Sitting in the lunch room or a cafe or on a park bench with employees in your business can be enlightening, especially you are busy eating and listening.
In this situation of being part of an everyday lunch you have an opportunity to hear opinions that could be more enlightening than you would hear in the business environment. And that is what you want – more honest an useful opinions.
The more you eat lunch with them the more you learn, the more lunch makes you one of them and not the boss.
Lunch discussions are more likely to be off-guard and beneficial to you and the business. Off-guard for you and for them. Yes, this is a two way opportunity, one to be embraced with joy and openness. At the very least you will get to know your team members better … and they you. That has to be good.
Try it. It may take a while to win trust. It will be worth it if you can gain insights that otherwise may not be shared with you.
It’s like when you are on a train or a plane and chatting with someone you just met about business. The talking can lead you to insights you might have otherwise missed. It is a thrill when this happens.
Sometimes the most valuable insights in business come when you are not looking for them. This is never having lunch along is good advice as is having lunch with co-orkers in your newsagency business.