Once I asked one of our cleaning staff “What’s your goal in life?” thinking that he would say that he would like to be a manager, more responsibility…etc.
His answer was “I just want to be happy, you know, no stress, just happy.”
I was actually shocked because until this point, I thought everybody wanted to become a manager eventually.
But he told me that all he wanted in life was to be happy.
This changed my attitude towards our cleaning staff in a good way. I was actually stressed that probably everyone wanted to “get to the top” and become a manager. And if I was not able to provide this in order to motivate them, they will eventually leave.
But I realised this was probably not the case in my company.
Of course some people are like that and they move onto doing something else which is great. But I never had anyone ask me “When can I become a manager?”.
However, don’t get me wrong. This does not mean that our staff is not motivated.
Our staff is super motivated to fulfil their responsibilities and do take pride in their work. But they just want to be happy.
I was covering for one of my staff the other day, and the person who I worked that night with asked if I could leave the food waste for him.
I asked “why?”.
He told me that he had an allotment that he grows vegetables and he would like it for this.
I was like “of course!”.
I am so humbled every day to be working with our staff and speaking to them makes me want to do better in the company.
To serve our amazing staff, and through this we can serve our customers as well.
This person who answered “he wanted to be happy” is now an area manager.
He is great at judging people and their alternative motive(if they have one!) so I often involve him in recruiting.
He never panics and he always appears calm. Even in a stressful situation.
He is great at handling conflicts and does not go crazy with emotions so he is great for the role!
So you never know either 😀 Although we cannot make everyone a manager but we do reward good work!
This article reflects what I have been feeling recently. Not everyone wants to become a millionaire and that’s ok!
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