Dimed and Damned

Three years ago, when I joined Borders just before the Xmas season as a cashier, I read Nickel and Dimed, an insightful and personal account of the retail workers life. Now, as a manager, I'm reading Getting Them to Give a Damn, about motivating "kidployees" to behave, blossom and grow, especially in the retail world. 

Both are very good books. I guess it's just interesting to see how one can change over time. I see many of the negative behaviors in Give a Damn in myself. Yet, also, the desire to inspire. 

Much of this was on my mind last month in my mgmt training. I expected boring abstract information and role-playing exercises. What I got was a paradigm shift. 

The first is that it's all about behaviors. No need for psychology, it's all about observable behavior. 

What are the expectations? Borders has already listed in detail the competencies they expect (we expect?). They are detailed, yet broad enough to cover just about everything. I didn't know Borders was that smart! Makes it a lot easier to manage people.

I'm still learning. Now listening to Primal Leadership (Goleman), and Execution (Bosidy) [thank you SF Public Library!] on my commutes. "Leaders are always reading about leadership," they said at the mgmt training. Everyday something comes up that requires me to move out of my comfort zone dealing with employees. Sometimes I balk and do nothing. But, at least, I'm getting better at supporting our star employees. It's easy to be distracted by the laggards; those that have poor attendance, poor attitudes, poor work ethic. 

Here's my easy, quick tip from Give a Damn: Let your star employees know that they belong. "You fit right in," "It's like you've been working here for years," etc. It's a great way to give a compliment that's easy to take, and it let's them know they are on the right track, and that you know it. I've even kidded with staff that we should rename their sections as their stores.