Listen, really listen. I learned this lesson the hard way! When I was a district manager, I had a really strong store manager in one of my stores. He had much potential and ambition to move further with the company, so I assigned him additional tasks above and beyond a store manager position that included working on regional and district projects.
He continued to do a good job at managing the store, but in retrospect the stress was increasing. I started to hear from the employees that he was becoming difficult to work with. I took him aside and talked to him about it; he had admitted it might be the case, but he said he would improve.
One day I walked into his office and we sat down and talked, and he said there was something he wanted to talk to me about. He said he was overwhelmed with too many additional projects and that he would prefer I eliminate the regional and district projects so he could concentrate solely on being the store manager.
Here is where I did not listen! I told him I would eliminate most of the projects; however, there were two projects, and one in particular that were important for his growth in the company; I told him I would like him to continue those projects. Reluctantly, he said he would.
However, he continued to be overwhelmed and continued to communicate this to me although not directly (again, I wasn’t listening). His difficulties with his associates began to grow. I talked to him several times and he continued to tell me he would improve. Finally, several of the associates went to the regional office with a complaint about the way they were treated. When I did a review with the associates who brought this to the attention of the regional office, it was apparent he was under too much stress and this caused him to handle the associates very poorly.
If I had listened to him, I mean really listen to him, I would have understood how overwhelmed he was with being a store manager in a large volume store and doing additional projects. So, in retrospect, it was my fault for not listening, not really listening. Unfortunately, he never really recovered from this situation and left the company.
Because of my failure to listen, to understand, the company and myself lost a very good manager. So again, I ask you: please, please listen to your people!
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