Final Project
Reflection
When I learned of the service-learning project (SLP) requirement
in this course, I was not thrilled. I could not see how volunteering
my time and observing a workplace could possibly benefit me in this
course. At least that was my rationale. Truth be known, I
was bothered by it; I did not want to do it.
I seriously considered dropping the class, but quickly realized
that I had no options. This course was the only one available in my
catalog; I have taken all of the others. And, I still need the hours
to meet program requirements. Then, I realized how ridiculous I was
behaving. So, I committed myself to this course. I
committed to giving my best, doing the work, and earning the grade, to include
the SLP.
Today, I am very glad that I did. If I had been given
the opportunity, I would not have taken this course and I would have missed out
on one of the best learning experiences of my career.
At first, it felt like I was just going through the
motions. I worked my first shift, journaled what I observed, and I
waited for my next workday to come around. I could not afford for my
next shifts to be the same. I had not even identified my leader’s
dominant leadership style. So, I asked a few
questions. Following other people’s advice, I started looking for
things I had studied during the other weekly activities instead of just waiting
for something to happen. This is when everything came to life with the project.
I chose Dollar General as the company I would study and my
small-town local Dollar General Store to do my volunteer work. I was
surprised to find out that Dollar General is a Fortune 200 Company finding its
place on the annual list at number 123, a five-place improvement over the 2017
list (Fortune 500, 2018).
The company may post Fortune 200 revenue, but its stores are quite
simple and conservative. They are small in size at 3500 square feet,
the floors are bare concrete and merchandise rests on simple, metal
shelving. However, the stores are clean and inviting. They
truly do create the small-town-general-store feel. And, of course,
the stores are located in small towns all over the country, specifically 15,277
small towns.
The manager of my store is Glen. Glen does not look
like a typical store manager. He is unkempt. His hair is
long and unbrushed, his wears worn out jeans and t-shirts, and his appearance
made it easy, I am sorry to say, for me to underestimate him, which I
did. The problem with judgement and early assessments without all
the information is that they are usually wrong or incomplete. That
was the case with me and Glen. I had almost written him off before I
learned he is an educated man, he had been in the job for many years, and his
leadership skills are very well developed. I am fortunate that I got
to watch him work a couple of small issues before we parted ways.
One of those issues almost turned into something much bigger and
would have if Glen had not instinctively neutralized the
situation. An employee was late for work for the second time in two
days. When Glen asked the young man about it, it startled him and he
became defensive. Glen recognized that if he continued talking, the
situation would become confrontational. So, Glen took the
conversation private. It was Glen’s choice to make. By
choosing not to further embarrass the employee, Glen showed respect for the
employee and everyone watching as well. Instantly everyone knew that
if it had been them they would have wanted the same treatment.
It sounds simple, but it extremely easy to go overboard in a
situation like that. The majority of Glen’s employees are local high
school students. If he had handled the situation any differently, he
would have been seen as a tyrant with whom no one would want to
work. His workforce is young and already highly transient. He
could not afford to make the situation any worse.
I finally determined that Glen’s dominant leadership style is
participative. I had a hard time accepting the assessment because of
the age of his workforce and their transitional nature. What I saw
as a complication, Glen saw as an opportunity. He felt that this was
the perfect place for the leadership style. He told me that everyone
that works here has an idea how to do things better. Since the
decisions made in the store are not typically time sensitive, participation was
the best style for them. They would learn what works and what will
not and through the consensus process, they understand why. In this
way, Glen claimed that employees that stayed for one year would be capable of
store management. They would not be ready for it based on
experience, but they could do it. I was impressed. He
does not have to do what he does; no one expects it. And, it almost
certainly adds time to every decision. He does it because he
believes every experience should be one we learn from and first job in high
school is no different. Glen started this practice almost 12 years
ago and has only experienced two or three exceptions to his
claim. This is servant leadership in practice. According
to Rowe and Guerrero (2018), “servant leadership focuses on the behaviors
leaders should exhibit to put followers first and to support follower’s
personal development….servant leadership begins when leaders commit themselves
to putting their subordinates first, being honest with them, and treating them
fairly” (p. 175). Glen wanted his employees to know what he knows for no other
reason than he felt like it was the right thing to do. In this way,
Glen is a servant leader.
This project has had a profound effect on me. I learned a lot about an incredible company and I learned some about retail operations, but I attribute most of my learning to a leader that I had written off far too early based on his appearance. I consider myself to be a good leader. During this project, I witnessed better and I am glad that I did. I know now that I will never prejudge another person's leadership abilities again.
My degree would not have been complete without this experience. This experience that I was so motivated to forgo. Some lessons are far more difficult to learn than others, but they must be learned nonetheless.
~Pete
References
Fortune 500 (2018). Dollar General [Web page]. Fortune.com.
Accessed on , December 6, 2018 from http://fortune.com/fortune500/dollar-general/
Rowe W. G., & Guerrero, L. (2018). Cases in leadership (5th
ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publishing.
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