Can I just say, and I'm just being honest...

[Fireball]

Today was a horrible day.  I fought with my almost four year old all day.  I screamed.  I cried.  And now I’m coping with it all by downing a bottle of wine.  Don’t judge me.  But, yeah you can totally judge me. 😒

Helpful hints from Heloise Fireball: Diminutive manipulation machines, they are. What else can they be, in such a physically helpless situation? Once they get you to crack, they know where the line is. They will keep pushing it. You need to "Queen up" and give the "We are not amused" face a workout. No more "Ms nice...guy" Seriously. They will walk all over you if you let them. Being "NICE" isn't being a parent, no matter how much you love those little critters. You can be their friend after they've moved out of the house as responsible adults. Not judging, just looking at past mistakes...

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CIJS, I'm overcome by the inquires made by some forum members regarding my absence. To those who were concerned, I'm very appreciative of your thoughtfulness and curiosity.

For anyone who is interested, I ran my first departmental meeting (I did this on my own and prepared my oral presentation last night; I rehearsed it before I went to bed and early this morning ) with my four full-timers prior to store opening today: I bought donuts, bagels, and orange juice for them; they enjoyed the orange juice and snacked on the bagels and donuts during the meeting and throughout the day. 

The main gist of my message was to improve our teamwork and to understand that the success of the department begins with us: we help the department, the store, and ourselves by helping each other.  I let them know that I see each of them as leaders in the department who have the ability to make a difference and promote success; however, this difference will ultimately manifest via our example as a team (I was emphatic that I'm holding myself to the same standards and am not exempt from anything). In particular, I challenged them to take ownership of their stock work (this is the backbone of our sales success, which the full timers have been slacking off on), and to check in with me and walk me through what they have accomplished, rather than me tracking them down and asking them.  In addition, I also told them to report any non-performers (people who blatantly disregard policies and standards) to me immediately: I will have zero tolerance with these behaviors and will verbal log them and have a formal sit-down with the store manager if the problem behaviors persist. 

Towards the end of the meeting, I admitted to my full-timers that they know more about women's shoes than I do (prior to this assignment, I worked in men's clothing) and that I would be relying on their expertise and knowledge.  Furthermore, I let them know that I would like them to voice their feedback and ideas (I care about what they think and their well-being): I want them to challenge my thinking and to give feedback (about me or the organization) regardless of how unpleasant it may be; an organization cannot grow and improve if it tunes itself out to negative feedback/criticism and only focuses on what it wants to hear (unfortunately, this type of mentality is commonplace  in my organization, so at the very least, I'd like to try and promote a more open-minded and less defensive mindset in my department).

Well, after the meeting, there was definitely a lot of energy in my department.  Two full timers went back into the stock room and started cranking out their stock work, while the other two ran the floor.  Regarding the two associates who initially ran the floor, one of them finished setting up the new sandal sale zone, which required a decent amount of stock work to accomplish, while the other full-timer helped stock the empty boxes from the new shoes samples and also assisted in putting out missing shoes samples and new shoe samples.  Hence, overall, it looks like we are on the right track as a  team; however, IMO, we will need to stay consistent and lead by example if we are going to motivate the part-timers to come on board and join us in our quest to succeed and make a difference.

Thanks for your time and attention.  KS

You need to spend more time with the women's shoes. J/K, glad to see you back posting! Good for you, with motivating your direct reports!