OK, let’s have some ‘fun’! Below is a short quiz for you to complete.
Rank the items below in terms of how important you see them in your role as a supervisor, manager or leader.
a) ____ Hitting sales targets
b) ____ Caring about your team’s well being
c) ____ Achieving success with metrics (like Avg Sale and Margin)
d) ____ Listening and learning about what your team needs and thinks
e) ____ Making a profit
f) ____ Focus on developing and advancing your team
g) ____ Doing a great job, getting a promotion, and a well-deserved raise
h) ____ Being on top of everything, being ‘smart’ and known as the one with the answers
While there’s no one perfect answer, what is for certain is that if points b, d and f aren’t in your Top 3 or 4, you’re caring about the wrong things.
We’re not saying that hitting sales targets, achieving success with metrics, making money and getting a raise aren’t important. Of course they are.
But, the reality is your teams won’t care about how much you know, and how driven you are to hit the numbers, until they know how much you care about them.
This is fundamental to building trust, commitment and engagement. Try achieving results when your teams don’t trust you, aren’t committed to the plan and are disengaged.
For all the endless chatter about technology in retail, online sales and the role of big data, the truth remains that retail is a human business. Humans are inspired by, engaged by, coached by, and follow other humans … who we just happen to call Leaders.
So, get into your stores today and show people how much you care … not just about the numbers, but about them as individuals. You’ll likely discover that they’ll run through walls for you when you do.
Here’s one way we care about you: Our 3-Day Intensive Workshop for Retail District Managers is back this March 25 to 27 in Toronto. You may think this is just about business for us, but it’s not. Too few DMs get the training they need and as a result struggle in the role with too much stress, work too many hours and get lower results than are possible. Ask anyone who’s attended (thousands have!) how much passion and caring we put into these three days and you’ll know how much we care.
If you call in to our office to register at 1.905.842.1275 and say “I CARE ABOUT MY TEAMS” we’ll give you $200 off. That’s a caring offer.
