A short YouTube segment (Donald Burns) arguing that habitual language shapes organizational culture—especially in restaurants. Burns says pronoun choice (they vs. we), labels (customer vs. guest; manager vs. leader; staff vs. team), and common phrases (e.g., “no problem”) reveal values, strengths, and weaknesses in a business’s culture and mindset.
Change the words you use. The words you use on a habitual habit actually become the foundation of your culture. I can sit and talk to a restaurant owner for 20, 30 minutes and I can tell you right away just from listening to the words they use, whether they have a great culture or a negative culture, a toxic culture, a lot of it's pronoun do they say they or do we say we? When you find out what they value, you can find out what's important to them. Then you can also find out where the weakness is in their culture. I hate when people say no problem. No problem's a double negative, so no problem is a problem. Do you call them a customer or you call them a guest? Different mindset. Are you a manager or are you a leader, staff or team? What do you refer to your people as? Think about it.
If your restaurant only works because you work 80 hours a week, it doesn't work.
