Keeping Young Employees on Task
29 06 2009At my retail job, one of my responsibilities is to help keep the staff on task.
The other day, four employees in the tools department were standing around their cash registers, throwing screwdrivers into a box, playing a game that sort of looked like basketball… with screwdrivers.
When I approached them to get them back on task, I decided to have a bit of fun with it. So, I walked up and said, “Don’t stop shooting. But know this: First guy to miss is going to sweep the dock.”
Not surprisingly, no one wanted to shoot anymore. They all found something better to do with their time.
The moral of the story is that you can have fun trying to keep people on task, and, in fact, you should. It’s less stressful than a shouting match… and more effective.
sometimes managing people doesn’t necessarily require you to be strict to get your point across. You might just need to take a different route to get your point like you did here and no one feels looked down upon or disrespected. It’s important to build a relationship with employees where you are respected yet not hated.
Well put.
I guess it bears mention here that Machiavelli’s advice that “it is better to be feared than respected” should not be the cornerstone of your philosophy for managing Generation Y.