Food & Beverage
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How to delegate and mentor
By Brian Horn
Smart Business Cincinnati | February 2009
Page 1 of 2
Tony Vanjohnson
CEO, Margaritas Mexican Restaurant LLC
Tony Vanjohnson wants to
lead by example and be a
mentor at his company,
but sometimes that is easier
said than done. As the leader,
the buck stops with you, and
that can hinder a leadership
style that includes delegating.
“You’re trying to lead by example, but sometimes you just
have to say, ‘Hey, no, you’re
going to do it this way,’” says
Vanjohnson, founder and CEO
of Margaritas Mexican
Restaurant LLC, which has six
locations and employs more
than 100 people.
Smart Business spoke with
Vanjohnson about how to effectively lead by example while
delegating and how to become
a mentor to your employees.
Q. How do you show employees
you lead by example?
In my business, it is showing
that, in the time of need, not
only myself but any of my managers, if needed, will put on an
apron and become a server, get
behind the bar and become a
bartender. Just doing whatever
it takes to work cohesively as a
team and show that to the people that you work with and
work around.
Q. How can a leader delegate
more effectively?
Know your own strengths
and weaknesses, and delegate
those weaknesses to someone
that is stronger in that area
where you may be weak.
Every morning, I get up and
go through the day prior and I
break it down morning, afternoon, early evening, and I say,
‘OK, these are the decisions I
made; these are the things I did. OK, I could have done
this better. Maybe I should
have had this person handle
this.’ So, I’m constantly reevaluating myself pretty much
every day.
Whatever I can change, I’ll
change the next day. That’s
something a leader has to do.
Admit that you’re wrong, or pat
yourself on the back when you
are clicking on all cylinders.
A good leader will always set
out their goals. I’ll have five or
six goals for the year. ‘I want to
be able to accomplish
these things.’ So, I’ve kind
of incorporated those
goals and paralleled them
with my self-evaluation.
