Archived Leading By Example

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This is kind of more of a vent than anything - but i wanted to make a post about Leaders in the building Leading By Example.

Generally everyone has a mix of great leadership in the building and not-so great leadership in the building. This post is about the not-so-great leadership in the building. We've had in particular one ETL who constantly did pretty much nothing. They brought this person in because they were young, and the senior leadership at the time liked having a crew of people they could tell to something and then have it be done completely unquestioned. I get it. I don't agree with it - but I get it. This person was well-liked by their direct superior (obviously for aforementioned reasons) and then that person could take any actual work and direct it down to the team. Eventually the senior management person moved on, and this person remained. Some changes that happened: the person in question went from floundering and knowing essentially nothing and being useless to the point of not knowing anything about their own department and basically freaking out all the time. Now this person does no actual work (team leads have full responsibility for department) and spends their day distracting team members, chatting nonstop, goofing off on and off-stage, constantly getting coffee from starbucks, and even spending the morning walk of the store trying to get other ETLs on the walkie to make a stop at food ave for breakfast sandwiches and coffee before the store is open or ready for open.

This person is not my ETL so I've never been to the point of being like - look this person is useless to management. I'm aware of the situation, but at the end of the day I have my own things to worry about. Recently I've been debating with a coworker about this person. I've had many more conversations about this person's lack of work ethic with many people and this seems to be a consensus. However there is one staunch supporter of this person who says that any TM who lets their time be wasted by this person - its their own fault. And not the ETL. That if they get their work done (when is a HLTMs work ever done?) no one should care. I'm really trying to see their side because I respect this person and consider them to be a friend but I also feel like the ETL acts unprofessionally by treating TMs as friends (at work) instead of having a primarily work oriented relationship with them.

I keep wanting to say that I'm right and this ETL is completely wrong since they do not lead by example by acting (what I would consider) professionally. and when I say "professionally" I don't mean gross misconduct or anything, but I do mean not being able to be like "okay I am working now, and perhaps we can have this non-work related conversation later, perhaps on a break?"

this wouldn't be so bad if it were just one bad apple. there used to be two - which then grew to three, but then went back down to one. now we have another new ETL who didn't even have a chance to prove themselves because this ETL took them 'under their wing' and there are now two again. i just find this lack of work ethic so irritating. some people agree - then there are others who say 'if you can get away with it why not? and if you're mad about it then you should not take things so seriously".

maybe i shouldn't take things so seriously. but its hard when i come in and try and do things to the letter every day and then someone comes in at three times my salary, spends their morning doing nothing but chatting and drinking coffee. i guess i'm not really looking for anyone to say anything i just needed to rant about this. i'm trying to not let things like this get to me but it does.
 
Rant acknowleged but beware who you talk to about this ETL, particularly if they have a 'staunch supporter' (see 'snitch').
You can be pulled & coached for lowering morale, for example.
 
Rant acknowleged but beware who you talk to about this ETL, particularly if they have a 'staunch supporter' (see 'snitch').
You can be pulled & coached for lowering morale, for example.

no, I appreciate that. its not something i broadcast to the store. but at the end of the day - shouldn't their actions be what is lowering morale? to the effect - distracting distractible TMs who are less likely to stay on task to begin with, while the ones who can actually be like "i have work to do" get frustrated? it just seems like kind of an imbalance. or am i too uptight and i should spend 30 minutes talking about how 'awesome coffee would be right now' or any other mindless topic the next time i see this person?

it seems strange to me especially since our store has fired people in the past for "wasting company time"
 
i like that steve jobs quote where he says that grade a people hire other grade a people...

and that grade b people hire grade c people to work underneath them.

Of course this means that an intelligent hard worker who is in charge of a company would hire the best possible people he could for his management spots. He does this because he is secure in himself and wants his company to perform the best it can.

And then the not so good people that have infiltrated spot, would hire people who are a grade below them for management positions. This ensures that they are never outperformed or made to look bad.
 
maybe i shouldn't take things so seriously. but its hard when i come in and try and do things to the letter every day and then someone comes in at three times my salary, spends their morning doing nothing but chatting and drinking coffee. i guess i'm not really looking for anyone to say anything i just needed to rant about this. i'm trying to not let things like this get to me but it does.


In regards to salary I was thinking something similar to this today. I work in pfresh and bust my ass and help out with SF and Backroom things as well and im being paid way less than alot of these ETLS you guys always talk about on here who just it at food ave, goof around, dont really help out at all. Reading alot of posts on here im very greatful for my leadership team and how all of them are very driven and expect hard work and do lead by example. My STL zoned all of market tonight, shocking to some of you I know, an STL zoning, unheard of haha. We are fairly low volume but still usually all the ETLS zone, set salesplans here and there, backup cashier at times, even cover electronics a few times as well if needed. Since my new STL took over about half a year ago I believe, seasonal has looked amazing and never really ever bad. Ive seen them come in early with another ETL and completely flex and zone it all up in preperation for the next few days before the holiday itself.

But anyway ya, I treat work like work. I pride myself on doing the best I can and try to get as much done as possible because that is just how I am. Kind of annoying when people just goof around but hey what can you expect when you pay minimum wage and alot of them are 20 or so.
 
In regards to salary I was thinking something similar to this today. I work in pfresh and bust my ass and help out with SF and Backroom things as well and im being paid way less than alot of these ETLS you guys always talk about on here who just it at food ave, goof around, dont really help out at all. Reading alot of posts on here im very greatful for my leadership team and how all of them are very driven and expect hard work and do lead by example. My STL zoned all of market tonight, shocking to some of you I know, an STL zoning, unheard of haha. We are fairly low volume but still usually all the ETLS zone, set salesplans here and there, backup cashier at times, even cover electronics a few times as well if needed. Since my new STL took over about half a year ago I believe, seasonal has looked amazing and never really ever bad. Ive seen them come in early with another ETL and completely flex and zone it all up in preperation for the next few days before the holiday itself.

But anyway ya, I treat work like work. I pride myself on doing the best I can and try to get as much done as possible because that is just how I am. Kind of annoying when people just goof around but hey what can you expect when you pay minimum wage and alot of them are 20 or so.

Wow...if only all stores could have an executive staff like that...
 
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