Why not make a Change?

Okay so I’m done with working at the Hilton, for the summer. Which I am somewhat thankful for. However, at the same time, they were an Amazing place to work for and the people were awesome. I think though, that there were some management things that could have been taken care of on a much more professional level. So from my point of view as an employee under management, here are my suggestions to anyone for increasing their management skill.

First off read as many of these as you deem applicable.

The Managers Handbook

Next - Be understanding. Yes there are people under you but you have to realize they’re probably working their way up. Don’t sit there and become some power hungry mongeror and push them around thinking they’re your little peons. They’re not. They’re people just like you, understand that they like to see you doing some work besides just pushing them around asking them to do various tasks.

Chill the Attitude Dude

I had a major problem with my manager in this one. We came under new management recently and our new GM apparently had a lot of catching up to do. But this gives her no reason to be some supreme bitch to me. I was never really bad at my job. I made my mistakes, but I fixed them. If people make a mistake help them learn, don’t just bitch at them and tell them they suck at their job. That won’t help you or them at all.Be constructive, be supportive, don’t go around being pesky and bitchy, you probably won’t solve anything. Think Empathy.

Constructive Criticism

Be more on the Constructive end of the criticism. Remember you want to increase the productivity of your business, so the more you can help your employees be better at what they do, they better off your business will be.

When I say tipping I mean multiple types. Tip waiters, housekeepers, baristas; or are you giving people tips to give advice. Either way there are perks to giving monetary tips and constructive criticism. I do my best to try to tell people ways to increase their productivity, decrease slack time, and other ways to try  to help them. But at the same time, I tend to be a ridiculous tipper, close to 30% sometimes.

Photo from KM&G-Morris’

But what are the perks?

You’re helping out

Tips might be small in comparison to many things you do, but you are helping that person. Whether by giving them a few extra dollars, or a couple pointers to help them get through the day, you’re tipping. The key is to not try to come across as a) Loaded with dough, or b) a smart ass know-it-all. But doing your best to contribute to others helps society. Remember, tipped positions are most likely paid minimum wage, or less and the majority of their money comes in through tips.

You benefit too!

There are countless stories of people who have recieved better service, better upgrades, many many other opportunities, just by tipping. It doesn’t even have to be a big tip. Any tip that you give is one that will make customer service associates recognize you more. Want a better table, better service, give a little tip. Concierge services are the same way, prepay a $20 tip for your whole stay, and I guarantee the Concierge will work with you the best they can. If they pull through for you, give a little extra per task.

Constructive Criticsm

This is where everyone could use some help. If you think someone is doing somthing incorrectly, or it could be done better, let them know. Sometimes they might not know that they could be doing their work better. Especially if these people work for you, constructive criticsm is better than pure criticsm. Give the individual the opportunity to grow and be a bigger asset to you and your company. Give constructive criticsm, and be willing to accept it.

We all know note taking is a pain, but there are ways to take notes efficiently and make them easy to understand when you come back to them. But most importantly is committing the notes to memory. So here are a few ways on taking notes, and helping keep them in memory. Image from infomaniac

• Write what you hear - Unfortunately you probably won’t get the opportunity to go back and hear what was said unless you tape record; so go ahead and write whatever you heard. Or if you forgot just skip it and keep writing. Whatever you do don’t stop. Make sure your writing remains somewhat legible and that will still be good.

• Go Back- When you get the chance go back to your notes, review them and re-write them! Re-write them: Shorter, More concise, More Legibly. What this will do is this will let you commit them to memory while re-writing them. This goes for flash cards too, it’s not reading flash cards that helps it’s making them. The act of writing and going over what you have done once a second time, lets the information go from temporary memory to permanent memory.
• Read it Aloud - Go through your notes and read them aloud. Do they make sense to you, are they logical, and how much of it do you remember?

Note taking tends to be a skill, write them so you can understand them, and re-write them so you can remember them.

Good Luck!

I try to do my part in givving helpful suggestions to make things just slightly better; Whether it is in your workplace, or at home or if it is increasing productivity and efficiency.

How do you make changes? Do you adapt more for efficiency, environmentally, what? Run out the comments, let me know what you do!