A few days ago I was lucky to share a meal with connie pinko at Nobuyuki Nobu Matsuhisa’s outpost in Vegas when we traveled through. It’s the second time I have eaten omakase there and the thing I noticed above the impeccably prepared sushi, the amazing sake pairings and the beautiful plating is the teamwork of the floor staff. Right after we received our first course I dropped my chopsticks. Before I straightened up from the floor, another waiter was there with a fresh pair. During the second course, our waiter had delivered the food and was describing the course while holding the tray behind his back. Seconds later, another of the floor staff passed behind him, grabbed the tray and whisked it off so our server could hang for a minute and converse without having a bunch of crap at hand. Water, tea and sake were refilled like ghosts. Dirty plates disappeared. All night it was like this: a seamless constant observation of needs and tasks that were just automatically completed without needing to be asked, without regard to whose “job” it was to do whatever task was at hand. This is my 2015 teamwork challenge. Rev. Riot used to say something like: “anything needed, getting done”, and it’s a great maxim for your crew to live by. Let’s organically and intuitively solve problems and puzzles on the track and make the game seamless, smooth and fair. Expand your awareness to the other officials on the crew and grasp what they need to be successful. By working as a machine, aware of our interconnections while remaining open to all that’s happening on the track, we can significantly improve the way we run our games.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 03:52:27 +0000