ARTICLE
Tracy Huntt is the Controller of Gary Yeoman’s Honda in Daytona Beach, Florida. Her position is essentially a step below the general manager, which is a great accomplishment for her considering that she did not go to college. Her duties include various managerial tasks, overseeing all of the office activities and ensuring everything is running smoothly. Her various forms of composition include emails, reports, and verbal interactions. She goes over her various forms of composition and how they are similar or different from one another. She also covers the different ways that her composing style might need to change throughout various situations in the business world.
Q: How does the formality of your emails change as you write them to varying people? What precautions do you take?
A: Sometimes when I'm addressing my staff, I'm am direct and to the point in giving them orders that need to be done in a timely manner. Or if I am reaching out to a corporate office or a superior sometimes I will choose to elaborate my points more or change my font, using bold lettering for things that are important and always making sure to use the correct punctuation to ensure that the message is very clear of what I'm trying to say and what I'm trying to get across. When sending an important email If you have any questions that need answered make sure to always include your contact information so that you can get a timely reply.
Q: How do you manage your long-term/short-term deadlines and expectations in an organized structure?
A: I have several different checklists that I go by, I have daily, weekly, and monthly checklists in order to stay on top of everything because as your day unfolds things can get in your way. You have to always go back to a checklist to make sure that you still accomplish everything that you need to regardless of what distracts you throughout your day, week, or month.
Q: If you are looking to hire a new employee, what types of composing do you do in order to be prepared to conduct an interview? What do you look for in an interviewee?
A: I mainly focus on my research to make sure I am not going into the interview blindly. I compile the background information, references, prior employment information, which should all be on the resume in front of me and I do my research before I even have the person in front of me and then I compose a format of how I'm going to question them in order to get the info I need. I try approach them from different angles so that I can find out how they handle different situations that are presented to them. All while watching their body language, eye contact, and looking to see if they're comfortable speaking to me openly.
Q: How do you approach a situation where you need persuade a subordinate to do an unwanted task?
A: I communicate everyone's requirements clearly to them before they're employed. But if for some reason someone is hesitating on an assignment that I'm trying to give them, I would remind them of the importance of it, and ask them if they need any help getting to the outcome. Maybe they don't have the resources they need to do the job that I’m asking of them. So I would make sure and communicate all the details that I need and ask them if I can help them get to that point.
Q: How do you communicate a sense of urgency to an employee?
It's very important to tell the employee what is expected of them and when I need it by and if it needs to come before their normal daily tasks, I always try to make that very clear to them so that they know they can put their ordinary routine on the side and get me what I need right away.
Q: How do you decline an employee’s request while keeping their morale high? How do you deal with being the bearer of bad news?
A: I would try to explain to them why I need them rather than you know for example, giving them a vacation during a holiday where we are really busy. I would just explain to them the importance that they play in the role of the business. And in order to meet the business needs I will show them that I need that key player and by doing that I feel like I promote their self confidence so that they know their presence is needed to keep the wheels turning in the bigger scheme of the business.
Q: How do you deal with frustrated employees while assuring that it does not escalate into a bigger issue in the future?
A: I just start by asking them why they're frustrated and try to get to the bottom of it.
Even when it's not valid to me, sometimes I just have to give them a chance to vent and get it out in the open and talk it through with them and see if it is something that we can overcome or if it's going to be an obstacle that's going to hinder them from moving forward.
Q: What measures do you take in order reduce conflicts and to be transparent? How could you defuse a conflict amongst co-workers?
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A: I like to conduct weekly meetings and additionally I have a suggestion box which allows people to put suggestions in it of the things that they think would work better and I have an open door policy where everyone knows that they can come to me at any point in time or email me or call me with any concerns that they have. It’s important to listen to both sides of the story when you have a conflict between employees so after I've heard the person complaining I like to get the other version as well and decide what's really happening, because there is usually three sides to every story.
Q: How do you ensure that you treat people equally without showing any favoritism?
A: I make it a point to not be on a personal level with anybody and to keep it very professional at all times. If I compliment one person’s suit jacket, I have to compliment everyone’s suit jacket. So to me it is very important to just make sure that you treat everyone equally and give everyone the same amount of time and attention so that everyone feels equal.
Q: How do you keep the overall morale high in your work environment? What type of things do you do?
A: I think it's important to celebrate the holidays and birthdays and sometimes we will do potluck lunches or just take a break from the office and get out and go to a restaurant and not talk about anything work-related. I find these activities very important because the employees look forward to them and I always try to make them fit in our schedule. I always try to praise people on the accomplishments that they have made to make sure that person realizes that they are moving forward and moving up in the company.
REFLECTION
The responses I received in my interview in some ways both challenged and confirmed my understanding of composing in the business world. I was surprised to learn about the savvy and interesting ways that you can deal with various personnel situations that could arise within the business world. My interviewee presented to me a variety of new tactics that I can employ in those situations when I hold a similar position within a business. I have also learned from this the importance of having a solid relationship with an employee and maintaining that so that they can come to me with any problems. I would like to explore the various levels and mediums of composing from different positions all throughout a business but more specifically a higher up position such as the CEO. I feel that if I knew how the best of the best compose then I could meet all of my varying composing goals easily with that new knowledge. I would also like to learn the specifics of how to better communicate within various emails, reports, etc. Not only how to better communicate but also how to maintain a formal or professional diction throughout the composition. Whenever I am emailing a professional, I tend to find myself admiring how they sound so professional and concise, not only with their word choice but also with the ways that they communicate so efficiently. I have been told that I sometimes use sentence fragments, run on sentences, coma splices, or a lack of variety in my diction. I would also like to use more higher-level words in order to showcase my vocabulary. Improving those things will benefit me in being a more professional writer and showing my skills as a writer. As I become a better writer, I will become a better communicator being able to speak with confidence and efficiency. In doing this, I will be better equipped for job or internship interviews in which will put me in a better position professionally. I will be better able to confidently speak about my qualities and strengths and qualifications while sounding like a professional and an intellectual. I also learned some techniques for managing deadlines and staying organized within the business. I think that those techniques could very easily and seamlessly transfer over into my academic and personal areas. I can compile various checklists including both personal and academic or even professional goals and deadlines and tasks. This will help me stay organized not only in the classroom but also in the real world where long term goals can easily be forgotten or lost if they are not written down in an organized structure. I am not exactly sure what steps I should take to get where I want to be as a composer. If I had to guess I would say that it would come from experience and time, because practice makes perfect. I am certain that the more time that I spend reading and writing I will become an even better composer. Additionally, if I read the work of a more sophisticated writer than myself than I will pick up on new words and styles that I van implement into my own composing style. The more time that I spend writing the more comfortable I will feel with it and it will slowly become easier and more fluid as I develop my composing skills. I think the responses to the questions I asked have helped me understand the mediums of composition of a manager and how that medium could possibly change within various situations changing the composing style.