WAOC is on the road this week in Illinois, I\u2019m Marty, and we\u2019re recording this week\u2019s Episode of Warehouse and Operations as a Career in Chicago. I\u2019m in town visiting a couple of facilities and of course couldn\u2019t come through The Windy City without reaching out to our WAOC Tech & Facilities guy Phillip. Thanks for stopping by the Hotel Phillip, we got to get these episodes in as we can, how have you been Sir?
\nWe\u2019d like to thank you for sitting down with us for a bit today, it\u2019s been too long since you\u2019ve been on the show!
\nYou must be glad to be home, last time we spoke I think you\u2019d been up in Pennsylvania for about a month on a facility rollout?
\nWe\u2019ll we probably ought to get into today\u2019s show but first I\u2019d like to thank all our Listeners out there. We crossed that 10,000 downloads or streams threshold this week, 10,000 listens to the WAOC Podcast. I\u2019d like to thank each of you for all the shares, email\u2019s and follows & tweets over the last several months! We have a lot of fun researching the topics you\u2019ve sent in and looking up or gathering answers for the questions asked each week. I hope we\u2019ve gotten a little easier to listen too, we\u2019re trying to learn as we go and I thank you for your patience! I hope we\u2019re bringing some sort of value to your positions and goals and aiding in the pursuit of your Careers!
\nPhillip, we were talking a little earlier today about Leads and Supervisors coming up from the floor and how challenging it is for them these days. You have a pretty interesting story yourself, you\u2019ve had a pretty busy 5 years and accepted several of those challenges. When I first met you you we\u2019re Lumping or Unloading freight I believe and have held several positions since then. Would you mind sharing a bit of your story with our group Sir?
\nAs you know I work with several young Leads and Supervisors, it\u2019s so interesting to witness their growth in Leadership and the different ways they each handle the challenges from their peers. I believe their first big challenge is usually how to go from being a friend, a co-worker on the floor to directing and counseling the very workers they use to hang out with. I mean we know all their work ethics and how they may or may not be exactly following the rules and procedures!
\nOn my flight out here I ran across an article on twitter, check out @budtoboss, they have some great articles on leading and supervising. The article I read was 5 Things a Smart Manager Does to Decrease Change Resistance, and I\u2019ll add that link to the show notes on our website so you can check it out. http://www.budtoboss.com/management/5-things-a-smart-manager-does-to-decrease-change-resistence/
\nWAOC isn\u2019t affiliated with them in any way, I think you may find them interesting though, so I wanted to share a few excerpts with you.. The 5 points brought up were:
\n1. Sell more than you tell
\nUnderstand that \u201ctelling\u201d someone what\u2019s going to happen is very different from \u201cselling\u201d them on the idea. I myself always try and share a little on Why we\u2019re doing something, maybe share the goal if you will instead of just telling.
\n2. Help people tune-in to WII-FM
\nBe prepared to answer the question on every employee\u2019s mind: \u201cWhat\u2019s in it for me?\u201d This sounds difficult but again I\u2019ve found by sharing a little, maybe just taking a little extra time explaining something that it\u2019s easier to give an associate that answer.
\n3. Work through the \u201chead grapes\u201d
\nEvery organization has a grapevine\u2014an unofficial communication channel that often moves faster than official ones. You might call the people who other people listen to, those who influence the grapevine, the \u201chead grapes.\u201d It\u2019s so important to know your associates and respect each one of them, I try to know each one of my employees.
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\n4. Break the change into \u201cbite-sized\u201d pieces
\nWhile you can\u2019t wait forever for people to get onboard,