Business Management Philosophy
My experiences as a teacher have admittedly influenced my philosophy and outlook on my management strategies. As such I utilize written forms of communication, (email, Slack, text, etc.) whenever possible to ensure that staff members have received and can reflect upon the information I am providing. I am explicit in my expectations, something that I learned to incorporate into my speech as an educator. To this end, I give clear directions, supported with written checklists and procedural documentation, as well as supportive reasoning for my expectations.
As someone who worked in customer service for more than a decade prior to and during my academic career, I am familiar with working under both exceptional and challenging managers. As a result, I am dedicated to clear, explicit communication, fair and consistent expectations, and providing regular opportunities to both deliver and receive both positive and constructive feedback.
I have personally hired and trained a majority of my staff at multiple jobs, which allowed me the opportunity to lead by example in demonstrating expected behavior and work standards. I also made a point to check in with my staff members on an on-going, regular basis by providing timely feedback about their work (both positive and constructive), to ensure that they had ample opportunities to correct mistakes and strive for excellence. I established clear lines of communication between the owners and staff members, and everyone at the business knew that I was accessible by phone, text, or email as needed. I was dedicated to keeping staff members apprised of all policy, scheduling, and procedural changes as needed and valued their feedback when given.
While working at Flowtoys I evaluated the business operations for efficiency and created documentation for both teams (production and event) that outlined new company policies for customer care, work flow, and on boarding. I also created a thorough (71 page) standard operating procedure manual for the company's manufacturing resource planning program, to increase productivity, ensure consistency, and better support new hires in their on-boarding process as they learned how to create the products from scratch.
At Black Hammer Brewing I wrote the employee manual from scratch, taking great lengths to create checklists for each shift, to-do lists for when the business ebbed and flowed, and outlined policies and procedures in articulate detail to ensure we were in compliance with all legal mandates. I enjoyed getting to reflect on the strategies that worked best for my staff and the business, and updated the manual as needed during the 2 years I worked there to maximize efficiency and productivity.
As a result of my extensive experience in customer service I understand how emotionally and physically draining the service industry can be, and as such maintained an open-door policy regarding employee scheduling. Employees were encouraged to have control over their schedule, offering trial periods and opportunities for feedback when making permanent schedule changes, and I encouraged flexibility regarding time off by means of shift swapping and subbing. This required the company to staff both permanent and sub-staff teams, but engendered greater loyalty, productivity, and supported a healthy work-life balance for the staff.
I have consistently prioritized the needs of my staff and of the customers when outlining the work schedule, private event rental schedules, and scheduling special public events to ensure that the businesses excelled at customer service without causing employee burnout. I am proud to say that I saw very little turnover, and my employees repeatedly told me that they continued working longer than they initially expected as a direct result of my management skills and dedicated effort. I was always willing to help and expected the same from my staff. As a result I developed an incredibly supportive, empathetic, and dedicated work team at both small businesses I managed.
As someone who worked in customer service for more than a decade prior to and during my academic career, I am familiar with working under both exceptional and challenging managers. As a result, I am dedicated to clear, explicit communication, fair and consistent expectations, and providing regular opportunities to both deliver and receive both positive and constructive feedback.
I have personally hired and trained a majority of my staff at multiple jobs, which allowed me the opportunity to lead by example in demonstrating expected behavior and work standards. I also made a point to check in with my staff members on an on-going, regular basis by providing timely feedback about their work (both positive and constructive), to ensure that they had ample opportunities to correct mistakes and strive for excellence. I established clear lines of communication between the owners and staff members, and everyone at the business knew that I was accessible by phone, text, or email as needed. I was dedicated to keeping staff members apprised of all policy, scheduling, and procedural changes as needed and valued their feedback when given.
While working at Flowtoys I evaluated the business operations for efficiency and created documentation for both teams (production and event) that outlined new company policies for customer care, work flow, and on boarding. I also created a thorough (71 page) standard operating procedure manual for the company's manufacturing resource planning program, to increase productivity, ensure consistency, and better support new hires in their on-boarding process as they learned how to create the products from scratch.
At Black Hammer Brewing I wrote the employee manual from scratch, taking great lengths to create checklists for each shift, to-do lists for when the business ebbed and flowed, and outlined policies and procedures in articulate detail to ensure we were in compliance with all legal mandates. I enjoyed getting to reflect on the strategies that worked best for my staff and the business, and updated the manual as needed during the 2 years I worked there to maximize efficiency and productivity.
As a result of my extensive experience in customer service I understand how emotionally and physically draining the service industry can be, and as such maintained an open-door policy regarding employee scheduling. Employees were encouraged to have control over their schedule, offering trial periods and opportunities for feedback when making permanent schedule changes, and I encouraged flexibility regarding time off by means of shift swapping and subbing. This required the company to staff both permanent and sub-staff teams, but engendered greater loyalty, productivity, and supported a healthy work-life balance for the staff.
I have consistently prioritized the needs of my staff and of the customers when outlining the work schedule, private event rental schedules, and scheduling special public events to ensure that the businesses excelled at customer service without causing employee burnout. I am proud to say that I saw very little turnover, and my employees repeatedly told me that they continued working longer than they initially expected as a direct result of my management skills and dedicated effort. I was always willing to help and expected the same from my staff. As a result I developed an incredibly supportive, empathetic, and dedicated work team at both small businesses I managed.