"Strategy and culture should eat breakfast together"

"Strategy and culture should eat breakfast together"
Where big dreams and big hearts meet

Elaia may be a small café with a small team, but we have a big heart, big ambitions, big dreams and a big business mindset. Nothing like a worldwide pandemic to make us pivot, change our business model, get back to grass roots and build back up again. Throughout this process we found ourselves reinventing yet staying true to the essence and culture Elaia was founded on. Now nearly 12 months on, we’re reflecting on how we managed Elaia and ourselves. It’s been an amazing journey and one that has definitely set us up for 2021 as we head into the 25th Anniversary of Elaia opening it’s doors.

"Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast
but culture gets it’s appetite from purpose”

Let's start with our Covid team during lockdown. Amongst all the chaos and confusion the one thing that kept us all together were our values and culture. They are so much a part of our Elaia DNA it was like we were on auto pilot. We were in a crisis with all our routines, systems and disciplines stripped away from us and yet we still had an appetite for purpose, commitment, innovation, creativity and community. Not surprisingly they are a few of our values so I guess it was inevitable we would focus on them. Thinking back now it also allowed us to be comfortable in uncertainty.

From left is Sarah Bennett our Head Chef who has been a rock to Perry and the Kitchen Team for the last 13 years. That's right. 13 years. Sarah sees things through a different set of eyes and tells us what we need to know not what we want to hear. You may want to read that again. Then there is Tiarna our Barista who worked with us a few years ago and came back early last year. The great thing about our culture is that it allows former employees like Tiarna to come back and get back into it. They tell me 'It's like coming home'. During lockdown, Tiarna developed an Elaia Barista Coffee Course on our in house training portal. More about Dylan and 'J' later.

The present.
The future.
The strategy.

Now to share a little of what happens behind the scenes. We focus a lot and I mean A LOT on personal, professional development and growth. Late last year, we organised our first post Covid team event at Elaia. There was some in depth topics covered as I found myself being vulnerable and honest by opening up to the team on the business side of Elaia. I felt it important for them to know so they could understand the reasons behind the decisions we made and more importantly give them the opportunity to contribute and collaborate with us as we plan ahead for 2021. When you're surrounded by mature professionals that are a values and cultural match with your business, managing a crisis seems effortless.

Experts. Leaders.
Our future of Elaia.

It wasn't just me doing all the talking. I asked two of our long term employees Dylan and 'J' to be guest speakers. Naturally they found it nerve wracking and out of their comfort zone, but I'm sure one day they'll thank me. I'm one of those 'love to hate and thankyou later employers' as I relentlessly push our team to reach their potential. Always from a place of love and the results are stunning.

Dylan

​​​​​​​Front of House Night Manager talking about the importance of mindset and managing ourselves to ensure optimum productivity and perfomance.

‘J’

​​​​​​​​​​'J' our most experienced daytime FOH gives us some wise tips and survival strategies on managing high volume services.

Cultural Audit

Accountability and improvement. We asked our Team to be honest with us on how they feel working at Elaia in order for us to understand what we can do to make it a better workplace and business.

This Is Us

A cafe in Charles Street Launceston, working with a great bunch of people that like everyone else has goals, ambitions and fears. We love watching our team grow and encourage them to make decisions and take risks. That's how they become experts and leaders.
They and we don't always get it right, but we have each others back. I guess after 25 years we're still a work in progress.