Bridging the Divide: Insights from Stores to Transform HQ Strategies

US vs THEM! 

This battle in retail has been in existence since Retail began. 

US - Stores vs THEM - Home Office. 

Why can’t they see eye to eye? 

What has hindered these two teams from establishing a mutually beneficial and successful relationship?

This two-part series - Everything Works at HQ.  Part one titled “What HQ can learn from Stores”, is a candid exploration of the oft-overlooked wisdom that our stores hold for corporate headquarters. The goal is to bridge the gap between corporate strategies and the challenges our store teams face daily.

I’ll unpack a crucial dialogue on the disconnect between HQ's drive for business growth and the on-the-ground reality of our stores. 

In this episode, I discuss the significance of effective communication, the urgent call for a human-centric approach to training and leadership, and the revelation of a leadership gap where store leaders yearn for real growth and development opportunities.

I also help HQ and stores understand the need for "safe people" over just "safe spaces," pushing for transparency in feedback and a genuine connection between employees and management. 

Lastly, l explore the "North Star" concept, aiming for that unified vision that propels Home Office and Stores towards cohesive success.

Are you a retail leader grappling with disconnection? Do you feel the stark contrast between your retail playbook and the actual game on the floor? Stay tuned as we dissect these challenges and offer actionable insights, including why external coaching may be the lifeline your team needs.

Join us for a journey into the heart of retail where it's not just about what HQ dictates, but about listening, understanding the 'why,' and recognizing the true pace and urgency that define our stores. 

This is Retail Leadership with Steve Worthy where we're speaking the unspoken language of retail success. Let's transform retail leadership together.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:50

Okay, be honest. Be honest. I'm gonna ask you to be very honest. When thinking about HQ, thinking about Home Office, have you ever said these words? They are out of touch. They have absolutely no clue. What are they doing up there? They don't understand what happens down here in the field, in my store, in my market on a daily basis. And in this one, I know you said this one. They are never in stores. Have you ever felt that the strategies crafted in the boardroom don't quite fit the realities of your store or your market? How many times have you thought about that? Well, here's the thing. I got you covered in this episode. This is part one of a two-part series. The title is called Everything Works at Home Office. I know, I know, I know. I need to coin that phrase, and I am. But here's the thing. This is episode, this is part one of epit of two episodes. In this episode, we're going to be focused on what HQ can learn from stores. So, stores, I know you have been waiting for this type of episode. I got you covered. HQ, I need you to sit down, listen to this in your car, listen to this with some peers, and take some notes. I am going to help you solve the problem of HQ versus stores in this episode. Let's go ahead and get after it.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Welcome to Retail Leadership with Steve Worthy, where we go well beyond the corporate playbook to unpack major opportunities, hidden challenges, and critical issues that senior retail leaders face every day. If you're ready to get the insights you need to elevate the impact you have on your team, increase the profitability of your stores, and level up your retail career, then keep listening, my friend, because I see a lot more success in your future. So let's get started right now.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Well, okay, we we've all been there. We have all been there. Honestly, can I just be honest? We have all said those things. We have all thought those phrases. Anytime we typically was getting a corporate person, a buyer, or someone from operations, logistics, and all these different things. Typically, what we found was that there was a massive disconnect in what takes place up in HQ compared to what takes place uh inside the stores. And to be very honest with you, it is there is a massive disconnect. And we're both wrong. We're both in the wrong. Both of us, stores and HQ. And here's why. I'm gonna give you the solution. Can I give you the solution at the beginning? So if you don't, if if you don't take anything else away from this and you can stop this recording, I'm gonna give you the solution. And and it it may seem simple, but honestly, it's actually difficult to achieve. I know I should be trying to give you something that's that's uh a little more difficult, insane, and simple to achieve, but I I've got to tell you, because you have human beings involved, you have bureaucracy involved, you have personalities involved, you have CYA. If you don't know what CYA means, that means cover your ass. You have all of these different dynamics involved, which makes the solution that I'm going to talk about that much diff that much more difficult. Okay? We're gonna talk about the solution, and then we're gonna get into a couple of things, home office, that stores really want you to know. Here's the solution. Here's the solution. The reason why, the reason why there is such a disconnect between HQ and stores is the lack of a common language. A lack of a common language. This is spoken and this is unspoken. And here's the thing I am not talking about the jargon that's inside of stores or inside the company, lingo, slang terms that employees use, all these different things. I'll give you an ex quick example in this one. So I have my undergrad in accounting, so I understand finances and I understand um different finance terms. Finished up my MBA, all of that stuff, yada yada yada. This is not a brag or anything like that. I'm just trying to set the set the context here. So I I go and I start working with this company, and we're having one of our first kind of big meetings, and we're talking about the the annual budget, and one of the things they say is that, hey, well, we have a um a capex issue, capex like problem. And I'm like, capex, what in the world is capex? What is that? And anyway, they keep saying capex, he keeps saying capex, and I'm talking to someone, and I and I look down on the on the on the on the financial statement, and it's capital,

Most people say "capex," not "CapEx."

SPEAKER_00 5:50

capital expenditures. Everybody else in there in the world says capex. This one particular company felt it was so cool for them to be able to say capex instead of capex, like everybody else says in almost the entire world. If I'm wrong in that, please leave me a comment because I believe that everybody else in the world says says uh capex, not capex um expenditures. I said that and I use that as an example, is because when you go inside of an organization, every organization has their own particular language. They have their own dialogue, they have their own way of getting problems solved, they have their own way of actually ideating um, you know, uh problems, but then also kind of generating solutions based off of corporate norms, based off of whoever's sitting in whatever seat that you may that you may have there. And so when I talk about corporate language, it's those unspoken and uh and spoken dialogue that exists. I'm gonna give you a couple of examples of what stores are really looking for when it comes to a common language. Here it is. Here it is. I hope you're ready. It is all about the spoken and unspoken collective intent and purpose of the mission. Okay? It has to be about the collective intent and purpose of the mission. And while we understand that retail changes, we feel sometimes, whether you're a senior vice president, even executive vice president, because sometimes you don't have a seat as an executive vice president. A lot of the things are kind of, you know, um thrust it, thrusted upon you. So here's the one thing that you have to understand. You have to make sure that um the language that you use has intent and purpose, and there has to be a collective perspective. It has to be something that uh people from stores have a actual vested interest in as well, or else it's not going to happen. And I know that sounds like a massively grandiose idea that that you know corporate corporations will take into consideration their field leadership within within the direction or for the direction of their company. So I know, right? It's it's it's a it's a new idea. I'm I'm starting something new here. Being very sarcastic here. HQ. The other aspect around this common language, I'm I'm I'm telling you right now, I'm gonna tell you right now, and if you don't get this one, these next couple of points, please just don't even stop listening to this to this podcast episode. Here's what Stores is really concerned about too. Does HQ have my back? Can I trust them even when I disagree with them? Can we have an open and honest dialogue where where both are heard? We don't have to agree, but we actually have to be able to have an open and honest dialogue. What I have seen more often than not is that stores feel like HQ does not have their back with initiatives that they actually put in place. They feel that a lot of the initiatives that are put in place are counterintuitive to the actual leader. And we're going to be talking about what the leader needs here in a second. They feel that they're counterintuitive to the actual understanding of where a leader is, to where that leader needs to go. But more importantly, that a leader's capacity to uh take in that information and use that information in order to move the initiative forward. Does stores, excuse me, does HQ recognize the individual efforts to the to the collective? Here's here's I'm gonna give you this one. I I am gonna give you this one. I'm so full of information, and I hope you guys are writing this down. So here's what tends to happen. Um you you get a corporate visit, and you know, you come on the corporate jet, and we all know what happens in the corporate jet, right? It's it's not four people. It's I mean it's not two people on the corporate jet. There's like at least five, six, maybe sometimes seven, ten people on the corporate jet, right? And you come into a market, you either all go to the same stores and you fan out, and you have a you have a buyer for commodities, you have a buyer for apparel, you have a buyer for food, you have a buyer for seafood, you may have a buyer for electronics,

Seek execution and solutions within market segments.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

right? Yada yada yada. And they're all you all fan out. And what you are really looking for, can I just be honest with you, you're looking for execution on your initiative, on your individual initiative based off of your segment within the market, excuse me, within the company, and you're looking to see if it was actually implemented and executed properly, right? Some of you are looking for solutions, but a lot of you are not. But a lot of you are not. So here's one thing that I can I will help you with. Because what happens when you leave that store? So if you came into one of my stores, what typically would happen is we leave, we go to the next store. Now what happens is that store, based off of the feedback, that round table that we actually have at every at the end of every visit, the stores will go back and they will they will put together um a visit note. They will put together visit notes. And if they're if they're a really good leader, they will quickly share those visit notes or either kind of taking the notes and share it with the with the with their market team before they actually get to the next store. But then they have to create a more thought-out um uh visit note perspective. And what I would always charge my my market with is to actually come up with solutions for any of the um challenges that may um have been identified for that store. And what I would ask for you to do, can can I can I have you do this? Because when I talk about common language, one of the things that is missing is recognition. When you go back to HQ, when you are in the corporate jet and you are talking about either talent or you're talking about stores, and you're talking whether or not that store was horrible, or you're talking about whether or not that store was great. I know you are. I've been on those, I've been on those jets. I completely I know that's exactly what takes place. While you're doing that, could you take the time to write an email and write a review of that market and identifying stores and within those stores identify individuals who were standouts within there. If you're Tim from HQ in in electronics, hey, I was in store two, three, four, and I had a conversation with Chad, and let me tell you what. Chad does this, this, this, and that. And then you copy your boss, his boss, and his boss's boss, and all of the people that were on that visit. And guess what? You have just and you have just created so much goodwill. You have created the unspoken measure of common of a of a of common language of recognition. And I I have rarely, I think I've seen it once where I've seen when a corporate person has actually done that for a market. It's rare. So if you want to understand how stores are feeling, you actually have to make sure that you are doing that. You have to make sure that you are doing that. How can you develop this common language? I just gave you one one example around recognition. There are two more ways that I want to make sure that um to help you develop this common language. There's it's called shared experience and feedback loops, right? Nalan, I know you sh I know you're familiar with both of these. Stores, I know you're familiar with these as well. The shared experiences. Spend time in in the in the stores environment, right? Right.

Understanding others by walking in their shoes.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Sharing experiences means that you have walked a mile in their shoes. And before you're actually able to do that, and and you're ready to you cast judgment on the execution of something, you have to understand what actually takes place on a daily basis before that initiative actually comes down, before that pilot program comes down. I'm gonna give you a great example, and I had to learn this lesson myself, and this is not even I I've never worked at HQ, but when I talk about shared experiences, so I was a store manager at the time. This lesson has always stuck with me, always stuck with me. And Tamara, if you're if you're listening to this, this this involves this involves the the the uh the women's floor pad reset. And I remember I I said, um, hey Tamara, we you know, I know we have this new uh woman's floor pad um uh apparel reset coming up. How long is it gonna take? Right? She was you we already had deadlines and things were already kind of behind. She's like, well, it's gonna take me X, Y, and Z days. I think it was like two days. I said, that's unacceptable. That's unacceptable. I'm gonna do it myself. I said, I'll do it myself because I know I can do it faster. And can you hear the laughter in my that you know, I'm I'm I'm laughing right now. And so what happened was was that I go, I get the planogram, I I locate all the product, I strategize, and I get, I get I, you know, I look at the schedule, like, you know, who's gonna be working with me, all these other things, yada, yada, yada. Uh long story short, it took me, it took me close to six days. It took me close to six days to get that thing done. She had um an intimate knowledge of apparel. And little did I know, her two days were when she said two days, her two days were um if if I had to look at the entire market, the rest of the market, her two days were the quickest. And and I knew she could do it after my debacle of trying to do it. I t I checked with everybody else. They were like, Man, two days, that's awesome. And I was really, I didn't know that. So when we start to think about initiatives, this is a this is a common um uh issue of not trying of of of thinking that you have the solutions without actually understanding the implementation

Importance of feedback and approachability in retail.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

around it. But more importantly, the fact that she had intimate knowledge of what needed to take place, and I didn't. I had a cursory knowledge. Right? So a lot of times as HQ, you may have a cursory knowledge of what needs to take place. But when you get into these stores, they will let you know if it's going to work or not. Let's talk about feedback loops. I love, I love, I love feedback loops. But here's the thing you a lot of times HQ doesn't want feedback loops. They don't want feedback loops. In our in our um approachability framework, right? So we um the book I'm writing, um The Approachable Retail Leader, we we we talk about the approachability framework, and part of it is our is our smile framework. And it's the S stands for self-awareness, the M stands for mindful listening, the I is inspire as trust, the L is lead by example, and the E is effective empathy. When it comes to self-awareness, we talk about it in two in two ways. We talk about it in your why, but we also talk about it from a filtered and unfiltered um standpoint, right? There are two ways that retail leaders will typically respond to different in different situations, whether it's in a group setting or it's in a one-on-one setting, and it all depends on your confidence level and who you are and your ability to articulate your message. The vast majority are filtered responses, meaning that they don't want to accept uh they don't want to upset the Apple cart. They want to remain this, they they want to retain the status quo. We have a ton of filtered response leaders that are out there. And dare I say, HQ, I know you say you want the truth, but I'm gonna sell like Jack Nicholson. I don't know if you can handle the truth. I don't know if you can handle the truth. You need me on that wall, you want me on that wall. I'm sorry, I digress. I digress. We have to, when we want, when we ask for feedback, we have to the feedback loops, let me just add, let me tell you, help you this way. The feedback loop goes both ways. In retail, in retail, there we do an amazing job with our playbooks, right, for every season on the how and the what. But what is missing is the why. What is missing is the why. The why is extremely important. The why provides clarity for the mission and and uh the mission and purpose of

Communicate with intent, discuss the "why

SPEAKER_00 18:48

what we just spoke about, right? We just talked about um uh um um intent, you know, making sure that you are um moving with intent and purpose, you know, for the mission, you know, as it relates to your level of communication um you know with the with your team. So if we can make sure, if you can make sure when we start talking about feedback loops, when something is coming out, can we talk about the why? Can we talk about the I mean, and I'm talking about not just because this is going to increase sales, not just because the customer says it's going to I I I and I get all of that. I get all of that. But here's the the massive problem with feedback loops, and no one wants to talk about it. It's it's it's this little phrase that I call whiffum. What's in it for me? What's in it for me? Oh, it's the paycheck. Well, you're getting paid. You you're making X, Y, and Z, you're X, you're making X, Y, and Z money. You should be fine. And and it's not even about that. It's about I want to know, I want to know how whatever it is that I'm about to impact, or whatever it is I'm about to partake in, how is this going to impact my life? How is this going to impact my work schedule? And I know you HQ, you're thinking like it doesn't matter. You you you're paid to do a job at the store level. I get it. I I completely understand that. But let me tell you what, if you don't, if you want it done right and if you want honest feedback, you have to take into consideration with what's in it for the team, what's in it for their schedule, not just what's in it for their paycheck, what's in it for their growth, what's in it for their development. We're about to talk about that here in a second. So we just spoke about common language. I just gave you the answers to the test. Can we talk a little bit about the reality gap that that takes place from HQ to stores? Let's talk a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_02 22:05

You're listening to retail leadership with Steve Worthy.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

Okay, here are some foundational thoughts. And then we are gonna move into um uh two areas, no, three areas, and then we're gonna go and hit the um North Star. Here are some foundational issues. HQ. For whatever project, initiative, perspective that you have about these grandiose ideas that you want to implement. That their idea, that their idea, your situations or your conditions are ideal. And when it comes to those initiatives, I I'm gonna give you I'm gonna give you the answers to the test again. I I I you know I'm uh I I I used to be an adjunct professor, and um I never gave the keys, I never gave the answers to the test when I was an adjunct. So um, this is my opportunity to kind of help you out as students who are listening to this. So another foundational thoughts, can I oh can I help you with this? When you are rolling out initiatives and pilots and new store formats and and all of that stuff, and you have all these merchants that are at your store at the at the stores and the markets, and you've allocated a hundred hours of extra payroll to these stores. Can I tell you what the real test, the real test of that pilot happens once all those merchants leave and once you pull out that hundred hours of extra payroll? That's that's when the real test starts. I think all of you get that intuitively. I think you get that intuitively. But fundamentally, and when you actually um look at the execution of it afterwards, and you sit down and you and you have projected out um what you think. thought the sales would be from this from this pilot or you you thought the um what the what the improvement points would be from this new logistics uh a protocol or process and you're not seeing those not seeing the the return on that initial investment what happens is is because you have created once again ideal scenarios and situations in in order for um that project to exist and in the retail world there isn't any type of ideal pro um process there did there there just there just isn't and what I mean is that um there is a reality that needs that takes place within within each and every store that you have to bear in mind right I can have somebody you know as we're going through that project and the initiative and it's going really solid and then once that project is gone I mean a store can have four or five people that just that quit right or they they they leave and guess what now that project and or something along those lines are is is is gone right so the real test the real test happens after you pull out the payroll and after the merchants leave let's talk about let's talk about time I want to talk about time in in one in one way actually I have a several of them but I'm gonna save that for the article because um I think the art the article is going to go more into depth with with with this I don't know I may just go ahead and give them to you I may just go ahead and give it to you so when we talk about time we talk about time store time and HQ time works differently um once again we've already said that we feel like your conditions are perfect but here's how here's what I want you to take from this this aspect is understanding how time impacts stores in three ways in three ways so I I am going to give it to you in three ways the first way is pace and urgency the second way that time impacts stores is through the nature of tasks

Time impact on stores: pace, tasks, focus.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

and the the um the third way is priority and focus. Okay so let's talk about pace real quick and I'm gonna go through these pretty quickly at HQ time at HQ often follows a structure it's a long-term perspective right you sit down you've mapped things out and you're looking at it you know six 12 months sometimes 18 months out even if you're a buyer you're probably looking at two years out sometimes here uh at stores the contrast in stores is that the retail stores operate day to day um and everything's on an immediate basis the focus of a uh you know of daily sales targets customer interactions and inventory management you know we have uh state stores have time sensitive tasks you know like addressing customer complaints right all these different things so when we start to think about you know um when you are looking at a store and you walk into a store um you have leaders who are reacting you know um out of muscle memory and they're and and they're reacting in the in the in the sense that um the the the the day sort of dictates what actually transpires and there they have to be adaptive to whatever that day brings while still getting a myriad of tasks done while while still walking stores when someone like me walks into their store unexpectedly okay so that's the one that's face and urgency number number number two I just kind of touched upon it a little bit it's it's the nature of tasks right task T-A-S-K-S NHQ right the work at at the corporate level is it's it's analytical and it's and it's strategic while I can appreciate that I I can completely appreciate that and I I've I my goal was always to try to help my teams understand that nature that analytical strategic long-term big picture perspective and then trying to uh distill it down into whatever role it is that they play with for for that big picture so when we think about the nature of tasks at stores right it's action oriented and it's very very much hands-on and it's in the moment it's in the moment can I help you with something else when we think about task and we think about um the difference between HQ and stores and I know you will get this I know you're like Steve this could be pretty rudimentary but stores are have a direct connection with customer service with the with the virtual merchandising right uh excuse me virtual with the visual merchandising and in the moment problem solving for their team for their store and dare I say for the company right I I was in the market and um I remember what what was going to happen was in that in that city there was actually going to be an organized riot that actually took place. I remember I visited the store with my with with my boss and the team members came up to me and they were like Mr Steve look at this and they show me all the social media they show me flyers and um they were there was a scheduled a scheduled riot um that was going to take place at three o'clock it this was 11 o'clock in the morning when I when I got to that to the store and I remember the fear that was on that entire team and we looked in social media talked some more people and you know decided to you know close the store decided to close the store and it took a it didn't take an act of God but sometimes it does to close the store. We had to close the entire store down and um wouldn't you know right around 230 three o'clock we you know we um we had the core the store closed and the the the the riots broke out and thank god they didn't they didn't get into the store I I said that to say is that when we think about tasks all the tasks in the world that they had to try to do um they were still trying to accomplish them even though they knew there was an imminent danger actually going to happen within about three to four hours and they were still working diligently right so we have to make sure that we take these into consideration when we deal with stores um okay the third priorities and focus the I and here this is this is my um I'm torn with this one because I I understand both and can I just be honest listeners I understand this first one with HQ just uh I want to say I I I I can feel their pain on this one because this is we we have to do this one. So when we start talking about the third one priorities and focus that the priorities at HQ are focused on business growth brand strategy and market expansion right store here's the here's the issue though stores will stores sometimes you'll feel second or even third or fourth on that list I I I understand that I understand it but but we have to make sure that we as a company are focused in on that growth are focused in on that brand strategy because if we don't guess what we can expand the market we we won't be able to get customers into the store so we have to understand this aspect but when we think about it from a store standpoint from a priorities and focus standpoint it is of course once again it's the customer satisfaction it's it is the daily and category sales performance that we're focused in on it's store operations it's in stocks it's logistics um it's stocking the shelves it's planograms it's resets right um it's all of those different things that actually go into the everyday actions that take place in a store so those are the priorities that need to take place those are the priorities that need to take place so we just spoke about time time as as a as a as a as one of the gaps can we just talk real quick and I this one's gonna be really quick we're gonna talk about communication and I've already given you the keys to the kingdom when it comes to communication and that is develop a common language but I'm gonna give you one central idea HQ that I need you to think about whenever you start to think about your big grandiose ideas okay here here it is you you can take this one to the bank and I'm telling you if you're able to articulate this you know define it and articulate it to um your boss and to

Define success, articulate it, and win each time.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

your store teams you will win each and every time you have to define what success really looks like and I know that's just like really Steve you have to be able to define what success really looks like that is what stores want to hear when you when they walk in the st and when you walk into a store they want to hear hey this is how I need you to help me help help us win as a company but here's what winning does for you if we if we are able to do this this what that this is what this does for you if we are able to execute on this guess what this is what this will do for you in your career right and it's not it's not selling wolf tickets right those who understand that look that term wolf tickets you you get it if not look it up right it you're you're you're not selling you know the pie in the sky you're not telling them that if they execute upon this that they're gonna they're gonna immediately get promoted it is no it's it's just setting the reality of what could potentially happen if this is executed properly. So the communication has to be transparent and you have to leverage the the common language that we spoke about earlier. So once again so communication define what success really looks like I'm telling you what and you will win each and every time let's talk about leadership gap and then we're gonna move into the North Stary leadership gap I you know um and I will I I will do a a whole episode on this one but here's here's here it goes so this this episode may be just a little tat long but I needed this one to happen okay CEOs training and development people stores chief human resource officers train uh all of you I need you to hear this all of the HR directors right I need you to hear this I need you to hear this leaders are unhappy with the level of training and development they are receiving they are they are I have a massive project that's actually underway and um uh I I will be able to provide you with the data points on on on this but I what I'm using right now is my 27 years of experience to let you know this right now is that leaders are unhappy with the level of leadership training and development that they are receiving. I'm just gonna tell you this right now the pace of your leadership development and training is not keeping up with the pace with the pace and the needs of the leaders that you have in your stores it's not there are so many um unspoken challenges and issues that leaders are dealing with that are are are unknown to you because your your training and development is so surface level it is extremely surface level it doesn't get into any of the nitty gritty can I give you another another piece of advice that will help transform help help transform your entire leadership um programs and I know this is gonna this this one right here is going to probably hit hard and you probably won't even want to do it and I understand why LMS systems while they're cost effective and they may save time they are ineffective for deep learning especially for your senior retail leaders it's it and even for the pe even for the leaders that are in the stores even for the leaders that are in the stores can I tell you why can I can I tell you why retail is a human business it is a human business you you you are taking the human equation out of learning and development when you when you when you when you prioritize LMS well Steve we have to have LMS systems so that everybody can get the basics on this and that I I I understand maybe for some of the you know some of the

LMS systems lack "moments of revelation" in learning.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

um you know corporate corporate responsibility and different things like that I understand all of that like you need some of those systems in here but what is missing with LMS systems and I know a lot of the LMS people who have um uh um uh courses and and uh programs out there um you may not like this but I'm gonna tell you this right now what they are missing is the moment of revelation in that in that learning experience how many of you how many of you were in a class or someone's talking to you and they're educating you or something and they say something to you and and you're like oh oh oh and you you you perk up and it hits you and you you want to raise your hand because they just made an amazing point and you want them to go a little bit deeper right that's what's missing. When you when when when when you are uh are sitting at a computer and they say something you can't stop and ask that computer system to go deeper into what does that really mean for me? How do I actually execute that? Like what if what if what if I I'm working on the Tuesday morning and I'm slammed how do I how am I supposed to actually execute what you're talking about here on this LMS system right and I know what you're gonna say well that's when the team leaders the um uh some of the store managers they come in they check for understanding and all this other stuff tell you what that's not happening I'm gonna tell you that right now you know why because stores are strapped stores are strapped they sit them down in front of that LMS system they check it off they put them on the floor and a lot of them don't have a lot of training and I am not knocking the people who are on the floor because that's the that's the the uh the stores and the systems that they they have been thrusted into you have to take the time you have to take the time to connect with them engage with them that moment of revelation where they can ask deep questions right that's the sticky point that's when people want to stay because those are the questions that that that that they want to have answers to that are going to make their decision whether or not they're gonna stay within that store or in that company. I'm telling you this right now one other thing around this idea about the training um and development pieces can I can I help you with this one too internal executive coaching um programs um while

Limitations of internal executive coaching, advocate for external programs.

SPEAKER_00 39:42

they may work for a period of time that deep learning experience once again is limited is very limited I had executive training um at several organizations and one of the issues that I actually had with it was bec was that a lot of the information a lot of the discussions that I had went back to my boss and now I'm not I was never talking bad about my boss I'm never talking bad about the company or anything like that. I just I just never felt like I could actually let my hair down and be comfortable and talk about the things that were really important to me as a leader. So when we start to talk about um in internal programs we have to re we have to revamp that we have to think about external programs external coaching um external training and developers coming into your organization and teaching and helping coach and train your team guess why because now they actually have the ability to kind of let their hair down and ask questions that they probably wouldn't be able to ask internally it ha I see it all the time I see it with the people I coach I I had I had a person um having a conversation with them about their career and they I've had this happen twice they literally broke down and cried because they were actually able to to finally talk about how they felt how they felt underappreciated how they felt disrespected regardless of how much money they've made for that company regardless of their position they had high positions with these companies but they were finally able to to kind of like exhale you have a you have so many leaders on your team that are ready and waiting to exhale but they're they're they're they're pent up they they're they they become aggressive they become disgruntled because they don't have an outlet and here's the thing it is not and I know you will say well we are trying to create a safe space it's not about safe spaces it's about safe people it's not about safe spaces it's about safe people how do you create safe people within your organization where people will want to come and connect create safe people not so much safe spaces okay you know what time it is let's go ahead and move into the North Star I'm giving you a lot I'm giving you a lot this is this is probably uh one of our our learning labs so we we created learning labs um in our community called the campus and our learning labs are these one hour intensive courses that go we grab a central topic and we go deep in that topic and we provide you know um fundamental understandings of it but more importantly we give you application for what it looks like uh for you um in your leadership and with your team but also for your development and for your growth um this this could have probably been one of those and it probably will turn into one of them as well but um let's go into the to um the the the North Star I have just some very quick points that I want to make sure that you get um if you implement you think about

Implementing these points will enhance team synergy.

SPEAKER_00 43:11

whether it's whether or not it's HQ or stores if you were to implement and think about deeply everything that I just spoke about these are some of the results that will happen you will have leadership synergy leadership synergy your teams will become more cohesive that's number one this is all number one leadership synergy which means that your teams will become more cohesive right the immediate action is that the the cross functional experience between you and stores merchants and stores all these different things becomes less tense right um it it it it it it becomes not just amicable but it becomes more intentional and it also becomes hopeful and and and not just aspirational but solution oriented the synergy that you create by having a common language helping them with development and understanding how to help them from a communications and communication standpoint is exactly what will happen. Number two, the number two piece that will happen you will have a more transparent feedback culture I know I know I know we always talk about we need more feedback we need a feedback culture listen to me it doesn't exist in a vacuum it has to be cultivated someone has to make the move someone has to make the move someone has to step up to the plate and it and it and it it it and it doesn't just come from the CEO talking about it on CNBC about we are developing a feedback culture within our company listen to me you you're doing that for the stock price but when it comes time for execution no one's really doing it. What happens is a lot of companies and I just this this literally just happened with a very big company a lot of companies are are throwing money at the situation. Well listen to me I like money just like the next person right but money is money money over time with with inflation actually starts to level out and and then once that starts to level out that spending with with the actual increase that I received or the cost of goods actually start to level out with that increase that I received guess what? Now there's a net effect and I'm still stuck where I'm at and I'm still stuck where I'm at so we have to make sure that we are developing a transparent culture so that the feedback that we want to receive is actually taken into consideration and something is actually done with it. Just like I said earlier I think I said in this episode maybe if I didn't you know action beats intention all day long. Action beats intention all day long. The last one and this one is the most important this one is the most important a unified a vision of success I think I'm I I know I mentioned this one around how do you define success right when you do this you the the the you co-create you co-create a blueprint for success right it involves people at at all levels of the organization you clearly define success metrics and the individual roles you also take into consider and excuse me you also take into consideration the Wiff what's in it for me what's in it for them when you do that I tell you what I tell you what the the level of intensity that you will receive from from stores around getting after initiative I'll tell you what you it it it is it is nothing like you will ever see nothing like you will ever see okay leaders I just gave you a whole bunch I just gave you a a ton and you're probably wondering like okay Steve what do I what do I do next how do I take everything that you've you've given me whether you are at HQ or whether you're an individual leader a lot of you are still kind of stuck and frustrated a lot of you want to take what I've given you and maybe take it to the next level but here's the other thing that a lot of you are probably thinking about I Steve I still may need individual clarity on how all of this impacts me right as a as a um a regional director or as a person in store ops I still need individual leadership guidance on what that looks like for me I need clarity. If you need clarity I want to make sure that you connect with me and and sign up for a clarity call we my goal with the clarity call it's a no strings conversation with us and we talk about you know one or two challenges that you are facing and we take that challenge and we um identify it, we create a strategy and then we create a plan for deployment and that deployment piece is all about action it's all about what do you do next? How do you take whatever that problem is and that solution that we create doing that clarity call and actually move it forward. So I look forward to all of you connecting with me not all of you some of you connecting with me for for your clarity call. Thank you for listening to Retail Leadership with Steve Worthy. I appreciate each and every one of you have a great day and God bless