Gina Six Kudo is the general manager for Cochrane Road Self Storage in Morgan Hill, Calif. She is one of four recipients of the Inside Self-Storage 2009 Humanitarian Service Award.

If you're a self-storage manager, you know it's tough to find a good "second in command." There's no shame in admitting it. As assistants go, there have been some real doozies out there.

I personally experienced the "Single White Female" scenario in my own office. While this person did stop short of killing anyone, the mimicry, from emulating my clothing, personal items, hairstyle and handwriting, was quite unnerving.

Or there was the guy who, in the two days he worked for me, consumed literally 10 pounds of chocolate and untold boxes of cookies. I am so happy the job "didn’t work out" on his end, or the company would have gone bankrupt purchasing "customer" treats.  

After various rounds of classifieds that yielded nothing great, I once got very specific in an ad. It read, “If you know the difference between a broom, a push broom and a mop. please apply immediately.” That’s what it took to find a wonderful man who has now worked with me for more than eight years.

The unemployment rate at that time was low, and pickings were slim, no deference intended toward this gentleman. Some who applied in all seriousness thought, “Like all I have to do is like answer the phones and like talk to my boyfriend to like keep from getting bored right?” Eek! End this interview quick!

The retired gentleman I was fortunate enough to hire is a godsend. You can set your watch by him. He has never missed a day of work and, most important, he takes great pride in doing his job so he sleeps well at night. His one little flaw is that he prefers to work the grounds, not the office. Despite what he believes his shortcomings are, they are far from the truth. When he shows a unit, the potential tenant returns to the office laughing and ready to rent. No follow-up sales pitch by the office staff required.  

Along the way, he and I have had some varied co-workers, some quite colorful, some as dense as a wooden block. Some people interview well, but when it comes down to brass tacks, they’re less than optimal.

One thing I believe concerns most managers is the lack of motivation, intelligent thought processes and even pride in a job well done by their assistants. One would think if the office needed dusting or the toilet paper restocking that a grown adult would not need to be reminded of it ... repeatedly.  

Sometimes no matter how hard you, the manager, tries there are those you cannot motivate or push to think and do for themselves and for the good of the company. As the manager you have to step it up, and this adds wear and tear and motivation on your part. So what do you do?  

Across the board there are hiring tricks, interview techniques and more, but how does a manager with limited human resources get through this sometimes long and arduous process to find the right person to become part of the team? Isn’t being a well-honed team what we are all striving for?

If you have employee motivational techniques or insight into hiring for a small office, why not share your ideas? We’ve got a great group of people helping each other along for the betterment of our industry, and they are just a couple of mouse clicks away. To share your thoughts, post a comment below or join the discussion at Self-Storage Talk.