I have just recently been offered, and begun training for the manager position in the meat dept. i work at. I was wondering if anyone has any tips or advice for me. I'm still very young i believe (21) and am very proud to have the opportunity, i just don't want to screw it up.
Good Luck! The best that I can tell you is get to know your customers and their buying patterns, if you are in a small store it will come easy, as far as ordering goes what has worked for me is that if there is 3 or more items on the peg/shelf don't order it, wait till next order that will decrease the amount that you throw away (shrink) Hope that helps you some. once again good luck!
always give praise to the meat gods(merchandisers,specialists,buyers) for they know the most of whats going on in YOUR store! lol!! don't panic!! ask questions,talk to other mkt.mgr.s. if you're a small store,don't overbuy.if you're a big store,don't underbuy.always cover your specials!!! that way you'll always c.y.a.(cover your ass!) lol!! good luck!!
i appreciate those tips guys! We are a pretty small operation, but we are linked to other family owned stores. Any other tips will greatly be appreciated. I'm sure i'll have some great stories to tell as time goes by hahaha.
One thing I think is important is to keep (or gain & keep) the respect of the crew. Try to never be a hypocrite in even the smallest way. Never be a "do as I say, not as I do" sort of person. Show the crew that you're willing to do anything you'd ask them to do. Work clean. Don't leave a (an unreasonable) mess for the night guy. Be fair with the schedule. Don't give yourself a lot of Saturdays off while telling others that they can't have a Saturday off. Don't always bring in the largest loads on your day off. It starts to look fishy. Don't leave early one day and come back the next and complain that you're in bad shape. Try not to be a Clipboard Queen. I know most managers do have a lot of stupid paperwork, so this one might be hard/imposible. Try not to give the impression that part of the reason you took the job is that you like the power. You took the job because of the hours, or the money, or for the challenge. Women employees like to be thanked once in a while. For men, keep the complaints to a miminum. I don't need a "thank you" but unreasonable complaining can really take the wind out of your sails. However, being too nice can set you up to be taken advantage of. I don't know what to do about that. Maybe someone else can help.
Find the manager/cutter with the most years and experience, take him to lunch, buy him a beer and just sit with him. See what he has to say. You'll learn more than you think.
take one day at a time, rome wasnt built overnight. remeber that whether good or bad, shortcomings or sucess you are the the boss, but those who work under you, you must depend on them with your life. treat them better than you treat yourself. a good boss will catch the garbage for the sake of his people. dont let things go too long before training your backup(if needed).
Try to think of every one of your cutters and wrappers as an asset, or a potential asset. Think creatively about what you can assign them so they help you the most. In the rare hard case, put them where they will hurt you the least. I was a meat mgr in a union shop so I could not get rid of anyone. The company philosophy was "you don't spread a cancer" so I focused on having people do what they were best at and wht they liked, whenever possible. Also always remember that if you get angry at someone for a screw up, you will still probably need them down the road, so hold your tongue when possible. Praise when you can. Apply progressive discipline when it is needed.
Atleast for me I always had the most respect for the manager busting their butt right next to me. So be there for your crew, work hard, and you will earn their respect. And a "good job," always went a long way for me, but dont overuse it or it will lose its significance.
These are really good ideas guys! Sometimes it's hard to get the old-timer managers not to blow-up over small things! When I was lead cutter, awhile ago, my manager saw me breaking a lamb carcass. Apparently, to his spec, I hit the hip to far into the pin bone. He blew up! Threw his pencil, started yelling at me and said he couldn't deal with this sh*t! He stormed out in a huff. I went back to cutting. I figure he was just looking for an excuse to go home because his favorite football team was playing. In my management experience I find blowing up on someone does not work. It creates resentment. It's far more effective to work with the problem and show someone an easier way. It creates a very productive work environment. Most importantly, you don't hate going to work everyday!
One of the abilities I had over my years was being able to place the man to the job. I worked markets in my young days where you came in and was handed a list, CUT THAT.
If a man likes to cut pork, WHY make him cut beef, if a man would rather work offals, chicken parts, why make him grind and cube all day. I have took many a so call **** job in the market so I could keep men working at what they like to do, I got more production out of them than try to make them do **** they hate.
There were times they had to do it all, I never had a problem with some one bitching about doing any thing. I only fired two meat cutters in 51 years and one meat wrapper. the cutters were drunks I put up with a long time before getting rid of them, one over a year, the meat wrapper was stealing, she had a BIG purse lol
Well here goes..I've been thrown into the Manager's job a few times and I am in that postion once again. I work at a Marketplace IGA that is an independant store with other family stores across the area.
We're small in our dept compared to some.I do have a Great mentor at the moment that has 40 plus years experience. That helps a great deal. We are a 2 person room and sometimes 3 when I don't want to work 6 or 8 in a row.
I find when the new flyer comes out it makes ordering easier if you walk the case with flyer in hand.Do you have enough to start the new ad? If I do I pencil check the photo. If I don't, I add that item to the order. I like to run a tight ship when it comes to ordering. Most weeks my orders amount to around $9,000. My gross is normally around 34.
Work that product everyday.Especially when it's slow.Like now.I can't wait for the BBQ season to start. It's just about there.
