There are some things that I miss about my former job with Rider University Study Tours. One of them is the creative marketing pieces that I was able to help create, the other is managing employees. I prided myself on retaining quality employees from year to year. I will let my past employees speak to my management skills if they choose to. :-)
When I was put in charge of the launch of our summer location in Los Angeles, I was just 22 years old. The people I managed were between 18 and 22 years old themselves and I had previously gone to school with many of them. My challenge was to create an environment where I could be respected, despite our closeness in age and previous relationships as peers in the college environment. Needless to say, I had a lot to prove.
I was flown to the West Coast for the summer and charged with running a $1 million site operation and work with nearly 800 students that summer. This may sound daunting, but I was hungry for the challenge and a chance to prove that I could make things run smoothly.
I wasn't a one woman show and relied heavily on my staff to make the actual operations happen on day to day basis. Unfortunately, in the life of Study Tours, you cannot always predict what will happen from day to day, but you do your best to try and prepare your staff for just about any situation. That started with training and was reinforced each day throughout the summer.
The infamous firewood incident
I had been hearing grumblings from the staff about a particular trip to Huntington Beach, which required the staff to bring firewood to the beach and build bonfires for the students in the evening. During our third trip of the summer, I decided that I would go to see everything in action for myself. Plus, it was our largest session with about 385 students.
There were complaints from the staff that they couldn't find bonfires, that the firewood was too heavy to carry from the buses to the beach, and that the students didn't enjoy the fires. We would see.
Upon arriving to Huntington Beach that day, I helped the staff move the firewood from the buses to the beaches. Okay, the walk was a little far, but this was a temporary issue, that surely they could suck up for the quarter of a mile they had to carry the firewood.
Once they got to the beach, the staff was ready to disperse to go walk around the shops and get food. I let them go about their afternoon as they typically would.
For the duration of the afternoon I sat on the beach. As a fire pit became available I placed one of our wood piles near it. I used my wood piles, shoes, and beach towels to signify that this fire pit was occupied. A few hours later the sun set and I began building the fires. By the time the students arrived I had 6 fire pits burning bright. The 385 students came, sat down, began chatting about their afternoon, and even sang songs around the bonfires. It was a sight!
My brother (one of my ten employees on staff that year) stood next to me, arms crossed, shook his head in disbelief and said, "It's never like this. It has to be a fluke" I just smiled quietly to myself. It was no use gloating at this point. I had a plan already.
Upon arrival back to the campus I called a staff meeting. "So I would call today successful," I began. "But it wasn't because any of you decided to put in the work." I paused. "I sat on that beach all day to obtain those 6 fire pits, and tonight, those students had a blast."
"I heard your frustrations about carrying firewood to the beach, and that it was difficult to find fire pits, but when I saw it for myself, the issue was not with the task, but with the people doing it... Carrying firewood and building bonfires is your job, and there are people out there that would love to have this job."
I continued, "You don't have to like it, but you do have to do it."
I let my last statement hang there in the air.
I essentially handed them a piece of my mind that day, but it wasn't unwarranted. I had set an expectation, and the staff had not met it. Something that was part of their job wasn't getting done and needed to be addressed. I thought I was fair and reasonable, and even tried to be understanding to their frustrations when it was brought to me.
Takeaways
There will always be parts of your job that you don't like or enjoy doing. At the end of the day, the work needs to get done and sometimes that means you have to get your hands dirty.
Being a leader is a tough job. You need the respect of your employees as you try to balance their needs with the requirements from your own supervisors. I find that transparency and accountability are essential to obtain respect. Clear communication is also a key factor.
The Aftermath
Now after that meeting, we were interrupted by a chaperone with an issue. The toilets in the dorm had overflown into the hallways and there was water everywhere. I turned to the staff and began assigning tasks. "Someone go check out the scene next door, someone else go talk to the campus staff here, and someone else start finding mops."
In the wake of crisis, the staff pulled together as a unit. That combined with not wanting to have another meeting like we just wrapped up was motivation for compliance.