Part 1
Imagine (if you are a store owner or manager) – that you went on a vacation and the business ran better when you were gone. Imagine if that happened every time you left! Surprisingly, some owners would feel hurt and even disappointed. Often the same owners who complain that they have to do everything and they cannot get good help are the ones who micromanage to feel in control. If you have not taken off a week in the past six months, you could possibly be a latent control type manager. That means during a vacation, you could not keep from going into the store or from calling daily to “check on things.”
Let’s go back to the imagination of your business running better without you. Perhaps you are the type of manager who not only strives to make that happen but are delighted when it does. In this case, your reaction would be to return to your store to thank your staff members, congratulate them on their fine work and maybe even celebrate their success. Let’s imagine that this was not a fluke or accident but that you had developed and trained a staff with the intent that you could leave them and they could flourish without you. You have succeeded in establishing trust with your employees!
So what do you do if this latter scenario is the case? You are free to find ways to enhance the business and expand it beyond its current level. It takes creativity plus hard work, and it is not nearly as easy as making sure the same old work procedures happen each day. Now you can shop the competition to see what direction other owners are taking and you can expand your learning beyond your four walls. As your staff can well handle of customer service, you are enabled to take charge of the business trajectory and the path to take into the future.
Granted, some owners would play more golf or sleep in a few days a week. Others would travel or spend more time with family instead of growing the business. Those options are fine if that is what is important to you. Others will spend time on strategy, assortment planning, marketing or finding new vendors. Regardless of where you choose to spend your newfound time, you cannot help but do a better job at it with the enhanced focus.
Part 2
Imagine now you are a manager who relishes the fact that your staff can do things better while you are gone – but your staff is not that good. When you leave, the staff members stand around and talk, customers are not well served and the appearance of the store deteriorates. What do you do when you return to a scenario like this? Maybe you should fire the entire staff!
There are three reasons that people do not do what you would expect:
- They are not knowledgeable – they need training.
- They are not motivated.
- They are not capable.
So, while you were away, one or more of those three kicked into play. If this is the case, you have either not provided the training or you hired the wrong people. The latter error has more dire consequences. It is much harder to fix employees who are broken than to find ones who do not need fixing in the first place.
Go ahead and take off a week. Don’t call. See what happens. It may surprise you.