JenP pretty much said everything I would have said. I bow to her wisdom.

I understand your pissed-off -- I think we have much the same "get shit done" personality, bonny, and are alike in other ways: I also have no probs with saying "I said shit, I'm sorry, how can we work this out?"

And from a teacherly perspective, when you instruct people on a task that might seem to you to be perfectly understandable, it helps to remember that what comes as natural and logical to you, might not be to others.

There's a balance between breaking a task down into steps for a group of people; some are going to "get it" without the breakdown, and might feel impatient or patronized; while others, like your peeing lady, might need every single words of your task breakdown.

Happened in my English classes all the time:

"Ok, I know that for some of you this is old-hat, and you're just going to have to bear with me for a moment, and I appreciate that. I just want to make sure that everyone is one the same page about what we're trying to accomplish with X task/event/whatever, so let me go through the expectations and procedures as quickly as possible. You;ll have a chance to ask questions, so if I'm not explaining something clearly enough, or going too fast, speak up! I know we all want X event/task to go smoothly, and for everybody to be successful, confident and to look like the rock stars I know you are!"

Or some such variant.

ETA: I should say, I'm not sure I actually answered what you were asking. Sorry about that.

If you set clear expectations about what she was supposed to do, ensured that she understood, and she didn't do it, then that's the discussion. It's unacceptable job performance. If you're not sure you set expectations and ensured understanding sufficiently, then that's a takeaway for you.

I make people repeat things back to me - it is pretty amazing sometimes what I think I'm communicating well vs. what gets repeated back.

Do you all have a framework for handling disciplinary actions?

- set an achievable goal (10 e-mails/names per hour or whatever).

And this was the pregnant employee, who wanted access to bathrooms? I would even be willing to have wiggle room on that hourly goal, possibly to be adjusted or evaluated after hourly check-ins, to be clear that you're not trying to work the pregnant lady to death. (Which you SO obviously were NOT; that's crystal clear to me, but she sounds like someone for whom extra reassurance was needed.)

And to piggyback on JenP's post up thar: is she a great dog-walker? When you are talking to her, mention her strength, and then segue into the "We need to work on sales skills, and this is something that will come in handy in other areas of your life, not just working for us."

If she's kind of a shitty employee all-around, or if this is another signal that points to the fact that she might be kind of a slacker, you and your colleague might want to talk about retaining or retraining.

Good point, Erin! I forgot about the positive feedback part, if there's any to be had. Man, that can be a streeeeetch sometimes.

If I'm understanding correctly, you had this person (and I'm guessing others -- how did they do?)

One fellow just sort of stood in traffic, hoping someone would talk to him first. When he DID get a taker, he spoke well. There were three other women who were ON IT. They charged down the street and snagged people right and left.

working the crowd and chatting them up, with hopes of getting e-mails/names, etc. so that you could contact them later, and turn them into clients, right?

Right. We are hoping that an informative newsletter and being the most trusted service in the area will eventually convert clients. My personal goal was 40 new clients from the day. This was based on last year's estimate of 7000 attendees. Given the weather, I don't think we had that many.

I tell you what, a $50 bonus per client would be plenty incentivizing for me to work it, especially if I were getting the client out of it. Is that how it worked?

Right? That incentive...plus being paid for attracting new clients...woulda been enough for me.

- give them a short script to fall back on; some people are naturals, most are not, so scripts can help.

I fell down here. I meant to write up a script, but spaced on it that at the last minute. We DID give them short, verbal scripts and they had the opportunity to watch three of us do it fairly easily.

- spend some time role playing with them, so they get comfortable interacting with people.

So far, the company culture does not encourage teamwork and 'extra credit.' I'm working on changing that.

- set an achievable goal (10 e-mails/names per hour or whatever).

I absolutely should have set an hourly goal beyond 'a lot.' I did mention the 40 new clients, but that was clearly not enough.

- provide an additional incentive for whoever collects the most names.

That is in place. I'm pretty sure the woman who manages the house cleaning division smoked the rest of the competitors, which is weird, but whatev.

- have them check in each hour; let them know where they are relative to everyone else.

I TOTALLY should have done this. I got so caught up in working the street (but not participating in the incentives) that I only checked in casually.

Do they have goals for bringing in business in general?

Are they accountable for that?

There has been a passing recognition that people should be working their routes for new clients. Partner does a great job of describing what to do when you see someone moving in with a dog.

I had to lower the boom on walkers not wearing their company tshirts. The shirts are gorgeous. Partner did an amazing job with the logos and colors. That 'billboard' is important for the company, but more so, it attracts attention. (and makes them look more professional)

There has been no official sales goal set so far. I'm thinking this needs to be revisited.

Walkers complain about not having enough clients, but do not feel invested in getting more. This must change.

Walkers complain about not having enough clients, but do not feel invested in getting more. This must change.

Preach it, sister.

While I was pottering over my response, you all added so much great feedback. Thank you!

I think we have much the same "get shit done" personality, bonny, and are alike in other ways: I also have no probs with saying "I said shit, I'm sorry, how can we work this out?"

Totally this.

Being a die-hard non-confrontation sort I have an employee that does the crew supervision because I just can't do it effectively.

This is precisely my role int he supervisory sense. One of us is soft, one of us is hard. I just need to be hard in a more constructive way.

I did not ask them to repeat things back to me and that was a failing of my excited energy. Under other circumstances, that is exactly what I would have done. Damn. I shoulda made up a checklist for myself.

If people are on the clock they need to be doing things how they are told, or should at least discuss another possible way to do things and get the supervisor's permission.

I saw too much red from this. I maintain that the woman should have told me she could not/or didnt' choose to do the job. I might not have liked it, but I would totally have respected it.

she sounds like someone for whom extra reassurance was needed

Steph, in retrospect, I have identified a particular hot-button of my personal experience that I really need to manage better in this context. The woman isn't a great walker, but she is adequate. She IS what my personal prejudices consider to be a 'weak' woman. This is a problem for me that is nobody's fault but my own. I really, really need to get a handle on this because my irritation does nothing for the woman and ensures I do not succeed with that personality type.

Major lesson to learn here.

I forgot about the positive feedback part, if there's any to be had. Man, that can be a streeeeetch sometimes.

I totally fell down on the positive feedback portion of the program yesterday. I got so excited and wound up, I had my eyes too glued to the goals and the people I was talking to about things I feel strongly about.

I know I was encouraging and cheerful with the folks who were cheerful. I did not help those who weren't. a

Yeah I have to say from my perspective, only being given what you said here, I personally would have been horrible at this. And I would have been terrified to tell you I couldn't do it. Given what they came back with and their understanding, they obviously didn't understand what information they should have been gathering and how it would have been used, much less how to gather it from random strangers. I work a lot of conventions, where basically everyone walking past my booth has a stated interest in my product and it it still, after ten years of working at it, insanely difficult to engage people appropriately. What you are asking is hard, and I don't know, but the average dog walker's personality might not be a marketers one.

What you are asking is hard, and I don't know, but the average dog walker's personality might not be a marketers one.

This.