Blog 16: Answer #2

1.  What is your EQ?

What is the most effective way to manage a store during the busiest hours of the day?

2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

Answer #1: The most effective way to manage a store during the busiest hours of the day is by practicing efficient prioritization.

3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

Answer #2: Ensure that your employees are always engaged in their work and trust them to where you can let them properly utilize their own skills.

4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

1. Answer #1 deals with the activities needed to actually run a store. Example, you, as a manager, must learn where you need to position your employees/your attention. You must be able to use your discretion as to what kind of objectives you need to accomplish within the store at the right time. Ask yourself: are my customers satisfied? Are the aisles full of merchandise clear and presentable? Should I go do this, or go and do that?
2. Answer #2 makes sure that employees aren't getting bored and feeling like they are working for no personal purpose. Employees like to feel like they are doing a helpful amount of work for whatever cause/store/organization. Employee engagement can be extremely tricky, but based off of research from a sizable amount of authors within the field of leadership, a manager must trust their employees to a point where they could work independently on their own without a manager having to come every 30 minutes to check up on them. Employees that are self-sufficient and don't need a manager to micromanage them makes running a store so much easier. (Manager could tend to other things, such as admin objectives)
3. For Answer #1, a simple, real world scenario could pan out like this. Say within your store, you have a box of glass fall and shatter into a million pieces within a certain store aisle, and all of your employees are either tending to customers, on a lunch break, or unloading supply trucks. At this point, you, as a manager, must make a choice. Where do I reassign my employees? What's the most logical choice in my situation?
4. For Answer #2, a real world scenario could play out like this. Your employees are working, albeit either very slowly or in a mood where they just appear to be unhappy. If your employees are unhappy and customers physically see that, then it can make the customer uncomfortable, especially if that certain employee is lending a hand and answering questions. 

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?

The following printed sources (all are books) best represents my answer(s): 

1. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Leadership Fast-Track
2. The Virgin Way by Mr. Richard Branson (CEO/Founder of the Virgin Company)
3. Straight Talk on Leadership Icons and Idiots by Former Vice Chairman of General Motors, Bob Lutz

6.  What other source supports your answer? 

1. Managing People & Performance: Fast Track to Success by David Ross

7.  Tie this together with a  concluding thought.

Managing a store and servicing your customers is a lot of work to carry out, especially when your store is having a busy day. Your employees are your most valuable resources. Treat them well, respect them, let them know their skills are appreciated, and give them the trust and independence to do work the way they want to do it.