Positive Impact On Professional Development

In my time as an employee at The Home Depot there were many things I learned as an employee dealing with management that positively impacted my professional development. Of these experiences that have positively impacted my professional development one has stayed with me throughout the years since. The event happened during one of my Wednesday morning shifts that encompassed a compromise made between the assistant manager that was running the store for the morning shift and I that resolved a dilemma regarding the closing shift for my department because a fellow associate in my department and supervisor had called in sick for the closing shift that left no one to restore the department for the following business day. During my morning shift

If I wanted to leave early I would have to call in sick and use a sick day, something I did not want to do but I felt I necessary in order to take my exam. So I told Kyle I would work until noon and then I was calling in sick to leave for class. He was not happy and complained to the store manager. At approximately 11 a.m. my supervisor who was supposed to e closing called in sick for his shift leaving the department with no one from 3 p.m. until midnight, which is when the closing shift ends. Upon hearing this information I went back to Kyle and offered to work a split shift that would allow me to work a half-day and leave at noon to take my exam and return at 8 p.m. to midnight to close the department. In the meantime Kyle could have someone from another department cover down to fill the gap. Thankfully he agreed because what I proposed ultimately worked out best for the store and inadvertently for me as

The experience taught me that manager’s focus is on operating the store so that it runs efficiently and receives profits. The experience also taught me that management was willing to make compromises with the best interest of the store not the individual employee. It was not until this course that I fully understood the concept that managers were not the bad guys they are just professionals who have a greater purpose of balancing employees interest as well as the stores profitability.

Tell me, in general, do you learn better from your successes or failures and why? What is it about your personality that helps you learn from the aspect you chose in the aforementioned question? In this particular instance I learned from a success in figuring out a situation that benefitted both the assistant store manager and myself because of a scheduling mistake. Although I learn from both successes and failures, I tend to learn more from failures than I do from success. I believe in general there is more to learn from failure than success and I also believe that if you learn and grow from not achieving a goal than it’s not a failure at all it’s a successful experience. You only truly fail at something when you give up on it, not achieving a goal 9 times but success on the 10th try is a huge success in my mind because there is