I worked for Eric Uhl for the greater part of 2010. I was a part-time delivery driver at Dominos Pizza, and he was the store manager. I was working as a delivery driver on top of my full time day job as a sales manager for a software company in Denver, CO. In my job as a sales manager, I have learned to be attentive to people and observant of situations. I have been involved in the hiring process in previous jobs; and therefore I recognize good work habits and character qualities. As a result of these experiences, I feel that I can confidently illustrate the characteristics that make Eric an excellent manager and a strong employee.
In my experience and observation, Eric is a man who can handle the weight of responsibility with a good attitude. In the food industry, you often see people (managers included) who are apathetic, careless, and who lack motivation to strive for excellence. In contrast to this, Eric is alert to make sure things are done correctly, and calls those around him to a higher standard. Eric exhibits the character qualities of responsibility and alertness in the workplace.
Responsibility is “knowing and doing what is expected of me.” It is the opposite of unreliability. As store manager, Eric has taken personal responsibility for his store and employees. You get the sense from Eric that he is genuinely concerned for the store’s performance, and he takes personal responsibility to make improvements where he sees things lacking. For example, during a recent staff meeting, Eric brought several areas of improvement to our attention. One of these areas was answering phones – he felt that people were not making it a priority to get to the phones quickly whenever they would ring. Eric set a new standard for us – “get to the phones before the second ring!” and encouraged us to rise to the challenge. As a result, people (myself included) began hustling to the phones. In fact, sometimes people would almost bump into each other in their zeal to get to the phones! Make no mistake; this is a direct result of Eric taking responsibility to improve the performance of the store. Eric is personally invested, which means his superiors can rest easy that he is being a diligent caretaker of his realm of responsibility.
Alertness is “being aware of what is taking place around me so that I can have the right responses.” I believe that this is a very important character trait for anyone who is responsible for others in a job environment. Eric exhibits alertness in his day-to-day management of the store. He is observant and watchful of employees, and willing to point out (in a productive way) areas in which they can improve. For example, when I was a new employee, I was at the cut-table cutting pizzas. Eric walked by and quickly noticed that I had forgotten to add the garlic-crust sauce to the pizza I was cutting. His noticing this was impressive, considering that there are always plenty of activities that demand Eric’s attention, and yet he noticed this split-second detail. He pointed my error out to me, and then took the time to give me the corporate standard for speed in cutting pizzas – each pizza should be out of the oven, cut, sauced, and boxed within 20 seconds. As he talked with me, I felt no condescension or embarrassment, and perceived in him an earnest desire to call others to a higher standard. Eric’s alertness resulted in a teaching opportunity that earned my respect, and gave me a goal for which to strive.
It has been an honor to work with Eric. His personal investment and dedication to the success of the store he manages proves that he is capable of handling even greater responsibility. As a manager, I found him to be flexible and easy to work with, while at the same time, he maintained the authority necessary to lead others. He demonstrates a good balance of friendliness and leadership. He also demonstrates an aptitude for investing in the growth and development of those around him, and is a good and patient teacher. I would heartily recommend him for any leadership position for which he is qualified.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
Sincerely;
Johnny Adam Levy
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My definitions for character traits come from the CharacterFirst curriculum of the “49 Character Qualities.” (www.characterfirst.org.)
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