Be a Value to Your Boss
On the day that I turned 16, I began looking for a job. I quickly landed an opportunity with Buffalo Wild Wings. The pay was great and the people even greater. Before I started, my dad gave me a piece of advice that I have carried with me since: be a value to your boss.
What does being a value to your boss mean?
There are many different things you can do to be a value to your boss: be on time, be a problem solver, be a team player, have a positive attitude, and go above and beyond what is expected. Perform in a way that creates value and you’ll be a value.
I began working for a corporate Buffalo Wild Wings location. After a year, a friend of mine went into management at a franchise location.
This friend asked me to work for her part-time and help properly train new hires. I was thrilled when she called on me to help make this location and team stronger.
I began working part-time for the franchise while continuing to work for corporate. In my senior year of high school, I worked 7 days a week between both locations.
One day while working at the franchise, the regional manager visited and asked to speak to me. He asked for me to work full time for the franchise.
He believed I was a real value to the team. I was one of the few team members who came to work looking polished and in uniform. I was never seen on my phone in front of customers. I completed cleaning projects without being instructed. It was nice to hear that my efforts were noticed.
Although I did not take him up on his offer, I did continue to work for both stores. I was ecstatic that the regional manager saw something in me that made him want me to work for him full time. That was the day that I learned that people do notice when you go above and beyond.
When I went to college, I came home nearly every weekend to work. I also worked at the Buffalo Wild Wings location on campus during the week. Everything changed during my second semester of college when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
The pandemic caused us to go to takeout only. My managers had to make cuts to the staff. They picked people they could rely on to stay on the payroll. I was one of the few people chosen at both locations.
Throughout the shutdown, I worked full time at both locations, clocking out with 70 to 80 hours a week. Although my second semester was crazy, I still worked hard and made it onto the Dean’s list.
This was another time I realized how powerful being a value to your boss is. My dad was right. If you go above and beyond for your boss, then they will do their best to help you out where they can.
When preparing to reopen for dine-in service, I was tasked with helping set up tables in a way that would both maximize the number of guests we could serve and be in correspondence with new guidelines. It took hours to do this. I probably rearranged the setup of the tables 20 times, but I was determined to finish the project.
My next task to tackle was the bar area. I realized a pain point for the bartenders: with no bar rail, they were not going to be able to serve enough customers to make a decent living. Management was discussing giving the bartenders an hourly pay rate as opposed to working for tips. I wanted to present a solution that would help everyone.
I came up with the idea of connecting tables to the bar rail, 6 feet apart so that bartenders could still make tips and serve guests. This not only maximized the capacity of people that we could serve at a time, but it also solved a problem for my coworkers.
We cleared the idea with the health department. Next up was making sure that upper management was on board. The same franchise regional who came to me years ago loved this idea. He loved it so much that he adopted it in all of the company’s franchise locations.
The last three years have shown me first hand how important it is to be a value to your boss. This piece of advice has by far been the best advice I have received yet and protected me from unemployment during a global pandemic.
To be a true value to your boss you will have to work hard to show your worth and differentiate yourself from others. You will not be seen as a value if you are doing the bare minimum. You will be seen as a value if you are one that can be depended on to go above and beyond.
