THERE IS A HELL! - - - IT IS CALLED RETAIL THERE IS A HELL AND IT IS CALLED RETAIL! | Page 31

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special to you. If you want the labour of a person's heart and not just his hands, you must
treat people with respect."
3. Don't Say Anything Nice
I use the term "seagull management" to describe managers who fly around the store
squawking loudly, stopping only long enough to dump on any employees within earshot
before swooping off to another department. Seagulls deliver only bad news, never offering
anything positive.
One of the most common mistakes managers make is to combine too little positive feedback
and recognition with poorly delivered negative feedback or discipline. You get the behaviour
you reward. If you don't like the behaviour you are getting, don't just look at your
employees; [look] at your management style, corporate culture and communications patterns
to find the problem.
4. Don't Share Expectations
Almost everyone has had the unpleasant experience of being reprimanded by a supervisor
with no warning and no prior indication that anything was wrong.
Employees often won't live up to expectations if you never tell them what you're looking for;
Take the employee who shows up a few minutes late for work every day. The store manager
keeps letting it slide but inside is getting frustrated until one day it boils over, and he brings
the associate into the back and chews him out. But the associate never knew he was doing
anything wrong. To avoid this, managers need to be consistently setting and resetting
expectations.
5. Be a Bad Role Model
"Do as I say, not as I do" is a favourite motto of bad managers. Expecting a certain
behaviour from staff members that you can't be bothered to exhibit yourself is a ter ɥ