— JORGE MUNOZ

You know, you know, one thing that I use is whatever communication platform you have electronically, uh, is to, uh, send messages to your teammates and just check in as a team to see how they're going to let them know that you're thinking about them, and to open up your doors for questions and comments. Uh, I also like to, uh, reach out and engage with folks individually. Uh, it, uh, it's a nice time to talk about, uh, family and, and topics that might be a little bit more personal, uh, as well as, of course, work-related concerns. Now, uh, another sort of avenue of communication would be in the kitchen, and, uh, that is around safety, right? So in, in a, in a commercial kitchen, and, you know, you know, frankly, even at home here, you know, you, after working in, in professional kitchens, you get in the habit of announcing your presence by saying behind, right? Or behind you as you're walking with a knife or a hot pan or something delicate, where you don't want that person to take a step back and, and bump into you, okay? So, you know, communication in that way, uh, is important, and it creates a certain kind of engagement, this ongoing conversation, albeit safety focused in the kitchen, and you might say hot right, or hot item behind you, or knife or sharp, you know, these are all different terms that are used in different kitchens, uh, again, that promote engagement, but in the name of safety. And, uh, you know, another thing that, uh, you know, I've employed in the past is a, a brief standup meeting in the kitchen. You know, as the shift starts or as a particular project starts, you know, or if there's a pivot in what needs to be done in the kitchen, and you call everyone in, you might run through some high points of what needs to be focused on and get everyone's acknowledgement, field any questions or concerns, and then, you know, move on with the task or the day, you know, as you need to. So those are some different things that come to mind when I think about communication and engagement.