I’ve recently been promoted to ETL after working my way up from seasonal (hired a few years back) and I gotta say - having worked on the sales floor and directly with guests and bad leaders myself I worry about being overconfident in my relatability as I haven’t been in a TM role in a hot minute. Any TMs have some advice on how to be a good boss? I do my best to listen to my team and trust but I want to make sure it’s felt. Don’t want to be known as a Starbucks ETL. 🥺
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
― William Shakespeare
You are starting out in the right place with understanding that you don't know everything and that you have a lot to learn.
Being willing to admit you don't know everything and are willing to reach out is great.
This forum is a good place to start because dispite the overwhelming amount of snark, there is thousands of hours of expertise here as well as some very smart and talented people.
When I was working as a meatcutter the guy teaching me said that there are stages to knife work.
There is "I don't know what I'm doing, so I've got to be careful."
Next is, "I've got this, I know what I'm doing... And I just cut the tip of my finger off."
Then there is, "I don't cut myself very often but when I do it's messy."
And finally, "I barely ever cut myself but if it happen I can stop the blade as it slices into the top couple of levels of epidermis and not draw blood."
The thing is to get to that fourth level you have to be cutting meat for 20 years and you are still almost cutting yourself.
So you will still make mistakes no matter how good you get at this.
You will just be able to fix them before anyone notices.
Everyone you ever meet knows something you don't.
--Bill Nye
There are people working for you who you can learn from, take advantage of that.
Some of them come from amazing backgrounds, get to know them a little bit and don't make assumptions.
And for fucks sake don't talk down to people because they don't look, talk, have the same background, or education as you.
Most especially don't do it if they are people with disabilities.
I know all of that should go without saying, but I dealt with it from a number of ETLs at my old store and it drove me nuts.
There is nothing more annoying then having a women half your age consistently speak to you using the same vocal tones that mothers do with a three-year-old.
Even worse when she is doing it to a Korean War veteran and a former Grape Street Crip (he left for his kids, I didn't ask what it took to leave).
As I mentioned, get to know the people who are working for you. Some of these people have amazing lives and can add to your skills.
“
Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. ― John F. Kennedy
Don't stop learning new stuff and don't just limit it to what the store management is willing to teach you.
Communication is not one of Spots strong suits and some of the management use information as a weapon.
Come here, Reddit, take Psych classes, read articles online, whatever you can do to get advance yourself and be a better boss.
But most important,
illegitimum non carborundum
Don't let the bastards grind you down.
When those above you start telling you to shit on your people and make their live miserable, do your best to keep that from happening.
You know your people best no some other asshole who doesn't work with them.
As long as you are pulling the best possible metrics, don't let them tell you how to do your job.
Good luck, you'll need it.
