How Many Hats do You Wear?

I was just wondering. How many hats do you wear? No, we are not talking about literal hats here, but the roles and functions people carry out in relation to one another. (Yeah, those types of hats).

Here is a list of all the various hats that I wear at work in addition to Employer/Employee.

• Youth Leader
• Neighbor
• Roommate
• Friend
• Publication Design Editor
• Mentor
• Tutor
• Sunday School Teacher
• Bible Study Leader
• Advocacy Leader

Completely random list- but that is what happens when you hire 22 employees from your church. I wonder how many other professional Inner-City Missionaries/Design-Photographers/Political Advocates/Chick-Fil-A Managers there are in the world. 

It is surprisingly hard to say "I am a member of a church that believes in the value, dignity, and inherient value of all people as created beings in the image of God." and at the same time say "I am a member of an organization that believed all individuals should be treated with value, dignity, and respect." While these two things sound very similar (and infact the latter is based in the former) there is a slight distinction. It is hard to tell someone "I think that you are wonderful person created in the image of God and I seek to love and serve you in every way possible, but you have a poor work ethic and bad attitude and we are going to have to terminate your employment with our organization. 

Have I ever mentioned, I don't like hats?

Finally Open!

Today is the grand opening of our little CFA. Yesterday the first 100 camped out at the store waiting over 24 hours for the store to open. All of our management team hit the streets spreading the word about the CFA opening, stopping cars and flagging down buses to pass out coupons for free food. It was a fun filled, action packed adventure all the way around. Meanwhile, today will be complete chaos I am sure (luckily I am closing the store tonight so I get to miss all of the mad rush at lunch time.)

Really?

Friday last week was my last week of off-site manager training. Monday we started orientation for our pilot group. For those of you who do not know- our CFA unit is test run for a new employee training program and twenty of our staff were selected to participate. As with any new, uncharted waters there is often confusion and lack of communication because of the thousands of unplanned cenarios that possibly could be encountered (but nobody expects will ever happen).

Today is Wednessday, last night I found out that I am being sent back off site to train employees in the pilot group- which means I am missing the last week of manager training on-site at my store. While I am a little frustrated (more about being off-site than missing the training) I am really glad for the time I get to spend with all of our staff getting to know them- it will help a lot once we get going next week.

Moshulu

Today the Chick-Fil-A Aramingo FSU leadership team went to lunch at the Moshulu, one of (if not the most) prestigious restaurants in Philadelphia. The cuisine was excellent as you might expect. 

Over lunch we had the usual business talk but we also spent a good portion of time discussing life goals, ministry and church. It is very encouraging to be in a workplace which encourages the integration of bio/psycho/social/spiritual reasoning.  So many companies see only the bottom line dollar and care only about their employees to the extent as to how they help (or hurt) pad their profit margin.  Oscar (Operator) and Melissa (General Manager) have been great to work for and are amazing people to talk to- they both have a passion for people and hope to see a change in the community.

On the way back to office we talked about the qualities that are important in a good leader- one of which was “Fearslessness” as Oscar in his broken English put it. A good leader is fearless- that is, not to say one is without fear, but that one’s fears are not evident to those around them- that they remain calm and collected and seek wisdom in any given situation despite any self doubts or reservations.

Thought of the day:

What qualities do you think make a good leader? Why? How do current people in your life relate?

Welcome!

Today was the start of my new job at Chick-Fil-A one of those fun orientation days where nothing happens... unfortunately this entire week will be spent watching videos, reading manuals and discussing policies and proceedures. This is the corporate "Welcome" that we have all come to dread with a passion. The only up side is that this is only of the few times in life when being "lazy" and making mistakes is generally acceptable (don't over do it).

New Beginnings

So, today I leave ACI and head for bigger and better things (well, they are not bigger- and at this point only hopeful that they are better). I will miss the many people that I work with but look forward to the many new faces I will get to meet. While I won't miss any of the drama, chaos, or inefficiency- I will miss the "smiling" faces and the loads of stories of sheer human stupidity that has come from this place.

So long and farewell.