simplerich

Twitter, 140 characters (letters, numbers, & spaces) to convey an idea has no trouble coming up with some great, short, one-liners.

sayalakai RT @aycangulez Mgrs aren’t hired 2 contribute a linear amount of work, they’re hired 2 amplify the value of those around them ~Scott Berkun

The hardest fire I ever had to do of a manager was not because he was a bad employee but because he was a terrible manager. I couldn’t convince him that doing the entire job himself was what I was after. I wanted him to have his employees help out around the store a little. After all, we were paying them to do more than show up and collect a check. He was always busy. He was the hardest working manager I had except he was never doing HIS job but always doing his employees’ jobs.

He wasn’t developing his employees or empowering them or allowing them to grow. He was creating a store full of place-holders and people who held the counter down during a shift. He never left them anything to do. He was an outstanding Sales Associate, but he was so afraid someone would challenge him he never challenged them.

When I lost him after doing everything I could to help him, honest, I tried to convince him to let them do their jobs, I didn’t lose the store. I lost one more employee after the manager. One person who had become so used to doing nothing that they were content to do just that and resented any opportunity to do more. The rest all stepped up with a degree of relief. They were waiting to be asked to step up and do something and when they were they were good.

None of them had stepped up when they weren’t asked to though. While there was a leadership vacuum none of them stepped up to fill it. While there was no to-do list and no delegated duties not a one of them consistently tried to shine or asked for more to do. None of them got the manager’s job. Managers are developers of other employees, but they must also be self-starters to a large degree. And while these employees turned out to be salvageable, they hadn’t shown the spark that said to me they were the right choice for management.