BLOG SPOT - with Gary Latham

NO WORRIES...

“No worries” is one of the most traditional Australian phrases. I have a young receptionist, Annie, who says it like it’s the only English she knows. She says it in the true style of the word though, relaxed, and confident, far from dismissive. Annie makes you feel like there really are no worries.

I had a woodwork teacher at school, Mr Laguno, who wasn’t a fan of such laid-back Aussie phrases. He was much more a measure twice, cut once man, rather than a “she’ll be right mate” or “no worries” guy. To him, it was careless more than carefree.

When used like Annie does “no worries” puts you in a place of calm, nothing is too much trouble, and everything is going to be ok. It’s not always the case and we are drawn to the Mr Laguna side of distrust.

I once had a nurse giving me a spinal tap, who repeatedly sprouted out “No Worries”, as the treacle-like fluid slowly drained from my spine. I don’t know if it was the fact that she was a South African or that I had a needle between two of my lumbar vertebrae, but I found small comfort in her words, “No worries”, I was shitting myself.

I have always tried to have a little bit of “no worries” in my management style, Jayne has always naturally had more. I think the staff want to know, everything will be OK, their jobs are secure, and the salon is safe.

It’s part of Leadership. Jayne has always been able to deliberately ignore bad behaviour, giving it absolutely no air. For staff members who get on the wrong side of Jayne generally, they don’t even realise they are now living on the coldest place on earth.

There are many different styles of management and many different managers. When do you need to act and when do you do nothing? I often think management is like a campfire. Put a group of people around one and watch the fun begin. Some can’t stop themselves and have to add more fuel, turn logs etc etc. Others have a knack of letting things go until the very last moment, making a few small moves and have a raging fire in front of them.

Some end up standing around a couple of scorched charcoal logs. When is it time to blow up and throw things against the wall to whip your staff into toeing the line, and when do you play it cool knowing full well it was just an aberration.

I heard once from a leading NRL coach that you can only get a way with one half time rant a season, after that they fall on deaf ears.

In my experience everybody wants a manager for everybody else but not for themselves. “No worries”. When Ali first opened SoGo she said to me “I don’t want to have to micromanage staff”. I thought this was a guarded way of telling me that we had micromanaged her more than she would have liked.

I remember thinking if she thought she had been micromanaged than she would have been horrified if she knew just how much micromanaging I actually did. It was iceberg like. A year later she said to me “I can’t believe how much micromanaging I have to do with staff”.

Over the past few weeks, we have been inviting people to our 30th birthday party, sorry if we missed you. Amongst all the congratulations, came the questions of disbelief, mainly from ex staff. “I don’t know how you did it, putting up with all those staff.

The answer in short is probably “No Worries”. Yes, as my vast reserves of patience are disappearing as fast as the colour from my hair, I must say I am still clinging to the last of my reserves. I take the advice of my mum from here.

When asked how she coped with six kids, five boys and a girl, she answered “In the end Gary, I didn’t care what any of you did as long as you didn’t hurt anyone”. So, there you go 30 years bruised and beaten, but not broken. No Worries!