Just Listen

Have you ever pondered the question…Why do some employees learn faster than others? Or why do some people pick up on things as if second nature and others well…not so much? This is something that has become a case study for me over the years. One that is mesmerizing to myself and, as I heard recently from a luxury store manager, to her as well. Here is what she asked: 

“What makes one employee so naturally apt to complete a job with little direction where another will miss the mark completely even after thorough explanation? It can be as simple as alphabetical order; one can complete putting something to SOP and one cannot. What in leadership does it take to develop an employee to not only be responsible for their behavior, but to open their mindset about how their behavior not only impacts their environment but also can open their growth. Leaders are not magicians. They use their environment to find their answers and that alone is the transition that an employee needs to make to grow from follower to leader.”

Let’s break down what she says. First of all, there is no bad way to learn. Let’s get that straight. Everyone learns differently based on several factors. Education, upbringing, experience and habits to name a few. It’s not up to the employee to know everything when they are first hired or in a position for a long time. It is up to you as a manager to ensure they are comprehending all information in a way that makes sense to them and that they are doing tasks to fulfill a specific purpose. I want to emphasize that leaders ARE NOT magicians or fortune tellers, but leaders ARE supposed to be adaptable to employee needs. Each employee you hire comes to you with a different work ethic and different set of values. These are two things we cannot teach a person, but we can push them into a different direction if needed.

I had two employees hired at the same time. They had the same back ground, but one ended up being promoted much faster than the other one and over time became a strong leader herself. Now some would say I failed the second one, but I am here to tell you that each had different levels of training designed just for them and specific to how they learned. The second one actually moved up the ladder herself…it just took a bit longer for her to understand the needs and wants of the business.

The truth of the matter is it takes an individual’s conviction to want to succeed. There is nothing you can do to make one person want something more than another. Sure, you can use a transactual philosophy, “I will give you this if you accomplish that.” Or you can watch and learn. A trial by error philosophy that helps you reach a more defined transformational approach. This approach helps the employee feel empowered to answer their own questions and take initiative in doing job tasks. The reward deeply depends on a sense of pride in job position and the motivation of accomplishing something for the team.

The next time you have an employee that is struggling at the most mundane of tasks, ask him or her why? Don’t tell them they are wrong or what they did wrong or reprimand them for not finishing on time. Talk to them and find out what the problem is. You may be surprised to hear that they just didn’t know how to do something and were afraid to ask for help in fear of disappointing you. That’s when you can say you failed. You weren’t adaptable to their needs. You didn’t listen to what they needed in order to accomplish the task at hand. 

Many managers would say, “I told them how to do it” or “I gave them the SOP binder to figure it out.” That just doesn’t work. You have to find a way to get them to understand what is needed on their own. It sounds silly, but if you are truly listening to them with an open mind, you will be able to approach their learning mindset in a way to make them find the answer themselves. Your leadership style has everything to do with the success of your employees and your business. It is up to you to develop an environment where your employees are part of the big picture. It is up to you to design an environment where an employee knows that what they are doing makes a difference. They need to understand that although you are the boss, they are the reason you still are the boss. They lift you up. Make it an environment where, as a team, your business is successful. Believe me, they will want to learn as much as possible to support you.

Longevity

I had the privilege of planning my parents 60th wedding anniversary party with my sister last week. The party planning itself took a few months, but the result was more than I could have ever imagined. Forty-two people came to celebrate my parents and one person had known my father for 75 years. He was the best man in their wedding. WOW! The party itself also made me think about spending 60 years with one person and the kind of dedication, openness and appreciation that requires. The give and take. The adjustments. The trust. Being the person I am and doing what I do, the monumental achievement had me also thinking about my career and what longevity has done for me.

Tenure is a crazy thing today. I never thought I would see people with one year at one company as longevity. I used to call that “job hopping” when looking at resumes and applications, now it is the new norm. I don’t understand why that is and it has forced me to ask some tough internal questions about those companies and most of all the management responsible for those employees. I am not perfect. I had people come and go throughout my career, but I also had some strong employees that stuck with me and the company through thick and thin. Years, in fact.

How? We learned each other’s strengths and opportunities, could finish each other’s sentences and most of all we learned through trial and error how to make our stores successful. This is not something you develop in less than one year. Sure, you can make dramatic changes that increase sales, but maintaining strong momentum over time and creating a positive reputation in the community takes longevity. That my friends is where managing with purpose comes in.

If you are a store manager, district manager or small business owner that has a lot of turn over, you need to ask yourself some hard questions. You can never control pay or payroll for that matter. You can only control your actions. Sure, money can make the world go around and life a little easier, but lack luster environments can make the higher pay scheme a terrible decision to an employee. More importantly, the question you need to ask yourself is: “Why are they looking in the first place?” From there, you need have an honest conversation with that employee. Put pride on the back burner and listen to what he/she has to say. It could be you. Maybe you aren’t the manager you thought you were. Maybe you aren’t providing a challenging environment for them. Maybe your processes need improvement. The point is…learn from them so that the next employee stays and grows with you.

My management philosophy has always been to be a manager that I always wanted. Sounds simple enough, but I took my own complaints and needs and put them to work developing my own style. I took the idea that I didn’t need to be loved, but I needed to be respected. I have high expectations and demand people to do their best at all times. I lead by example and am tough on those that don’t recognize their true potential. Delegation is key and being a chameleon to each employee has never ending possibilities for tenure. Your actions as a leader are the future of your store’s success. The saying, I am paraphrasing here, that people don’t leave companies, they leave people is so true whether you like to think that or not. It is up to you and only you to provide a nurturing environment where your employees can feel empowered and compelled to stay. It is up to you to hire the right people that fit your mind set and the right people who will challenge your mind set. It is up to you to develop a core staff and build a support system that allows everyone to grow and learn something new every day. Find a mantra and stick with it, grow from it and encourage it. Don't rely on a company's culture to keep employees, be a manager that people want to work for.

Growth

What does this word mean to you? To me, there is growth in position and growth in mental abilities. Both are needed in order to have a successful team and business. I am not just referring to your people, but also to you as a leader. Over the years I have watched peers and employees grow into incredible leaders, business owners and vibrant members of the community. I myself have grown tremendously from what I would say was a strange and crazy trip from the years 18-the present. Who I WAS definitely has shaped who I AM. The struggles I went through have helped define who I have become as a manager, a boss and now a business owner.

When I was 23 I was promoted to store manager of my first store. YES…23! I find that to be an unusual fact about my management career (although now that doesn’t seem so weird to others).  I was fresh out of college and my boss left to have a baby. I think back to that person I was at the time. A 90’s club kid. If you don’t know what that means believe me…I shouldn’t have been running a multi-million dollar business, but I did so with determination to be the best store manager I could be. I soaked up all the knowledge and advice I could get.

“Someone believed in me and gave me the opportunity. They knew I could be molded into what they needed me to be and grow into the position they saw for me.”

–Me, at 23, becoming a SM for the first time.

Think about that for a second and ask yourselves, when was the last time you hired someone or promoted someone with this idea in mind? The idea that there was a spark in someone and YOU wanted to develop it so that person could meet their true potential and grow into a manager that you knew they could become. This has now become one of my favorite management style traits. It leads me to the best part of being a manager…developing 

My favorite position on a management team will always be… manager–in-training or key holder or sales/team lead or department manager.  Whatever you want to call it, they all mean the same thing, a developmental managerial role with keys. You have the chance to mold someone into a position that they themselves didn’t know they had in them. It is a position that reflects a spark you, as their leader and mentor, saw in them. It is a position that allows them to explore what type of manager they want to become. It is often the first time they have ever had a lot of responsibility and definitely the first time they have ever managed people. I like to observe how they handle the first day of responsibility and go from there by asking a series of questions in my mind. Will they become power hungry? Will they become an associates’ confidant? Will they embrace a way of thinking and become a leader? How will they handle a tough situation? What type of direction will they give? When will they realize that they are in charge and have to make decisions? It is at that time that spark happens in them. They either love it or hate it. When I see it, I start the development process and steer them in the direction that makes sense to them. There is no forced training plan or process, just an open mind to learn.

The same goes for any person new to a role. Everyone handles their new responsibility differently. It is important not to hinder their growth through trying to get them to learn the way you did. I have talked about being a chameleon before and now it is more important than ever. Your management training abilities have to be on point or you may lose that spark that originally got them there in the first place. No one wants that. No one wants to start over. No one wants to feel like they failed someone. This is how you grow as a manager and into a leader that can respected. An accomplishment that means something. 

Be the Position You Want To Be

The biggest issue we have as managers is having the people in place who are ready for the next level, but they have no place to go. Am I right? At least in my experience, I have had incredible employees ready for the next step with no promotion in the near future. I guess I was lucky. Lucky, to have tenured teams, but it was always hard to watch them sit in the same position over time with nowhere to go.  I always told them to “be the position you want to have and adopt it as a daily state of mind.” It is never easy to have that kind of strength without push back from the employee saying that if “I am doing the position, why can’t I get paid for that position?” Good question…BUT the answer is always because the position doesn’t exist. “Stay with me here. Be patient. It WILL happen.”

Sometimes you have people in position that think they are ready for the next step, but in reality, they are not quite there yet. You have to ask yourself the following questions when reacting to their request:

1. Are they a respected leader in the store? Do employees come to them with questions? Are   they answering these questions correctly?
2. Are they leading by example in regard to policy, operations, and process efficiencies?
3. Can they answer questions that a higher-level manager usually answers without a higher-level manager interfering?
4. Are they self-sufficient or do they need to be given daily direction?
5. Have they instilled a work ethic among employees that others what to mirror?
6. Has the store incorporated processes that this person has envisioned in regard to their division of responsibility
7. How is their customer service? How do they react under pressure? Do customers love to see them in the store when they shop?
8. Lastly, are they getting noticed by district or regional level managers? Are your superiors asking about them in touch bases.

If you are able to answer any of these questions with undeniable evidence and your store has been generating positive sales with their help, then they are ready. Now the advanced training and development begins. It is now up to you to keep them challenged. You don’t want to lose them to another retailer. I recommend sitting down with them and the person who has the position they want and having a conversation about needs and wants. Then as a team develop a training plan to get them to the next level. The best part about this philosophy is that the person in the current position, with your guidance, does the training. It pushes both employees to be better and encourages a teamwork and empowering environment.

This is what keeps people. People don’t necessarily leave stores because they are unhappy, they leave because they aren’t challenged by their leaders. They become bored and stagnant and want to move on to bigger and better things. You don’t want that. Your store needs a core staff to continue to be successful. Customers want to see familiar faces. My advice to all of you out there with a person(s) up to the challenge…Do whatever it takes to keep them. Money is never an option. Especially in this retail environment. You have to make them see that and still want to be a part of your team. You need to be creative and push yourself to be better. You need to be a leader everyone wants to work for. This fact takes patience, accountability, strong communication and delegation. It also takes a mentality that your people may be more capable than you ever imagined and reach a level that inspires you. The end result is to watch people grow and to be proud of what you have accomplished in regard to your stores’ business. After all, isn’t that why we do this?

The Trifecta

In a horse race, the trifecta is a bet made on the top three finishers. In business, trifecta is a term I use for the perfect management team. Don’t get me wrong…it’s still a bet.  Only in this case, you are betting on the fact people will accomplish, as your partners, what is needed based on their strengths and abilities. If you find the right two assistants (ops and visual) to race with you, a store can accomplish just about anything and everything. It really is beautiful.

It isn’t easy to come by. It takes a strong skillset and time to develop that skillset. It is rare to find someone of strong abilities right from the start. These two managers must embrace your management philosophy, use it to develop others and finally follow through with it when you are away from the store. A seamless transition. This is the hardest part about forming this team because each person has their own ideas and agendas. If one of your assistant managers doesn’t believe in what you are doing, a struggle will happen and its negativity will spread like wild fire down to the part timers that work only one shift a week. A power struggle. I am sure you have all experienced this in some shape, way or form. You must prove to the store that as its leader, your method works. Then you must make them want to learn from you. The only way that is done is by showing your team consistent positive results and proving to them that there is a method to your madness. Leading by example is only the tip of the iceberg.

You think it would be easier to find the perfect team, but nowadays teams change more frequently. People seem to be more interested in the next best thing or are motivated by money and move on to a better paying job. You should always be asking yourself these questions:  How do I keep them from leaving? How do I keep them motivated long enough to see my vision? How do I sell the trifecta to my people if they have never experienced what it’s like? A trifecta in a store is a company’s dream come true. Why? Because no one needs to worry about that store. All the pieces are in place for a stores’ success. With the perfect team comes strong and well-rounded employees ready to take on anything. You’ll experience a tenure that is unheard of in the industry and your store will become a talent pool for open positions. A retail managers dream

I have had the privilege of this experience 3 times in my career. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you think about all the parts you need, you understand just how hard it is to find the right fit. My advice to all of you out there…. embrace the people you have. Develop them to feel empowered in decision making. Groom your people to want to be a part of something bigger than comps. It is truly an experience you will never forget and it will help catapult you in a direction you may have never seen yourself because your team believes anything is possible and they want to ensure that the ANYTHING happens.

Bench

Bench is an interesting word used in management. Its definitions from the Dictionary are: a long seat for several persons; the quality and number of the players of a team who are usually used as substitutes…and so on. In any type of retail, it’s your back up to a manager. Any manager. Plain and simple. I recently read a quote that stated, “You are not a leader until you have produced another leader who can produce another leader.” These words should be EVERY manager’s mantra. Especially if you want to call yourself a “successful manager”.

Sure, having a strong business with positive comps is successful. Having a repeat customer is considered successful. Having beautiful window displays that draw in new customers is successful. Having over 10K followers, as a business, on social media is considered successful, but how are your teams?

Over the years, I have been incredibly lucky to work with some amazing and talented individuals. Many have gone on to be pretty special themselves. Nothing has made me prouder than to watch a new hire move up the ladder (this you have heard before). I have prided myself in the ability to observe a passion in someone and exploit it. I value the ability to recognize people’s strengths and push them to be the best version of themselves. This has never come easy. People need to have the desire to become a better, stronger version of themselves and YOU as their manager need to be able to assess these characteristics and develop them. Your sales team may not even know that you are doing this and that makes it even more special when they wake up and determine their own strengths and abilities. You need to be tough, direct and expectant of confrontation. To challenge is to not make friends, but to make leaders.

Asking questions of your team needs to be an ongoing theme in your life as a manager or owner of a small business for that matter. Getting to know your staff through conversation and observation are the key to their development. You need to look for another you. Someone to take your place someday. How are they with customers? Make sure they are scheduled peak hours on the sales floor. How are they with new hires? Schedule them to train on the first day of hire. How are they with store standards? Schedule them to do visual sets. How are they with organizing? Maybe they have a love of shipment processing. What do they want to do with their lives? Why did they take the job? These are just some questions you should be asking. Questions you should know the answers to and schedule accordingly.

In my opnion, managers today are getting lazy. Managers today are selfish. Managers today are missing the point in regards to what leadership is. Managers today are not being trained to make themselves a better leader. Managers today are lost without direction. Managers today are the future of business. So why aren’t they being invested in? Why aren’t your teams a priority? Remember why you were hired in the first place?

Something to think about. During your next TB or store meeting ask the questions. Ask your teams what THEY need. You’ll be surprised to know…it’s just you.

Beauty From Chaos

I have used this phrase for as long as I can remember. Those of you that have worked with me over the years have heard it a million times. These three words mean a lot to me and they can signify many different things.

When you hear the word chaos what comes to mind? Disaster? Confusion? Disorganization? I am sure you are imagining so many things and guess what? You’re right. Just the word itself screams at you. Beauty on the other hand paints a distinctly different picture. Maybe it’s a mountain view or a painting where just the colors themselves stand out. Maybe it’s fashion and everything that it represents or a poem you just read where the words leave you feeling better inside. To me, you can’t have beauty without chaos. Think about it. Think about how that relates to everything you have done, seen or experienced.

Now how does this relate to business? I started using the phrase when I was a visual merchandise manager years ago. My team and I would strip the walls of our store clean, putting clothes and product on tables, racks other fixtures and sometimes the floor (sorry it happens) just to see a blank space and wall. It would be just insane in the store during that time. Stuff everywhere…chaotic. We would then start fresh by merchandising new product first then add the old. When the wall and fixtures were where we wanted them to be, we would stand back in awe appreciating our work…Beauty. So, I started saying it. Even though there was a HUGE mess, we would make it beautiful. Meaning…don’t stress about the process. Know that in the end it will be amazing. I have taken that with me and have used it for many situations.

Now that I am out of stores and focusing on the “why” I started Managing With Purpose and the “how” I will make it successful, I find it even more meaningful. I‘ve observed it in all of you out there working your butts off to make your stores and businesses successful. I especially notice chaos in new boutiques opening all over the city. The walls are adorned with incredible merchandise and layout and design are inspiring. Customers are loving the location and the product you are offering, but something seems to always be missing. It always seems a bit off kilter.

I find it hard to fathom “out to lunch” signs on a busy Saturday during peak times or sales people acting like they own the place, but can’t answer any questions or a lack of customer service while the stores’ Instagram is incredible. Why did you open a boutique? In-this-day-and-age where stores are closing left and right, shouldn’t your business be the best it can be? Wouldn’t you like to stay open for a while and gain a positive reputation? Or if you work for a major retailer don’t you want a positive review on Glassdoor or Yelp for a change? The answer is, I hope, yes. You just need to learn process. Let me help you get to beautiful.

Be A Chameleon

I love chameleons. They are such a unique species. As their skin adapts to their environments they are camouflaged from predators and invisible in nature. They are beautiful and interesting. All of you should adapt the idea of being a chameleon as inspiration to do the same.  Not that you need to hide from predators or blend into your stores’ or business’s environment, but you need to be able to reach several different types of people on many different levels to accomplish the same goals. These goals are success in business and a tenured well-rounded team.

Every person you manage or work side-by-side with during your career is unique. They look different from you, grew up in various environments from you and their approach to learning is unique from yours. So why would you ever try to train them and manage them all the same? These are some of the most frustrating things to hear from employees. “My manager just can’t communicate with me “.  “He/she just doesn’t get me”. “I wish my boss would just listen to what I have to say”. “I don’t understand what I am to do and I am afraid to ask questions”. Now I am not perfect, I have heard many, if not all of these examples directly, but I learned from them and forced myself to take the high road and become a better version of myself.

Going back to the previous blog “Know Your People Before You Manage Your People”, you have spent some time observing. You have seen how they handle customers, peers and tasks. Now you can start developing them. Remember, no person is alike. You must adapt your training mindset to that of the individual. Some like to take a lot of notes and some like to memorize through observing processes. Some hate technology and some are computer wizards. Most people are passive in new situations and need a lot of positive reinforcement to gain confidence. Others believe they know everything and really take offense to fresh ideas. All of this can be frustrating when running a business and it is easy to take your frustration out on your people. It doesn’t have to be. YOU need to adapt! You cannot be a strong, successful leader if you don’t.

Your employees look to you for guidance. It is important that you prove to them why you are in the position you are in. Ask a lot of questions and make sure what you are communicating is clear. Maintain an open mind and be open to learn something yourself, your management style and your temperment. That is the best part. Learning from your people. It challenges you and keeps the open communication flowing. Maybe it won't work on everyone, but don't give up. If you can develop just one person to be a better, stronger, well rounded individual then next time you can develop two people. After all, isn’t that what it’s all about? The domino effect gives any manager or business owner a sense of pride.

Know Your People Before You Manage Your People

Have you ever been told when starting a new management position or getting promoted that you should just fire everyone and start fresh? Yeah, me too. My response always has been…” we’ll see, let me see what I can do first.” I have always been a believer in the philosophy of know your people before you manage your people. It wasn’t always that way, in fact, I learned it over the years. As I grew, so did my management skills and my management style. Both took on a life of their own. Whether my bosses liked it or not. I don’t think that, nor do I believe that people can’t change. I believe people WANT to be better. I believe people can be whatever they want to be if they have the right tools to get there. Tools can mean training, stronger leadership and positive store environment.

Being a store manager or any level of manager for that matter means you should be an observer first, developer second and then and only then can you decide whether a person fits the mold. If you don’t understand your people, how can you manage them? If you were promoted into the position, you already have a basic grasp of who each person is, how they respond to each other and how they learn. But now they work for you so you need to tread carefully as this adds a new dynamic to the store. If you enter the business as a new manager, especially new to the brand, you have big shoes to fill. There is a lot riding on your shoulders. You were brought in there to assert change, drive results, and breathe life into a store. This is not an easy task and to get there you need the support of your team.

Observing may sound simple enough, but it takes patience and time. You need to sit back and watch each member of your team in a variety of circumstances. You have-to let them make mistakes without interfering. You need to learn how they handle different types of situations. From these observations, you can determine how to develop. I usually observe for about a week. I try to schedule myself different shifts so I can experience the store during different parts of the day and the team interacting with different people. After observing, I like to meet with everyone. It could be all at once during a manager's meeting or what I always liked to do was talk to them randomly one-on-one when it wasn’t planned. The goal is to listen, ask questions and develop a rapport. This will start the process naturally and give you a fresh outlook.

Development comes next. Stay tuned for what I like to call being a chameleon….