My family and I traveled for Christmas and as tradition would have it, the airports were packed with people. The Delta Airlines counter in Salt Lake City was overrun with passengers trying to check their bags. Amidst the chaos, a supervisor was grabbing baggage tags and handing them out to people before they got up to the counter. His extra hands sped up the process and eased the burden on the rest of the staff.
What if that supervisor had just sat in his office and done paperwork? The lines would have been longer, customers would have been more stressed, and employees would have been overwhelmed.
Assess
How does the management at your company react to busy times? Do they sit in their corner office and complain about delays? Or do they get to work and help alleviate the problem?
Get Involved
Management shouldn’t be afraid to get their hands dirty. By jumping into the fray and helping with daily operations they can see what improvements need to be made. Keeping the connection between management and the grunts on the ground is essential to having realistic managerial expectations.
Exceptions
An occasional hands-on experience for management is a good thing. However, if the boss is always stepping in to save the day this is a sign of bigger problems with your company. Management should take the experience and combine that with their vision and strategy prowess to better the situation. By stepping away from the immediate problem, viewing the bigger picture, one can see patterns and possible solutions. Don’t get so caught up in solving the problem yourself that you overlook longer term solutions that would prevent you needing to step in again.
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Shaun Shull
January 30, 2006
You make a good point Joe, it really is a give and take scenario. Management should really know their product or service and get their hands dirty when needed. On the other side of the coin though management should also recognize and immediately take care of weak links in the chain if it starts to become a common occurance. My boss often says that a good manager should have the skills to do the best work in any department except the person he put in charge to operate it.
Beth
January 31, 2006
I’m glad you posted this. I was at Panera Bread not too long ago, and it was an awful experience. There were very long lines, which were moving like molasses. While I attempted to place my order, the manager twice interrupted to publicly scold the employee. In addition to finding this in extremely poor taste on the manager’s part, the entire process would’ve been sped up by the manager pitching in rather than complaining.
Joe
February 1, 2006
Shaun & Beth - Thanks for your examples of managers that “get it” and those that don’t!
Maria Palma
February 4, 2006
Joe,
It’s always great to see a manager lead by example. In my experience I’ve seen that managers who “get their hands dirty” tend to have employees who do so as well.
~Maria Palma
http://www.customersarealways.com