Politics Of Retail
As a former retail manager, the most important asset other than your customers, are your employees. Unless you have no life and want to work 24/7, you have to have good workers. Your employees are the drivetrain to your engine. However, to have a good staff, you, the manager, need to BE a good manager.
I have spent my share of hours working under the direction of managers who did not know the first thing about being a good manager. They knew their job well, but did not know how to manage their people. Managing people is an entirely different animal all it's own.
To manage people, you have to listen to each person as an individual, as well as listen and watch each person as they interact with others. Not every person is right for every job. You can't throw a cook out to wait tables. No person should ever be fired who has potential, unless they are stealing or taking advantage of the company. If a person isn't catching onto a job, maybe that is not the job for them. Even a monkey can learn to communicate and build something out of blocks.
A very hard task to manage, is employee to employee interaction. You can't play favorites (this is very hard)! There is always that ONE that stands out from the rest, but you have to keep an open mind. If an employee comes to you to "tattle" on another, you have to investigate without judgment. You can never take one employees word over another. There are cases where employees will play each other for one reason or another.
Be fair, be honest. Never take a side. Treat your employees as if you were your own employee (would you yourself do what you are asking them to do?).
If you employees are happy, they will work for peanuts (ok, not really), and you will get much more out of them.
I have spent my share of hours working under the direction of managers who did not know the first thing about being a good manager. They knew their job well, but did not know how to manage their people. Managing people is an entirely different animal all it's own.
To manage people, you have to listen to each person as an individual, as well as listen and watch each person as they interact with others. Not every person is right for every job. You can't throw a cook out to wait tables. No person should ever be fired who has potential, unless they are stealing or taking advantage of the company. If a person isn't catching onto a job, maybe that is not the job for them. Even a monkey can learn to communicate and build something out of blocks.
A very hard task to manage, is employee to employee interaction. You can't play favorites (this is very hard)! There is always that ONE that stands out from the rest, but you have to keep an open mind. If an employee comes to you to "tattle" on another, you have to investigate without judgment. You can never take one employees word over another. There are cases where employees will play each other for one reason or another.
Be fair, be honest. Never take a side. Treat your employees as if you were your own employee (would you yourself do what you are asking them to do?).
If you employees are happy, they will work for peanuts (ok, not really), and you will get much more out of them.
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