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At one point in my job, I figured I’d just stay pretty much at the position I’m at and just go with the flow of it. But lately, I’ve gotten aspirations to be more in the company. I think my problem was a lack of self-confidence that I could really handle more responsibility well or that maybe I couldn’t learn things as quickly as younger managers seem to. While it’s true that old brain cells like mine tend to be slower on the uptake than younger ones, I am not beyond redemption in this area.

I’ve been working in a smaller store and that has given me the confidence and drive to do and learn more. Eventually, I hope to be a salaried manager. The income would be nearly double what I’m earning now. This means getting more education in my company and learning more about the ins and outs of daily business, especially where employees and profits are concerned.

I’ve already learned quite a few things in this small store. I have a little more freedom to learn and explore the network system and use tools that are there. The whole system is set up so that general managers can make schedules, order supplies and food, and communicate with one another and with higher management in the corporation. When everything is in place, doing these tasks isn’t really all that challenging. My supervisor is confident that I can handle anything they throw at me, which helps my own self-esteem tremendously. She is my biggest cheerleader!

I’ve already run one idea by her and my general manager. They both heartily approved the idea and told me to go ahead and put the idea into action. I think that anytime a manager creates a way to improve the way the store and crew operate, it’s applauded and rewarded. So, I have a few other ideas that I’ll develop more fully and see what upper management thinks about them.

I’m finding that when I treat the store I work at as if it’s my own personal enterprise, more gets done and everyone takes more pride in their work. I know I can’t do it all by myself, so I enlist crew and other managers to team up with me to work on improving things within this store. It’s possible that these improvements will filter out to other stores and be put into action there. For now, though, I’m delighted to be able to just use my store as the “guinea pig” to see how things go.

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