I think people who seek a management position misunderstand what it really entails. I was told a long time ago that managing doesn't mean managing a business. It's really about managing people. If you can master the art of dealing with your employees with some modecum of respect and dignity, you're job will become so much easier.

I operate a retail business, one of many I have done so over the years. What I have discovered that this is a society of retreads. I tend to see people come through my doors who have bounced from job to job because they have worked for an employer whose general operating procedure is to unload anyone who makes a mistake. The general thread of thought is there will always be someone waiting in the wings to fill that spot.

The problem lies in the exhorbitant cost of training a new employee. The average cost of training in a retail establishment is $500. That can be a pretty costly proposition for a company whose profit margins have been slipping for years.

My general rule of thumb is to let my employees make mistakes and learn from them. That tells me that they are least trying. I always tell them during the orientation that if you're not making mistakes, you're not growing as an employee, but more importantly as a person.

Case in point: I recently had an employee mishandle a transaction that cost me $50. She called me the next day and blubbered to me that she knew she was going to get fired for this. What that told me is she has experienced that situation somewhere else where an employer pulled the trigger finger way too early. I simply asked her to do me a favor and not feel that she always has one foot out the door because of making mistakes. I gave her some ground rules to avoid, such as consistent cash shortages, poor performance on the things she's been trained to do, etc. More importantly, however, I told her I'm not one of those managers who will discipline an employee via write up for every little thing. What that conveys to an employee is he/she is not worthy of her position, that her job is in jeapordy. That is so counter productive to the general health of my business. Every aspect of her job would suffer, including dealing with my customers, who are really the ones writing the paycheck for her. I will always give encouragement when it warrants, but I will also offer my professional advice when it is neccesary to help that employee get better at his/her job. The key is not to ridicule and make him/her feel bad.

As a result of my management style, my turnover rate is minimal and I have employees who generally like working at my business. I'm not kidding myself, however, that I am the best manager ever to walk the face of the earth. I just tend to treat my employees as my associates and not my underlings. They are human beings with genuine feelings and deserve to be treated with the respect they deserve.

Learn more about this author, Thomas Russell.
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