Your Store Shouldn't Have to Work Around Your Mood

You can still desk deals at 60 percent. The harder question is whether you're hearing what your people are telling you.

I walked into a meeting tired and started shooting down ideas. We were deciding the direction of a company for the next year. People needed room to think out loud, and I had already decided I didn't have much patience for it.

I got defensive. I got snappy with someone who hadn't done anything to earn it. There wasn't a blowup. In the room, it felt like I was being decisive.

I had 60 percent and was leading like I had 100.

That experience made me think about how easily this can happen at the desk. A manager can keep working deals, answering questions, and making decisions long after they've stopped listening well. You're still getting things done. Meanwhile, a salesperson is trying to figure out whether this is a good time to bring you a problem.

The customer is waiting while they decide.

Every morning, I check my own battery before I look at my phone. I think about my energy the way I think about my iPhone. Did I wake up at 80 percent? Seventy-five? Am I at 60 before my feet hit the floor?

I wear an Oura ring, so I compare how I feel with what it says about my sleep and what the day before asked of me. I don't take the ring as gospel. The number is a way to pay attention before the day starts making demands.

Some low mornings follow nights I'd choose again. My wife and I go out to dinner, have a long conversation, and sometimes I have a few too many IPAs. We've gone to a concert and gotten home at 10, which is late for me now. Those things cost me some energy the next morning. They're also part of having a life I enjoy.

The mistake is expecting the people at work to absorb the cost without me changing anything.

When I'm depleted, I don't always feel tired. I feel like everybody needs to get to the point faster. I start deciding whether an idea will work before the person has finished explaining it. I want an answer so I can move on.

At the desk, that impatience can look like experience. You've heard a payment objection a thousand times. You think you know where the conversation is going.

Suppose a salesperson tells you the customer wants a lower payment. You send them back with another pencil before asking what was actually said. Maybe the payment is the issue. Maybe the customer is uncomfortable with the term, or they're on more vehicle than they wanted. Until you hear the whole handoff, you're working from an incomplete picture.

That doesn't mean every long explanation deserves twenty minutes. You can ask someone to be clear without cutting off the information you need.

Try: "What did the customer say, and what have we already tried?"

Then let them answer. If you're interrupting because you've heard enough to understand, that's one thing. If you're interrupting because you're irritated that they're still talking, pay attention to that.

A similar mistake happens in coaching. A salesperson misses a follow-up, and you're already aggravated by three other things. Now a specific missed task turns into a conversation about whether they care about their job.

You may have a real performance problem to address. Start with the actual failure: "This customer was supposed to hear from us yesterday. Walk me through what happened." You can hold the standard and still find out whether you're dealing with a skill gap, a missed handoff, or someone simply not doing the work.

Your energy level shouldn't decide which explanation they get.

After my meeting, I called the person I'd snapped at and apologized. At the next meeting, I apologized to the group. My battery had been low. I was still responsible for how I treated them.

If you cut somebody off at the desk, go back and finish the conversation: "I was short with you earlier. That wasn't fair. What were you trying to tell me?"

It takes a little humility. So does asking your salespeople to own their mistakes.

I work six or seven days a week, and I love it. I can still do useful work on a low day. Research, routine emails, working on a project. I used to garden, and I think about it that way: some days you plan the garden; other days you pull weeds. Both need doing.

A dealership gives you less control over that choice. A customer needs a TO now. A delivery has a problem now. You can't move Saturday because you slept badly.

You can be deliberate about how you handle the work. Before taking the TO, get the full handoff. Before approving an unusual exception, get another manager's read if one is available. If you catch yourself getting sharp, pause long enough to ask one more question before giving an answer.

For the work that can move, use your calendar. A conversation about a manager's performance deserves more than the last ten irritated minutes of your day. Set a specific time when you can give it your attention, and keep it. Repeatedly postponing a hard conversation is avoidance, whatever you call it.

This is still hard for me. Rescheduling makes me feel like I'm letting the other person down. Feeling good enough is my main issue, and it can show up in something as small as moving a meeting.

So I walk into the room to avoid disappointing someone, then disappoint them with how I behave once I'm there.

A GM also has to look beyond today's battery. If you're depleted every day, look at what keeps landing on your desk. Are you covering an open position? Have you given your managers responsibility without the authority to make decisions? Are you taking over work they need to learn?

That may take a staffing decision or a change in how you run the store. Being aware that you're exhausted won't fix a week you've built around being available for everything.

For today, watch what happens when somebody brings you a problem. Can they finish the explanation? Do you ask a question before giving an answer? Can you correct the work without unloading the rest of your day on the person in front of you?

Your team still owes you accurate information, effort, and follow-through. You owe them a fair hearing, even on the days it takes more effort to give one.