simplerich

This is a complete violation of my blogging rules in regards to work. It’s neither distant from now in time, nor made up enough where the principles wouldn’t recognize themselves. I have two things going for me that make it a safe thing to do though. First, those involved don’t have or want the Internet and secondly, they don’t know my online persona so they probably won’t find this. Lastly, if they do… I don’t think they could take issue with what I’m going to say. SO! Disclaimer’s aside, and that’s not a way to grab the reader I know, but this was different enough that I felt I should.

The phone rings. It’s 730am. It’s a manager at the hospital with his expecting girlfriend. There are complications and the store opens in two hours. He can’t reach anybody what should he do? He doesn’t want to lose his job but can’t leave the hospital. I’m 8 hours away and wouldn’t get there before the next shift started anyway.

I send a broadcast text to the employees identifying myself in case they don’t have me in their phone books, identifying the problem, asking for help, and thanking them in advance. Then I sat and waited.

An hour goes past and an employee who used to be the assistant manager but who stepped down because his priorities weren’t in the right place (his words) got back to me by text. He could go in but he was supposed to work at five pm so it’d make it a double… a really long day. I thanked him. Left it up to him if he wanted to do the banking or not, not really his job, appreciate any help he can give in this time of trouble, etc. He did the banking, he volunteered to. I didn’t ask him to.

Fast-Forward to 2pm. Nobody’s gotten back to either of us about coming in to help him with the second shift. I thank him for caring enough to do the double, for having the consideration for his co-workers, the store, and the pride in his job to step up this way and help out.

He says he wished he’d had all those things when it counted when he was assistant manager. I pointed out that it still counted. He was helping out the store and I was aware of it and he’d done what no one else could or would do at a time when we needed him and that spoke volumes to his character and his caring. Again I expressed my appreciation.

I’ve thanked him three times at this point. 1) For volunteering to come in early 2) For volunteering to do the banking and 3) In advance for volunteering to stay and do a double… which he hadn’t actually volunteered to do yet. The thing is… after that talking up, that pep talk, that vote of confidence was there any expectation that he wouldn’t stay for a double shift? He stayed.

Now. I could have been a jerk. I could have just been saying those things to get what I want but that’s not the case and he and I worked together several times when he was assistant manager so he knows if I say those things I mean them. I knows that I’m not the type to blow smoke. My reputation as a manager who pays attention to good employees, recognizes good work, and good employees, that is what made yesterday possible. Had I been a jerk or been a bully, or been a flatterer who doesn’t back up the things they say, that store would not have been open. If I hadn’t earned his trust in the past I couldn’t have gotten those results yesterday.

We have to manage every day for the day when we need those employees to help us out. It’s why I think bully-management is the worst kind. There’s no way I could have made anybody come in for that shift. He had to make himself and he did. Not because I’m such a great guy. But because he is, and he knows I recognize that. I sincerely believe people want a chance to shine and be noticed shining.

I’m not taking credit for it being open. That was all due to the employee that came in 8 hours early and stayed all day, doing a 17 hour day for the store because all those things I said about him were true. He does care about the store and about his job. He does take pride in his work and in the store. He also wants that to be recognized. By recognizing good behavior we see more of it. We can, through encouraging, recognizing, and expecting outstanding behavior actually see outstanding behavior while managers who expect to see failures will see just that, at every turn.

The part where I feel like a heel for pushing the buttons that I knew would keep him there makes me feel like an ass though. The times when I do that… when I’m manipulative as a part of my job… I hate those. I feel bad for this time. He IS a good employee and everything I said is true, and I’ll help him return to assistant manager at some point in the future if he, as he said, “have done a lot of growing up since I had to step down.” I’m humbled by employees like that and wish I could do more for them monetarily than I can.

So, if you’re reading this, and you know this is you I’m talking about… When did you get Internet? What the heck?!? LoL Kidding. Thank you. Knowing you’re up there to help out is one of the ways I’m able to sleep at night.

Who are you?

I recently ordered the free google business cards they were giving away. I’m out and my company is getting me some new ones sent soon but I hate being out. When I got the free Google cards they looked like I worked for Google, but that didn’t bother me. The people I would be giving them to knew for whom I worked, and I could select which contact methods to give them by writing it on the bottom of the card. I liked them more than I thought I would and will get more use out of them than I thought as well. I expected to cease using them as soon as my new ones arrived, but these aren’t bad at all.

I posted about blogging about work and I think a lot about the internet and how it is turning into some sort of outer representation of who we are. If you look at all my sites, flickr, twitter, my blog, my tumblr site, my LastFM online radio station, and my SparkPeople page you can get a pretty good idea of where I am, what I’m doing, what music I listen to, what food I eat, and what my likes and dislikes are. It’s a lot of information. It’s the kind of thing I’d love to know about potential employees and it’s something I’m very aware of in real life as well as on the internet. I’m my own brand in here and I’m mostly careful about what I do and say. I’ve been with the same company for almost fifteen years and people who see me know me and know of my association with the company with which I’ve spent so much time.

I think it’s about reputation and character. Reputation is what other people think of you, who they think you are. Reputation is somewhat beyond our control in that we can’t control how what we do is perceived, but we can control what we do and how we do it. Reputation is what Google can show us. Character, our character, that’s what we are inside, when nobody’s looking. Character is the bones on which the flesh of reputation hangs. Google can’t show character.

All over our town I see signs and posters that say “Character Counts in Fort Dodge.” Character is something I think we’re taught early on. I think it’s something we learn on our parents’ laps when they read to us, or don’t. It’s something we see in them. What do we model for our kids or our employees? What character do we exhibit? What character-bones support our reputation? I’m often nervous of people more concerned with reputation than character. Managers who care more about what other people think than about what they do and who they are make me nervous.

“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
– John Wooden