Outback Steakhouse Strategies And Beliefs

5. The success of Outback is the result of their "Principles and Beliefs." They believe that if they take care of their people--Outbackers, customers, suppliers, neighbors and partners--then the institution of Outback will take care of itself. The following is a section of their "Principles and Beliefs" section, which defines Outback's commitment to their Outbackers:

" We keep our commitments to Outbackers, guided by our five principles. Our purpose is to prepare Outbackers to exercise good judgment and live our Principles and Beliefs. There are no probationary Outbackers.

Because of our Serious Food, Concentrated Service and No Rules, Outbackers approach our Customers with confidence and a sense of ownership while demonstrating our principles of Hospitality and Quality. They are proud to be Outbackers. Outback's environment requires people to be tough on results, but kind with people.

It is an environment where managers are focused on serving Customers and supporting their Outbackers. Outbackers know they are valued and that situations special to them will be handled with respect and concern. How we take care of Outbackers is embodied in the details of our nine commitments to them.

Clear Direction, preparation, Involvement, Affecting one's own Destiny, A Fair Hearing, Sharing in the Success, Making a Commitment, Having a Good Time and Compassion."

Outback is very concerned with their employees' lives outside the chaotic rush of their restaurant. They want to provide their managers with the opportunity to pursue family and career interests outside the restaurant; so they are open for dinner only. Outback had the lowest turnover rate in the industry, which lessened its need to spend money on training replacement employees.

Most companies policies indicate that the customers comes first, but Outback's strategy focuses on their employees as their most essential asset and resource. The founders realized that they had to show that they were serious of taking care of their Outbackers, so Outback promised all Outbackers clear direction, extensive training, a fair hearing when a complaint arose and a fun workplace environment.

With the growing need for diversity in the workplace, Outback initiated programs such as "Five for Our Future", in which management at all levels identified five or more Outbackers of underrepresented minority groups with strong leadership potential and developed monitoring programs designed to help them earn more responsibility in the workplace.

In addition to extensive on-the-job training Outback advocated their "Better Yourself Through Education Program" which was established to enhance the skills of the management team. The course encompassed a self-directed, 12-week, distance-learning program consisting of 16 lasses focusing on business skills, communication skills, human resources and self-managemnt skills. The classes were in workbook form and took approximately 10-32 hours to complete. In addition to honing their skills as a greater asset to the company, these Outbackers evolved into greater assets to themselves based on what they took from their learning and how they applied to their life in Outback and towards the future.

If they live their Principles and Beliefs and meet their commitments to Outbackers, their "Outbackers" see Outback as a great place to work, have fun and make money.

6. Outback's culture is adaptive based on the amount of changes that have occurred since their inception and how they adjusted to them. During a short period of time in the early 1990's the founders felt that their original message had been lost due to the influx of employees that had previously worked in another type of restaurant or chain. Historically, they developed their management candidates from their own ranks; the habits that the newcomers brought into the company did not embody the values that Outback were trying to instill into their employees, so the founders spent nine months contemplating and verbalizing the values, beliefs, goals, keys to success, guiding principles and direction of the company. When this so called "visioneering" attempt was finished, Outback produced a document called their Principles and Beliefs, which contained their idealistic operating manifesto. The Principles and Beliefs outlined the founders' "recipe for success" as well as defining themselves to its stakeholders and explained how the company's identity was to be created; a new installment of a more focused vision statement.

Due to the recent economic downturns the restaurant industry characterized by tight margins and a high failure rate, restaurants of every different size and continuum had to make decisions based on price, workforce and quality due to