New Passive Aggressive approach: Being Respectful!

In my short 6 months of working at my new employment I have had the pleasure of observing many different characters. I have seen different leadership styles, different management styles (yes, those can both be separate issues) and different attitudes.

Let me back track to 2004 first. It was then that I took a job in Kansas City at Jantsch Slaggie Architects. On my first day I was introduced to my new project manager Joe Stewart. The first thing Joe said to me in our team meeting was, “I am going to teach you everything I know, I am not afraid of you taking my job”. Now while at first glimpse that may come across as an extreme case of arrogance, I recognized it as pure self confidence in his ability to also grow his situation.

See what Joe had obviously learned

at some point along his career path was, you are only as great as the team around you. Using a sports metaphor, a quarterback can only be good if his line in front of him is willing to block. Without those working hard and doing the grunt work, you will never have the ability to rise up to greatness. And as you rise, so do those on your team.

The next five years we worked together we did a great job as a team. Daily I watched as I was learning and getting experiences that friends same level as me hadn't even dreamed of yet. Business trips, City Administrator meetings, Client meetings, Contract writing, and the list goes on and on. So how does that relate to today? I’m not practicing Architecture anymore.

Present Day: About two-thirds of the time at work I run the front of the store. This means at Hy-Vee that I am responsible for cashiers, courtesy clerks, customer service, custodian and the parking lot. At any given moment the front end Assistant Manager is managing at least a dozen sometimes up to three dozen different people, doing different duties and responsibilities. Meanwhile maintaining the #1 most important part, make sure the customer has the BEST possible experience.

What does this have to do with being respectful? EVERYTHING!! When I was little my parents taught me to use two very important words, Please and Thank You. Lets be honest first, I do not want to be an Assistant Manager forever, I want to continue to advance my career. In order to be successful as an Assistant Manager I need to have the strongest team around me. I have no control over who is hired, who works what shift (oh, sometimes I wish I did though), and what is going on in their personal lives. But I do have control over how I treat them. If during my 9 hour shift up front I can treat my all of my CO-WORKERS(and I emphasize that word) with the respect they deserve we as a team can be the most successful. You ask, why did I emphasize the word CO-WORKERS, well its because that is how I truly see all of them. It doesn't matter if this is your first job and you are 16, or you have been working for 50 years, we are all in this together.

• Do I expect you to show up to work, yes! But that doesn't mean I can’t still say thank you for showing up.
• When I ask the courtesy clerks to get please carts, please clean the restrooms, please pick up the trash, do I expect you to do it, YES! But that doesn't mean I can’t still say thank you for doing it.
• When I ask a cashier to please take merchandise back to a shelf, do I expect you to do it, YES! But that doesn't mean I can’t still say thank you for doing it.
• When I have all of my courtesy clerks doing projects around the store and a cashier needs assistance bagging up the groceries, does that mean I call someone else to come and do it, NOPE, I jump in and help, I assist. The cashier appreciates my willingness to “get my hands dirty”. 

Most importantly though, because of the way I treat my courtesy clerks, they have a willingness to jump in first chance they get to take over for me. Guess what, when they jump in, I even tell them Thank You!

I hear “horror” stories about clerks who hide in the parking lot, disappear for long period of times, and are slow at doing many tasks. Funny thing, I don’t have that problem. Same group of co-workers, different “quarterback”. Major difference, I’m not trying to be the all-star on the team. The All-Star is singled out and gets to play in a game without much importance, a team of successful people get to play for the big game and all be champions at the end of the day.

After each shift, I am thankful for all my co-workers who show up. I am thankful for them doing their best. I am thankful to have a team around me willing to work hard so we are all successful.

At the end of the day, my success is only defined by those around me, those willing to do the major lifting and block for me.

In conclusion, Thank You to all of my co-workers who come to work, willing to work hard, willing to help us all be successful, and give me that boost of confidence I personally need to make me think even if in a small amount, I am able to affect the lives of those around me, Thanks again!