In my last store as a manager, I went through the most difficult time in my career. Our company reorganized, in this case meaning that they were eliminating half of the roles at my level. Emotions and anxiety were high throughout the experience for everyone. Fortunately I was kept at a management level, but my team grew from 12 to 36 employees. I was overwhelmed, and there was no guidance from my superiors because the “playbook” hadn’t been written yet. We were the experiment, we were the guinea pigs. I was forced to step down six months later based on my performance. The higher management tried to spin it as my choice for political purposes, but I was essentially offered termination or a lower position. I had given my best efforts, and it wasn’t enough. Soon after, statistics were posted that over 70% of individuals given this role “failed” and were terminated voluntarily or involuntarily. They added another position for stores of my size six months after I was demoted.
Naturally, the entire process was traumatic for me. I wasn’t pleased with how things went. I was very vocal about my disagreement with the way the situation was handled, but the quality of my work wasn’t affected and I was sure to limit discussion with my peers. My General Manager targeted me. He started seeking out (i.e. inventing) reasons to document me. He wanted me out, and badly. He badmouthed me to all of the other managers. Peers that I thought I was close with no longer approached me even to say hello, walked by without acknowledging me. After all the investment I had made in that store, I was not even treated like a person. Politically, at some point, I had to let go of the entire situation. I had to just accept it for what it was. I started to look for further extracurricular work that I could gain something from. I eventually, after posting some serious results, was starting to make traction with my reputation.
My career was essentially destroyed by this General Manager and his dramatization of my behavior. I was unable to get positions as a manager elsewhere as I applied. Finally, he moved to a new store to grand open it, and I decided to apply with him. I felt that he owed me, and surely must have seen that the person he replaced me with had yielded significantly worse results. Fortunately, when I described what I had learned through my previous experience, the other managers on my interview panel fought for me. I got the position, and went on to open my new store. My departments are top rated in the district, and I am regarded as the best manager in the store.
I have, since moving to this store, watched the same man destroy three different people. Three different people whose failure was that of a General Manager’s poor choices and the failure of the rest of the management team who should have supported them when they saw a peer struggling. I know now that it is about this man, not me, and I will never let him break me again. I am better than that, I am better than him. I will go on to show this company how to manage people correctly, how to develop them and guide them, and how to persist when obstacles seem insurmountable.
Leave a comment