14 Jul How to help your leaders understand and use financial data
As a hospitality management mentor and coach, much of my work involves helping business owners build teams that manage themselves — leaders who take initiative, make decisions with confidence, and understand the business beyond day-to-day service. One of the biggest hurdles I encounter is around the interpretation and application of financial data by operational leaders like chefs, venue managers, supervisors & team leaders.
Many of these professionals are exceptional at their craft but have only basic to moderate numeracy skills. When faced with dense spreadsheets full of figures — especially those comparing budget to actuals by period, YTD or versus the prior year — they often disengage or defer to someone else. If we want our teams to become more autonomous and commercially aware, we need to radically improve the way financial data is collated and presented to them.
First, the way data is collected matters. Many POS, stock control and rostering systems can be integrated with accounting software to ensure timely and accurate financial snapshots. When data is current and clean, it builds trust in the numbers.
Equally important is the way we present that data. Some people love and are very comfortable with numbers and will happily bury themselves in creating & populating spreadsheets. Others, not so much. This doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not capable of understanding. That’s just not how their brains best process this information.
Dashboards using clear graphs, colour codes, and simple commentary can be far more effective than raw spreadsheets. A traffic light-style breakdown of key costs — labour, food, beverage — gives immediate visual cues. Graphs showing trends across the year or vs last year are ideal for identifying patterns. Where possible, data should also be broken down by department or cost centre, so each leader focuses on what they control.
But most importantly, we need to shift how this data is used. Too often, senior managers interpret the numbers and issue instructions, rather than inviting their team to engage with the data themselves. When we ask operational leaders to assess the numbers and come back with their own insights, we develop their confidence and strategic thinking. This shift is critical to building self-managing teams.
And it’s not just about finding problems. Leaders should also be encouraged to identify and report successes. If beverage GP is ahead of target, why? Is it a specific promotion, a strong team culture around upselling, or tighter stock control? Helping them analyse and protect the factors behind these wins ensures long-term sustainability — not just short-term correction.
If you’re concerned some of your leaders aren’t delivering financially, you might consider altering the way you generate and present information.
Our goal isn’t to make chefs, supervisors and team leaders into accountants, but to help them become more commercially capable leaders— equipped to both understand the story behind the numbers and act on it with purpose.
