Build It And They Will Stay

Culture. Everyone talks about work culture. What is it? When did it become such a thing? Why are store leaders judged by their work culture instead of their work numbers?

Culture is defined as the “the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively”-Oxford Dictionary

When we talk about work culture in a retail space, it encompasses not only your management style, but how your team reacts to your management style and how that same team reflects your management style. Most managers enter a retail environment with the idea that how they have managed people in the past is how they will manage a team on the first day. Inexperienced and sometimes comfortable managers have a “my way or the highway” mentality that they feel is the best way forward. IT’S NOT. Because we have people that reflect different ages, backgrounds and personalities, there is not a one size fits all mentality. It just doesn’t work that way. I have seen it and experienced it. From the top of the hierarchy down to a seasonal part timer. Bad work culture = high turnover rate. That’s the truth. End of story.

Hiring managers need to be aware that sometimes the most qualified person with the most experience for an opening is not always the best person for the job unless they address how they manage. Most hiring managers are not even asking the right questions when interviewing to determine who is the right fit. The one size fits all interviewing style is not going to get you the person you need. Yes, it’s unbiased and a fair practice to all who interview when using a 10-point questionnaire for each candidate, but often the best leaders slip through the cracks. Not all behavioral questions are an end all tell all. (HR will not be happy with me saying this). I know it’s a way to weed out candidates, but wouldn’t you rather know if they are going to be good at their job? Wouldn’t you rather know how they talk to people?

I want to be transparent. I have made many poor decisions regarding management hires. My reasons for the poor hiring decisions have always been that I see things in people that they are not ready to come to terms with, but I will save that for another story. Those that didn’t give up, persevered and became strong leaders themselves. Either in a retail environment or elsewhere.

I have never had a particularly high turnover rate. Those that left in my most recent years either got promoted (same company or different), left for different careers that paid more money, desired more education or found out retail wasn’t really for them. A badge of honor I wear with pride. It reminds me culture does matter.

I have spoken of my management philosophies before but know your people before you manage your people is probably the most important one to start building a positive store environment. How can you manage people and build a team without knowing the people you manage or know how they like to be managed? Seems simple enough, right? I would rather know about Sally’s brother’s wedding and what it was like seeing distant family than going through their folding standards or credit card goals when their shift starts. Do you know why? Because I fucking care about the people that I work with! They matter.

My teams were never just numbers; they were a huge part of my life. Afterall, I spent more time with them then my own family. The funny thing is, when you show you care, often, your employees will care. There is pride in their work. A sense of belonging. They will show a desire to make the store a beautiful place, they will work as hard as you do to make customers feel special, they will make their goals and brag to you about it. They will challenge you and support you and most importantly, they will believe in you and what you are trying to accomplish. That’s a strong culture. You absorb it when you walk into a store. You feel the energy of its people.

I challenge you to think about how your store feels. Did you know about Sally’s weekend plans (other than a request off)? Are you more concerned about how your numbers reflect you as a store manager? What are you saying when your boss asks you about not making your goals on Monday? Do you know? Were you in the office not working in the trenches with your people over a busy weekend? What types of “excuses” are you sharing? If YOU build it, they will stay. You have the power to make your store successful through the actions of your people and the eyes of your customer. That’s all you. If you see yourself in some of the excuses, change. It’s that easy. Challenge yourself to be better. I guarantee not only will you grow as a better leader, but so will your numbers.

Heart

Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. The sound of a heartbeat is the truest sign of being alive. We talk about that when it comes to the human body, but what about looking at it from another angle…your business. Stores need heart.

A store needs the pumping of empowerment and the circulating of ideas. 

Have you ever had an employee that just radiates love? Love of the brand. Love of their peers. Love of the customer. You should. Stores can’t be successful without them. These are people who have stuck through it all; through crisis, rotational and dysfunctional management and brand struggles. They shine during high and low volume days, high level visits and customer interactions. The best thing about having heart… they believe in you and all that comes with you. They see the light in you even when things couldn’t get any worse. They provide you with calm when everything around you is in chaos. They embody positivity, integrity and honesty. And the best part of having heart, they aren’t afraid to tell you like it is. Pure honest and direct feedback. Good and bad.

Heart in the store environment will build a strong store culture. It helps by getting rid of dysfunction and disarray pushing you to be a more impactful leader. These employees give you a unique perspective into the temperature of not only your team, but the customer as well.

I walked into a very flawed retail environment. Poor visuals, an uncleanliness I have never witnessed, a “who cares” about the customer mentality and serious theft; both internal and external. I asked myself repeatedly, “What have I gotten myself into?”  I knew there were some issues. I knew this role would test everything I have ever learned about managing stores.  It was going to take a lot of time to turn this store around and the higher ups had HUGE expectations of me. So, what did I do? I ignored all the issues and focused on the people working in the building. Believe me, it did not go over well with the person who hired me. My boss wanted a strategic outline with bullet points on how I was going to turn business and the store round. Afterall, holiday was right around the corner and the clock was ticking.

There was a light. A bright shiny, rainbow hiding in the bowels of this place. Tenure. A heartbeat so loud that it shook my management philosophy to its core and reignited the passion I had sitting in my 3-hour interview.

All the flaws I experienced went on the back burner (for now) and I started sitting down with every tenured employee to learn and revisit their experiences through their eyes. As it turns out, they were forgotten. All of them. In the years of tenure with this team, many of them were leaders themselves, top producers, creative merchants and customer service super stars. All forgotten for a “new and improved” staff led by managers that could have cared less about who they were or what they could bring to the table.  Just a number mentality. They cut back on their hours and pushed them into the shadows. I did the opposite. I knew these tenured employees understood their role because they lived through all the ups and downs. They understood that a store is nothing without its people.

In doing so, I discovered a heartbeat for the brand and store. So, I exploited it! I gave them set schedules at interesting times of the day. I partnered them with new hires, put them in the fitting rooms on the busiest days, added them to the merchandising team and entrusted them to be direct and honest with me. No topic was off limits. I stood there and listened to all of it.  Guess what happened? The store started to thrive. The culture started to shift. Customers started to come back. Their pride flowed through the store. With change beginning to happen on its own, I now had time to strengthen my role and start focusing on the dysfunctionality of the stores systems and bad reputation. I included them in decision making and asked for their opinions on tough tasks.  I looked to them for guidance in hiring the right team. Asked a lot of tough questions and got a lot of hard to hear answers. It all started to work. I no longer needed a bullet point presentation on how I would turn the business around. You experienced it when you walked in the front door. You could feel it.

It sounds simple, right? I’m sure every store has heart, right? Thinking back on your past, perhaps you ignored the heart and that’s ok, but in looking at your present, are you embracing yourself as a leader who can be open? Or do you find yourself looking for a way to push them out because you’re afraid of what they might say? Running a store is hard. Lead with your heart and you’ll win every time.

Back To Life

I’m back. I spent the last 6 years running a store again. What a time to be in brick-and-mortar retail!  From inventory surpluses to COVID to rebuilding reputations to reshaping the retail landscape in an ever-changing mall setting. So many twists and turns and I’m here to talk about it.

Going back to retail after a 3-year hiatus was challenging. Why did I do it? I knew I could help. I knew my background could change the direction of a failing environment.

What I didn’t know was that a horrible virus was going to take over; that after 30+ years of managing stores, I would learn more about myself and managing people than I ever had before. Retail store environments need seasoned leaders running them. That’s a fact. Nothing I have written before on this blog has changed, but the environment in a store has. COVID changed the retail landscape in a HUGE way. It forced companies to rethink their philosophies and rethink who represents that new philosophy. I was lucky, if you can say lucky, to be a part of that change.

COVID made companies reshape the status quo. Stores couldn’t keep relying on the same operations to keep their doors open. That’s why so many brick-and-mortar stores failed and went bankrupt. Those who survived, adapted. As a tenured manager, I adapted and my team adapted along with me. Where other companies failed? They forgot the most important part of running a retail store. Its employees adapting. Giving them the opportunity to feel empowered to run their businesses in a new climate. I was lucky (there’s that word again), I got to do just that.

Let’s remember, customers got used to sitting on their couches with a glass of wine and ordering online all hours of the day. Whether on a break from a Zoom meeting or waking up with insomnia, people were online more than ever…shopping. Then returning (“overspent”, “didn’t like the fit”, “the color was off”) and shopping repeatedly. Then returning repeatedly. A broken record stuck on the same song.  We had to ask ourselves; how can we provide an in-person store environment where customers would want to shop? Or get them to stay and look around. Or get them try something on in a fitting room. Or get them to walk around and feel the fabrics and study the design.

What were we missing in the lives of our online shopper during COVID? Connection. Sure, they had connection to the online websites they were on 24/7 using Chat for questions or reading an online review, but humans need other humans. It’s just that simple. My challenge was how to create an environment where they would WANT to stay and shop. TRY on clothes, FEEL the fabrics, STUDY the design. A destination so to speak. An experience where they would want to come back again. Tell their friends. That’s where my background came into play. That’s how bringing a store back to life by filling it with customers was a challenge accepted.

Where did I begin, you ask? By building a store reflective of its community. Where a customer could walk through the front door and see themselves in the people working there. Whether it was hearing people communicating in their native language, seeing a person of their age, size, color of their skin, similar style or lifestyle. Adding to all that, everyone needed to enjoy working there. It wasn’t easy. Nothing ever is. It took a long time, but the idea worked. The “failing” environment that I wanted so desperately to fix started attracting attention and gaining a positive reputation again. 

Strife

Self-Doubt. You know what it is. You know what it feels like. You know how it fills your head. When it comes to managing people, it may enter your mind on a routine basis. This is why managing people is so damn hard. Why? Because all people have different personalities, different viewpoints and different beliefs. This can cause strife in your stores and wreak havoc on your team, but it’s needed to accomplish the goal ahead. To make you the best version of you. You as a boss. A leader. A mentor.

Over the years I have had a few characters on my teams that have been an eye roll of why. What does that mean? I am talking about those that for some reason out of nowhere have decided to make your life difficult by pursuing their own agendas. The ones that ride your successful coat tails, absorb everything they can from your teachings and then decide for themselves that they know enough to take over your position. We have all had them.  They judge your every move. They analyze your every decision. They talk behind your back to any who will listen. They build a defense around their crazy and turn strong individuals with potential into a mockery of all your hard work. It’s hard not to take it personal. It’s hard not to want to shake them and ask them what the hell they are doing. As frustrating as it is, you need them. You need them to make you stronger.

Your business becomes your family. You spend a lot of time together. Sometimes more time than those in your personal lives. When this conflict happens, it sends a knife through your heart and causes you to second guess why you spent so much time developing that person. Most have no idea that you know what is going on, but the entire store feels the frustration. Oftentimes, talking to said individual does nothing, but it does give you insight to why it is happening. Usually it is about salary (finding out someone in the same position is making more), entitlement (getting passed over for a position when tenured in role), or uninformed (not understanding where they are in the grander scheme of things.)

Hey, I have been there. That’s why it is important to try and clear the air from the very beginning. Not easy to do, but you have to, or your leadership will be called into question by a superior. Believe me this subject is always reported to someone other than yourself. You will be the last person they come to in fear of upsetting the status quo. Because they don’t want to hear your side of the story. That would make them the bad guy. That’s why it’s important to come to the following conclusion.

It’s time for them to go. No question. No more fighting. You aren’t giving up on them. You just won’t win this one. My answer, help them find a new role. Whether it is in your store or somewhere new. Give them the reigns. If they think they are ready, why hold them back? Sell them to competitors when there is an opening. Push them out and focus on those that want to continue on the current path. No hard feelings.

What about those that want you out and won’t leave? You need to win the battle by proving why you are in the position you are. Why you are the boss. Remember, numbers are everything. How is your business doing? How is your tenure? How are your store visits? What does your shrink look like? What does home office think about you? What type of leader have you proven to be.

To make a long story short…practice what you preach and for goodness sake lead by example. Don’t give them anything to use against you. Retail life is hard. There are a lot of politics involved at the higher levels. People are judged unfairly by first impressions all the time. Fight for your why’s. Strife will never go away, but there are things you can do to make it manageable.

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.