Systemise your business the McDonald ’s way

Into the Desert Podcast recently had the opportunity to interview Marianne Page, a former executive at McDonald’s with 27 years of experience in senior management. Marianne is an award-winning leader and developer of high-performing teams. In conversation with host Freddie Pullen, she explains how small business owners can build simple systems and teams that will free them from the day-to-day of their operations.

Love it or hate it, McDonald’s is without a doubt an incredible success story. It’s mesmerising that you can go to a McDonald’s here in Dubai and go to one 3 or 4000 miles away in Bath or London, and it’ll be exactly the same. This is a business that has innovated radically, expanded globally, and continued to go from strength to strength since 1955.

McDonald’s is a shining example of the American Dream. From its humble beginnings as a single drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California, it has grown exponentially to become an international icon with over 38,000 locations worldwide. Over the years, McDonald’s have adjusted their menu and adopted new technologies to provide a more enjoyable experience for their customers. They’re not afraid to push boundaries and introduce daring new products like the McRib or McFlurry. Clearly, McDonald’s isn’t just surviving - it is thriving. Despite daunting competition, shifting industry dynamics, and technological change, McDonald’s continues to show how a business can rise and succeed regardless of time or market trends.

Having grown-up within McDonald’s and spent her entire career at the company, Marianne left the business after 27 years. She then took a position with the UK’s National Blood Bank, where she saw the potential to bring change and give back. It was only then that she fully appreciated the power of the systems and the culture that McDonald’s creates.

While the blood service were hesitant to make big changes, that realisation took her focus in a completely new direction. Systems were what made McDonald’s exceptional. Systems made McDonald’s a byword for consistency and reliability, no matter where they operate. And systems underpinned the high-perfomance teams and can-do culture she knew so well.

Marianne quickly saw that very, very few business are run like that. And her mission ever since has been teaching small business owners how to create systems and teams the McDonald’s way.

SHE EXPLAINS 3 THINGS THE COMPANY DOES UNIQUELY WELL.

FIRST, there is a clearly defined way to do everything. Having only one right way to perform a task creates not only concistency, but interoperability among team members and locations. It gives people transferable skills. Everybody can perform a multitude of jobs to the same required standard

SECOND, there is training. It’s one thing to decide the one right way to do everything, and another thing to implement properly. Having your operating manual nicely prepared and filed away isn’t going to help a great deal. The training at McDonald’s starts from Day 1 and never really stops. Once you are trained, you’ll be training others the same way. You are taught to replace yourself. You constantly acquire and transfer skills.

THIRD, you must give people proper feedback. McDonald’s has a very clear and structured performance management system. It isn’t so much about disciplining people, as it is about providing the feedback people need to improve and progress in the company. Nobody is at a standstill at McDonald’s. There is a contant drive for improvement.

We can see it in the introduction of new product lines, or the introduction of new technologies. The introduction of table service reduces labour-cost (an important metric for franchisees), with fewer tills needing to be manned. While the use of order screens has led to increased order values. People are far less self-conscious about ordering 3 Big Mac’s from a machine than they are face-to-face. Those big decisions are all backed by data, which of course, is feedback.

This all creates an incredibly strong culture, one that only became apparent once Marianne had left the company. There is a unity and camaraderie there, where everybody works for the good of McDonald’s. That spirit helped the company survive multiple unforeseen crises during her time there, including the outbreak of Mad Cow Disease and the 2008 financial crisis.

She has found very few small businesses have one right way of doing things defined and documented. Even fewer have trained people to follow them. And zero have the performance management in place to really benefit from those two other systems.

Teaching this to small businesses is Marianne’s focus today. And she has 2 tips for those looking to systemise their business. First understand the customer journey and ask how you can make it simpler, more logical and more concistent. Second, ask yourself: if you could rehire all of your team tomorrow, how many would make the cut?

Most business owners initially believe that their team is fantastic. Then you can watch them react as that one person comes to mind who doesn’t quite fit with the culture of the business. Those staff members use up a disproportionate amount of the owner’s time and resources, and they have a knock-on effect that drags your team back. McDonald’s has this strong culture that pushes you to improve. Although it can be slightly unforgiving, it does dispense with those people who don’t align very quickly.

Getting the right people is so important to building high-performing teams. Some applicants can look great on paper but won’t fit the business properly. Hire for your values first and foremost. Stick to them and don’t settle for just anybody. Then give them a really structured 3 month probation period, before you make an honest ‘yes or no’ decision. The people who get to stay are the right people.

Systems and high-performing teams can serve your business just like they do at McDonald’s. With the right people in place, the right way of doing things established and everyone trained up, you’ll be able to replicate your successes time and time again.

Marianne

Founder & CEO

Freddie Pullen Founder Into The Desert Podcast Co-Founder - Studio Nu