Schedule changes, cash shortage, missing product, and daily goals are communicated from day to day. This allows everyone on the team to understand what their target is and to strive for a purpose for the day. Where shift to shift is task or behavior focused. This is more goal focused. This could also be a “knowledge” form. Having the closing manager fill out daily key performance indicators and the opening manager review or correct those numbers.

This is documented, sure you can have a discussion with the next shift but generally, this is written / digital only.

Purpose

To inform the next day of what was accomplished and may be an obstacle. This should be no more than a line or two and only concerns the key performance indicators. More than a line or two and this should be addressed in a weekly one-on-one.

Audience

Unit shift management.

Example 1

Jason called out. No one has picked up his shift yet. Call me an hour before and I’ll cover if no one else steps up. If you could source more cheese today. You’ll have enough for today but not tomorrow.

Example 2 / Template

Sales:

Labor %:

COGS %:

Orders:

Labor $:

COGS $:

Cash +/-:

SOS:

Notes from the day:

Jason called out. No one has picked up his shift yet. Call me an hour before and I’ll cover if no one else steps up. If you could source more cheese today. You’ll have enough for today but not tomorrow.

If you don’t want to use a checklist, here are a few other ideas:

• Logbook / notebook. Just have the next shift initial that they read the previous shifts note.
• Email / text / messaging app. Again, just have a way to ensure that the message is read.
• Whiteboards. These get erased. I would take pictures to store communication if this has been an issue in the past.