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Improve your management style over lunch

Who knows best how well you’re performing as a manager? Your employees, that’s who. But getting them to speak or write freely on the subject can be difficult. Especially if you run a small department, anonymity is crucial to them. So make it pleasurable instead of a chore for your team. Send them out to lunch together annually or twice a year—on the company’s dime—and instruct them to talk about Your management skills. One person in the group will be responsible for taking notes and compiling a report for you that summarizes all that was said without citing or giving away who said what. Maerav Chiprut, The Next Idea’s VP Training services says: ‘Yes, there may be some painful moments as you read through the feedback, but there will also be insights. You may discover that what you intended to do in some circumstances was perceived in an entirely different way by your employees. You may also learn what you’re doing well that’s appreciated, and what you need to do more of. Everyone wins with this kind of feedback approach’

And remember - Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things

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Headlines scream it, marketers cash in on it, even employers are making a to-do about it. Americans need to lose weight. Robert Ancill, CEO of Food Consultancy The Next Idea, says: “Here’s the skinny: From 1980 to 2004, the rate of obesity doubled in the United States. Over the 2005–2006 period, more than a third of the U.S. population was obese, which translates into more than 72 million Americans struggling with significant weight problems, according to the National Center for Health Statistics”.

What is worse - The number of overweight school-age children in the United States has increased more than 60 percent since 1988.

Ancill says: “The problem is just getting worse not better, it is imperative that all Food outlets begin to understand their responsibility in providing products that have health attributes as opposed to just a healthy profit margin!

The Next Idea (www.thenextidea.net) is a Retail Food and Restaurant Consultancy committed to improving the quality and Healthfullness of the products available to the US Consumer.

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What is the next phase in healthy eating?

According to Robert Ancill, President of The Next Idea, Los Angeles based Restaurant Consultancy consumers are taking increasing interest in Mediterranean cuisine.

In 2007, The Journal of the American Medical Association reported, a combination of the Mediterranean diet, moderate exercise and drinking, and no smoking can

lower mortality rates by 65 percent.

What is the Mediterranean diet? It’s heavy on the olive oil and light on meat and dairy. It also includes lots of fish, vegetables, seeds, grains, nuts and legumes.

The first study was conducted over 12 years (1988–2000) by researchers at Wageningen University in the Netherlands and other European universities. Twenty-three hundred healthy people between the ages of 70 and 90 were surveyed about their eating habits and physical activities.

Another study conducted at the Second University of Naples found that people who suffered from “metabolic syndrome” improved after following a

Mediterranean diet. Metabolic syndrome increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Symptoms include being fat around the middle, having high cholesterol and high blood pressure, and improper processing of glucose. After two years, only 44 percent of those on the Mediterranean diet still suffered symptoms.

Ancill reports that The Next Idea has experienced a larger than normal interest in Mediterranean concepts both from entrepreneurs and restaurant investors. In a recent interview Robert Ancill commented; “Possibly we will eventually see a Healthier consumer if such a trend gains traction in the market place, the question is whether operators will understand the unique economics of executing a Mediterranean menu”.

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