Go With The (Work) Flow

Today’s blog post is about going with the flow, but before I get into it, here’s a definition on what it means.

To go with the flow means you let things happen or let other people tell you what to do, rather than trying to control what happens yourself. In my current job and at my previous job, we work as a team (that’s debatable sometimes). Doing our own thing may not be what’s best for the crew, so it’s imperative to have a leader in place. You may not agree with what’s being said but if you show up, shut up, do the work, and go home at the end of the day (or night), there will be less drama.

You go with the flow.

Three examples of going with the flow from my personal experience include not only the work flow, but also how a Toastmasters meeting runs.

I work five minutes from home at Giant Eagle. I was hired there in November 2021 as I was ready to make a change of years of traveling to other stores to do inventory. O ur work flow has us starting in grocery, sometimes breaking it down, before finishing other departments (UNFI, dairy, frozen, and HBC; with the exception of dairy, three of these come every other night).

After much consideration, we changed our work flow last week. After starting in paper for so long, we now start in the heavier aisles with condiments (Aisle 1) and canned vegetables and pasta sauce and everything else (Aisle 2), ending with the easier bulk items like laundry detergent (aisle 13) and baby (aisle 14)

For 13 years, I was employed by WIS International. I traveled to other stores to do their inventory and, as is the case with my night crew at Giant Eagle, worked as a team. Here, I’m going to talk about how different the work flow was from store to store.

At Target, we had four different work flows at the beginning. We had a crew starting in Grocery, one in Electronics, a bunch starting in softlines, and a stockroom crew. A normal crew size for Target was around 40-50 people. Eventually, as we finished our departments, we all met up together and got the rest of the store done.

Lowe’s inventories were run over the course of two days. Day one we got two-thirds of the store done, saving the other for day two. The inventory manager had a list of what departments needed done and the audits for those departments. Day one we always got the perimeter done and the back line of the store, including plumbing (the worst part of the store to count by far). Day two we always did hardware, tools, and either seasonal or paint. It always varied. One thing was for certain and that was, you always came home covered in dust.

My final example of going with the flow takes place at a Toastmasters meeting. We have an agenda for the meeting with roles including speakers. Also, time management is a vital part of every Toastmasters meeting or event. If you are running a meeting and it goes over, then you run the risk of losing a prospective member if you have guests at your meeting. Keep the meeting running smoothly and if you have to, schedule only one or two speeches or shorten table topics to a few participants. Trim down your presentation if you need to so the program can get done on time.