I Truly Am a Control Freak

I'm discovering that I truly am a control freak.

My symptoms are simple yet incredibly clear. When I am attempting to give control to other people, I feel so.. so... Out of control.

It's very difficult to be asked by someone who I think of as a professional, someone who does a damn fine job, someone who I am glad to call my colleague tells me to lay back and let others lead the pack. Well, I am trying, and what I'm experiencing is watching something I have recently become dedicated to being mistreated.

Our shifts have been hectic the past few days, and they've been horribly, horribly slow. Things seem to be run by scrambling from one emergency situation to another. It could be egoism, but a week ago when I ran a Tuesday lunch shift, in general there seemed to be a better rhythm than there was today.

Further, I'm a bit confused. I was asked to give up control a bit on shifts when other managers are working. Three managers in particular, apparently, felt that I was grossly overstepping my bounds. This is possible. I like control and usually feel that someone's feelings can't take precedence over taking care of business. Maybe at times I'm a bit brisk. I know, though, that I'm respected by most of the people I work with - I know this because the crew trust me to help them take care of their problems (business related only, thank you). Also, a couple of the more intelligent people I work with have given me positive feedback on how I give positive feedback to others! Hot damn! Pardon my digression - I'm confused because I was spoken to sternly over leaving an hour early with huge labor and no business, and two managers on the shift. The words actually used were, "I wanted you to be in control of Sunday." From the same manager who asked me to exert less control over shifts.

However, the past week or so of hanging back and exerting a lesser amount of control over the store during my shifts has been difficult.

I've noticed there are quite a few more business-related problems that the crew are having. There's something of a standing grudge happening between the Production team and the Service team. And little things with schedule issues or personality disputes have been arising much more.

I don't say this is entirely because of my restrained direction. But it certainly has a large impact on the existence of the situation.

There are a grand total of 8 managers at my store: the General Manager, 1st Assistant, myself, and 5 swing managers. Of those, only one manager other than I, does all of the things they are supposed to document correctly. There's a pre-shift checklist, a once-per-hour travel path, a twice-per-shift people travel path, a production checklist, a service checklist, and the owner has a system of giving managers responsibility for the cleanliness of the store by making us sign off on 4 major areas of the store, including a every-3-hour sweep and mop of the entire store. So only 2 of the 8 total managers always do all of a shift's checklists and travel paths.

I feel if one of us is not on a shift, then it's just not getting done. I'm sorry, you did it but couldn't take the added 30 seconds to document you did it? It's easier to think (especially when you see it -not- happening right before your eyes) that, much like the documentation, you did not do the work. And because I've been asked to take a step back, it feels like even if I'm there, it's not really getting done. I'll ask another manager if they're going to do a travel path that hour and they'll certainly say yes, but the only traveling I see happening is from the HLZ to the Presentation window. What about the other 80% of your store that you cannot see from the front counter? Sorry. It's frustrating.

The fact is, I've given over control to these managers who said I was stepping on their toes. I've even bluntly said, "You are in control of this shift, what should I do" and gotten either a denial of their control or a vacant stare and a shrug. To me, the reality is, no one else decided to take control of anything and so the position (of leader) is open to whoever wants it - that's me.

So, I'm going to get my control back, and show how things run smoother when I'm there. If that doesn't bluntly bring home the point to the gentleman expert who asked me to relieve some of my exertion of control, that I, in full-power mode, am an extremely beneficial part of the team ... Well, then I'm just going to go and re-assess why exactly any manager would have asked someone to be a less motivated and active a part of the team.