Monthly Blog: March

March has been a slower month around the ReStore, so there isn't too much to cover relating to new management skills that are possible to record/have evidence of. Example, it's hard for myself to take a picture relating to the topics of customer service and daily maintenance goals that fall under the line of taking calls and answering emails. However, I wanted to go back to the staff meeting that I had in January and build up on the notes I've taken and the tactics I've picked up when communicating with both staff members and volunteers. Having a time during the week where people discuss the status of the store is very beneficial to both productivity and figuring out which tasks have priority in terms of completion. The status of the store meetings is where you also get to see the creative side of employees and tips on what they believe can help improve the overall functionality of your store.

To explain the paper above, it's quite simple. First, the manager opens the meeting up, usually starting with a heartfelt good morning or in some cases, a prayer (Habitat for Humanity has Christian roots). This eases people into the meeting before the main meat of the discussion/ideas to improve gets started. Next up we have daily/weekly objectives in which we need to complete. Example, I had to help the staff members move out a giant grill within the backroom all the way out to the front store floor. Additionally, I was on sweeping and vacuum duty an hour before we closed. All-in-all, a checklist that kept people on task so everyone knew what was expected of them.

On the next bullet point, employees had a chance to voice what they felt was wrong with the store and what they could do to improve. Example, one of our staff members, Imelda, who works the register, brought new merchandise found in the back last week to the managers attention. The items found was a nice, polished, Victorian-esque tea set. Of course, our manager, Andrew Johnson, was happy to know we had lucrative, yet unaccounted for product hidden within the back. Employee feedback is very critical and useful to lend an ear to as a manager, which is why I found this staff meeting to be very insightful on listening to fellow workers and subordinates. You never know what kind of good nuggets of wisdom they could bring to your attention.