This is an important and often asked question by store managers. It relates to the fact they have days off (imagine that) or are not in the store all the time. How do they know the team is doing it? This is in a way the quintessential question, What if I am gone, are they still doing it? Really? Yeah, it seems like a huge stretch. To expect you can ensure Skippy, Todd and Mary do it (whatever “it” is) when you are not there. I can only call upon my realities. One of which are the Moxie Java girls. Without knowing what their “it” is, and knowing what I know to be a relative customer’s “it” – they are doing “it” well. Perhaps that is the first lesson, what is “it”?
So what is “it”? Is “it” defined? For the sake of not going stir crazy, I will not use any more quotation marks – I think we get “it”. Every business has a vibe. They have a look and feel. They have a mission. They have something they aspire to create. Now let’s not get too Mother Theresa here. Every business needs to meet its financial needs to stay open and make a little extra. An owner has a specific lens. They have a perspective and then there is Skippy, Todd and Mary. What is their perspective? Don’t answer. That is a different post tomorrow. You see, when an owner started, they probably had one store (talking retail here). They were involved every day and often in all things. As they grew their workforce and at some happy-smiling point, they took a day off. They exhaled and let Skippy man the store. Skippy now made decisions about the business. How did that turn out? Are you retching yet, you control freak? Sorry, I was caught up in a moment. They can’t possibly do it as good, quickly or as efficiently as you, right? That is our moment of realization. At some point we, as owners or manager or whatever leader you may be, must relinquish power to someone else. We must delegate our destiny to someone else – however hard it may be. We have to trust that Skippy will do the right thing. Starting point; what are the right thing or things? What is it supposed to look and feel like? Have you defined that?
Start here. Establish a base. Establish a foundation that allows anyone who works for you today or tomorrow to know precisely what you expect. I always ask my learners “How many of you have ever been told to do something but told how (or why)? How successful were you right away?” The first rule of thumb in effectively managing others is clarifying what they are expected to do. Before you get caught up in creating some type of job description, know two things. One, people are intuitive enough to at least know what to do if you tell them what your goal is each and every day. Maybe yours is to make sure every customer is greeted and thanked for their business. So focus on that. Make that relevant and meaningful. Two, you may want them to know exactly how to execute their job. This involves a lot more. Do not take this lightly. It involves more than one comment and certainly more than shoving a doctored job post in front of them and expecting they will get it. This is of course a high level review. You know a 30,000 foot view of what you expect. Does anyone but me think that when someone says this they have no clue what the view is, let alone the one foot view. When someone tells me this phrase, I seriously want to say “you would not know a 30,000 foot view if you were at 30,000 feet.” Enough of that. Let your team know what you expect, small or large. Make the “what, why, how, and to what extent” clear in any task you request.
Next, give your feedback and recognition to your team. In other words, when they do it right, say something. Even if it is just “thank you”. Oh, I’m sorry. About every single manager on planet earth will only say something when they need to correct something Skippy, Todd and Mary does or did. You must embrace the more you constantly correct them, the less the listen. And in turn, when you are not there, they have a skewed view of what to do – only your corrective analysis of what they did wrong and should be done differently next time. The more they hear the right things they are doing, the less they have to reflect. They simply replicate what you said they did well in the first place. And then the likelihood they will do it again even when you are not present increases. Imagine that. Giving praise and acknowledgement will help someone repeat a behavior. Do you have kids?
Now I will address the dark side of management; accountability. This would be in some way (depending on your style or the construct of your organization), defining what is allowed, what is not and what happens when it isn’t done to what – standard, policy, procedure, etc.? There are some realities within business, even in varying context. For example, if someone is late, something must be done by the manager (to whatever degree the situation dictates). Now, we can all agree, people are late for a number of reasons; that is context. Let’s up the game. They are late when you are off that day. Oh boy, what happens now? Cuz the likelihood that you find out about is nil. This is the paradox of the tree falling in the woods and no one is around, does it make a sound? Cross-eyed yet? I’m sorry should I have said “is the Pope Catholic?” or “does a bear poo in the woods?” Whether you are there or not, the emphasis of accountability, doing the right thing, non-compliance and integrity will only be present after you establish your modeling of what that is when you are there. Does that make sense? The type of manager you portray everyday on the job leaves a residue when you are not there. People follow the leader, not the other way around. What you let go, they let go. What you expect, they expect. What you do, they do as well.
Lastly, you will not always be there. Get over it. Unless they set the store on fire purposefully, there are few things to freak out about. However if you fear Skippy has an unsettling amorous curiosity regarding arson-ism, you may want to check in a couple of times. And that is your call. There are no absolutes in management. There are a varied amount of contextual situations that you will meet with presumably a good foundation of behaviors of managing and leading others. It will always depend. And then you act and do and say and give and whatever other verb may apply. The simple answer to this “what if” is to set them up for success, give them recognition and establish boundaries of right and wrong. Then have a nice day with your family on that day off.
As much as this is a very common question, I always go the heart of the reason why it is being asked and then can find my way to a specific call to action. I find it is not about your presence as much as it is about something else they are or are not doing (even if you are there). So focus on that. Of course, I could wrong. Skippy has bought a lot of matches lately.