With all due respect to the new Fall crew, I miss The Lauren and Katie. They say you don't appreciate what you have until it's gone, but every day of the summer when they were working I knew I had it good when one of them was in the trenches. They're smart, hard working, consciencious, personable, and just had a sense of all that had to be kept track of here on an hour-by-hour basis. We never ran out of hot fudge in the warmer or syrup in the shake pumps. The candy was always stocked, and the cups never ran out when we were deep in the weeds. I was even able to leave them alone to run the shop while I snuck away to do things that normal people do when they're not working.
So they've gone back to school now, and while the new crew is still scooping up the learning curve, I'm left wondering how much tougher this summer would have been without my 'A-team'. They've set the bar extremely high for scoopers to follow. Maybe that's why my expectations are so high for my new crew members. What's the moral of this entry? I guess it's something to the effect of this - when you find a great employee, empower them, appreciate them, and enjoy the freedom they afford you. And also realize that not everyone is an ace, so while high expectations make better performers, it can also lead to frustrations. Sometimes expectations need to be adjusted to fit the strengths and weaknesses of the person. This shouldn't let that person off the hook, but may call for extra coaching and require you to lead them in the direction of their strengths. Adjusting expectations, I find, can save you suffering daily frustrations from dashed ones.
This rant may not have made any sense at all, but it was a little theraputic for me.
As always, thanks for listening.
No comments:
Post a Comment