Devoted to customer service and the principles of exceptional customer services

When I worked at Wet Seal I often complained that I never had the time to do "managerial work" - i.e. sit down and work on scheduling, budgets, and sales planning.  Most of the time I was doing everything that an associate does.  In other words, I was a highly-paid salesgirl. 

However, in retrospect I realize how important it was for me to be on the floor with everyone else because I would have never known what was selling and what wasn't. I wouldn't have gotten to know the very fashionable girl who came in every weekend with her mother to shop.  I also would have never been able to have the close relationship that I did with all the girls that worked for me. 

The first chapter of the book, The Spirit to Serve Marriott's Way, talks about the benefits of being a hands-on manager:

Why is it so important that our managers be out on the floor all day and not holed up in an office? If a manager is hands-on, more than likely she's also on top of her business. She can pick up immediately on problems, concerns, or issues and take care of them before they fester or grow. Conversely a manager who doesn't know his staff by name, who doesn't spend the bulk of the day walking the heart of the house, will eventually have problems. He's just not going to have the same rapport with associates or the knowledge base to make decisions as do hands-on counterparts.

Are you a hands-on manager?

Now don't mistake a hands-on approach to management with the looking-over-your-should-every-two-minutes manager!  Nobody likes a manager who micro-manages every detail of the business. 

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