My name is Talia Webb, I am currently a junior student at the Pennsylvania State University where I am studying Business Management. I currently work for the USPS where I have the opportunity to grow with the company when I graduate. I have invested years in mastering certain skills such as training and development, team recognition and analyzing data. These to me are the core fundamentals of any business and if you ever need a person to help you deep dive into data to see where the root of the problem is please don’t hesitate to reach out!
As a leader if you can’t go on vacation and know that your department will run like an oil machine, you’re in trouble. There are managers that can micromanage and in some cases that may need to happen if you’re in the preemie stages of molding your department and developing the skills of your team while also leveling expectations with them. Any supervisors primary goal is to make sure their team is trained efficiently and knows why what they’re doing is important. The why is just as important as the how in today’s age of business so we must train accordingly. Slip ups will happen in training and not everyone will make it through the training and if that happens it’s ok, you may find a team member in another department looking to try something new and might want to shadow you in your department and if they make it through the training talk to your peer see if their willing to make a trade because an unhappy team member can negatively affect the business just as much as an untrained one.
A Supervisor is nothing without their team, we may be the brains of the operations but if we didn’t have the team that’s willing to go above and beyond to ensure longevity in a department, we could never succeed that’s why it’s important to always give your team the credit that they deserve. There are many ways to show appreciation toward your team trust me they need it because sometimes a fast thank you after a long day isn’t enough let’s be honest, we were them once upon a time, so we all know we needed more especially before or during peak season.
Most companies have policies on recognition for your team so check with your HR Executives to ensure you’re not breaking any rules. I have found that Store managers order breakfast or cater for holidays so the team can feel appreciated but a personal recognition in a morning meeting so they can feel valued, and they can know how much they do for the department and the company can go along way it may even open the dialogue of if they want to grow in the company.
We’ve all been there, haven’t we? We’ve sat in a daily meeting with our fellow peers going over metrics that showcase our departments individually, while many have been smiling ear to ear about how the data showcases the performances that YTD, we are green no one seems to be paying attention to WTD which is red. If a meeting isn’t showing where the weakness in the metric that could tip the balance and turn your performance met from green to red in an instant.
Paying attention to metrics is an essential part of being a leader because these numbers if analyzed correctly can help you see where your departments weakness is, let’s be clear these metrics are not just for your eyes I find It important to not just post this on a bulletin board in my department so It can collect dust for a week you have to explain this to your team. Explaining this to your team helps them understand the business and take pride in the goals hit and if the goal isn’t hit this quick meeting can showcase skills that have matured enough to help the business by finding the breakdown and fixing it before it affects.
