. And at
about that point in time, I truly started to appreciate the worth
of all the exchange we had, and how difficult it was, if you pre-
sented your case to the operators, and you got some good dis-
cussion, . . . to get [a] good [resolution] out of it. I don’t believe
that we [were ever denied] our approval when we presented [our
case] well to the operators. And I believe to this day, I believe all
the grinding, bumping, and side-door meetings, all the stuff that
would go on, like a political process, gave us the best product,
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and that’s the product we have today, and we continue to achieve
it by going through the process. It did lead us.” At McDonald’s,
the tougher the process, the better the result—the weaker ideas,
while vetted, never stood a chance.
Many times the operators went along with decisions solely
for the good of the system. As retired CEO and chairman Mike
Quinlan noted, “Many have enough faith in the McFamily that
they are willing to subjugate their personal preferences enough
for the greater good of the whole, so they go along with it.”
Good organizations seek to improve communications by
examining even the most mundane or insignificant activities.
Consider, for example, performance appraisals or reviews that
are conducted, usually annually, on employees within an organ-
ization. Without expanding on the merits, or perhaps the down-
side of these activities, few would quibble with the notion that
if employees do not understand what is expected of them, and
do not have the tools to accomplish the tasks they are assigned,
the chances of success are minimal. And its importance is huge.