The Value Of An Inspiring Manager: A Real Life Example

Feeling At Home At Work

Our articles often stress the need for immediate supervisors and managers to be well trained not only in the technical aspects of their jobs but in the "people" aspects as well. We know from our annual norms study that fewer than six-in-ten employees in the U.S. are happy with their supervisors and that only half agree that their supervisor is effective at building a strong team environment, at treating them with respect and dignity and at understanding that employees need to balance their work lives with their personal responsibilites. Sustained improvement in any of these areas would likely increase satisfaction with supervisors everywhere! 

Sometimes, though, it's also helpful to step away from the numbers and learn from someone's personal experience and a recent article in the New York Times does exactly that. Danial Adkison writes passionately about both his first job at Pizza Hut back in 1989 and his shift manager, Jeff. At first, Danial was assigned to "dish duty," a job that he hated. He was looking for more responsibility -- and to get away from the sink -- but kept seeing the word "dishes" next to his name on the position chart. Eventually, Jeff let him know that he kept being assigned to dishes because he was constantly complaining about how much he hated that task. (Some recent research suggests that toxic co-workers are one of the leading causes of job disengagement.) By stopping his complaining, he quickly graduated to more demanding tasks, including working as assistant manager. 

Jeff was able to create a strong sense of camaraderie within his teenage workforce, building a team that cared both about their work and each other. Facing many challenges with his own family, Danial began to see this Pizza Hut restaurant as his "home away from home," offering more structure and control than at his "real" home.

All in all, this story demonstrates the transformational role that a successful manager can have, regardless of the type of work being done! You can read the full story here.