A while back, I wrote about Lisa, the manager of a large clothing store targeted toward teens. I mentioned that she has developed a long list of tasks that she can assign to her staff to keep them busy when the store is slow.
I argued that all she is doing is enabling employees rather than making them think. She agreed, but argued that her job is not to teach them work ethic but to make sure the store is profitable.
It dawned on me the other day,
that even though her staff becomes dependent on her to be told what to do, she is also modeling for them what they should be doing for themselves and, over time, a number will develop an understanding of self-initiative without her prodding.
After all if you experience something enough, eventually you get it – as in “I know, I know! Look for something to do.” Well duhhh! So perhaps I was a little hasty in my judgment of her actions. On the other hand, I don’t know that all this has occurred to her either. I’ll have to call and find out.