Leader’s Effective Use of One “Advanced” Leadership Skill, Essay Example

After completing my high school, I took a summer job at Best Buy as a sales associate in the electronics department. There were five other sales associates in the same department and our manager was a guy named Adam who had been with the company for about five years and was extremely knowledgeable about electronics. But I soon noticed that whenever a customer would ask Adam a question about a product, Adam would ask me or another sales associate to respond to customer’s questions. When Adam would point the customer towards a particular sales associate, he would make it a point to praise the sales associate’s skills and knowledge in front of the customer. Adam told me and other sales associates that if a customer has a problem, a sales associate has the authority to solve the customer’s problem in any manner he/she may see fit and we should not consult him unless the situation is too complex. Adam would always praise us for a job well done and even when a sales associate would make a mistake, Adam would somehow convince him/her that he/she did the best job given the situation.

Adam was a leader who believed in empowering his subordinates. It motivated the associates work harder than they would have otherwise. Adam also told me that the turnover rate in the electronics department was one of the lowest within the store because his subordinates enjoyed their work. Adam’s confidence in his subordinates also motivated them to learn more about electronics sold by the stores so that they could exceed Adam’s expectations. We didn’t only enjoy our work but also told our friends about Adam which may be why electronics department would always have lot of job applications. My experiences convinced me that employees perform better when they are empowered to make decisions and are trusted by their bosses to perform well.