Since the spring of 2013, Patrick Van Amburgh has served as a bar manager for Zulu Time Bar and Lounge in West Point, New York. In that capacity, Patrick Van Amburgh draws on his background in counseling and psychology.
Good bar management depends on one's ability to understand and effectively lead a diverse staff. The manager must first understand that each staff member needs different approaches from a manager, and the manager must then be able to respond to each in a way that yields the most effective results.
Similarly, the skilled bar manager can enlist the staff's cooperation by emphasizing a team approach. For the manager, this involves joining in on all daily tasks that he or she might ask the staff to perform. A manager must be able to collaborate in this way while also keeping the respect of staff and the owner, so that he or she can enforce employment policies and mediate employee disputes.
If such disputes do arise, the manager should listen in a balanced way to each party involved. When the time to make a decision arrives, however, the manager must be both firm and fair. This fairness must be consistent, as any mistrust of the manager's objectivity may lead to leadership problems in the future.
Good bar management depends on one's ability to understand and effectively lead a diverse staff. The manager must first understand that each staff member needs different approaches from a manager, and the manager must then be able to respond to each in a way that yields the most effective results.
Similarly, the skilled bar manager can enlist the staff's cooperation by emphasizing a team approach. For the manager, this involves joining in on all daily tasks that he or she might ask the staff to perform. A manager must be able to collaborate in this way while also keeping the respect of staff and the owner, so that he or she can enforce employment policies and mediate employee disputes.
If such disputes do arise, the manager should listen in a balanced way to each party involved. When the time to make a decision arrives, however, the manager must be both firm and fair. This fairness must be consistent, as any mistrust of the manager's objectivity may lead to leadership problems in the future.
