Managing Your Employees

Being a manager and effectively managing your employees can be a tough task sometimes. How do you go about it and not have a mutiny on your hands? Here are a few tips that I can pass along from when I was a manager of a floral shop.

-Don’t ask an employee to do any task that you wouldn’t do yourself.
When I was manager, any task I asked of my fellow employees wasn’t something that they hadn’t seen me do. For example: mopping floors, cleaning out the coolers, taking out trash, scrubbing the restroom or even washing windows. I found that if I was seen doing it then they wouldn't have any complaints when they were asked to do the same chore.

-Tardiness
Tardiness can be an issue. When you’re expecting to have one employee relieve another one, things can get testy if they show up late. Hear why the employee is late and, even if it‘s a valid reason, if it happens too often, then warnings will have to be given. A notice posted at the time clock will also assure the other employees that the issue isn’t being ignored.

-Correction of Employee
I always made sure that if there was a correction to be made to an employee that it was handled discreetly. No one likes to be chastised in front of co-workers I found that if I quietly asked if I could speak to the offending employee in another room that I had better results. I discovered that speaking in a clear no-nonsense voice about the actions and the corresponding disciplinary measures went better one on one.

-Work overload
In the floral business, when you’re busy you’re not just busy but insanely busy! Holidays can be the worse. Employees tempers are short because of lack of sleep and the constant pressure to keep up with the ever growing orders. I found that by having everyone take short breaks, making sure no one's overwhelmed, and by keeping on top of things, everything would run smoothly. Jumping in where I was needed also gave the other employees assurance that I understood what was going on. Talking over any issues that needed attention also helped in keeping orders going in the right direction.

-Encouragement and compliments
When things became really crazy, I always found encouragement to be useful. When people are doing their best and it’s still overwhelming, sometimes just a kind word or acknowledgement can make all the difference to get through the rough spots. Also when everything calmed down and people could get their breath again, I found it helpful to give compliments on how something was handled or dealt with. Appreciation should never be underrated. Everyone loves a compliment on a job well done. It makes great working relations, mutual respect and you have a good team when it comes down to the line.

I hope that some of these tips work as well for you as they did for me. Mutual respect, appreciation and a good attitude makes for a great working team to get the job done!