The Seven Deadly Sins of Retail Management
By Doug Fleener
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I'm sure that most of you are familiar with the Seven Deadly Sins
of pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, and sloth. You might not be as
familiar with the Seven Deadly Sins of Retail Management, those foibles and
pitfalls that impede our abilities as managers and our capacity to achieve our
desired success. Let's look at the Seven Deadly Sins of Retail Management.
Procrastination -
We can call procrastination "sloth with excuses." Procrastination
can devastate a store and a manager's career. I've seen managers lose their
jobs because they wouldn't get around to doing some of the simplest paperwork.
I'm sure all of us procrastinate from time to time, but most of us don't do it
to the point that it has a negative impact on our customers or employees.
Arrogance -
There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance, with the
difference being the manager's own view of his/her importance. I've met some
very talented people who failed as managers because they somehow got it into the
heads that they were more important than others in the organization. Successful
managers understand that to succeed they must serve both their customers and
their employees.
Apathy -
Managers are the leaders of their stores. By their actions they
determine the level of passion, excitement, and pride felt by the rest of the
staff. When managers lose interest it has a domino effect that falls all the way
to the bottom line. The problem in retail chains is that because apathy is so
difficult to identify in retail management, mid-level managers and executives
let apathetic managers remain in their positions.
Gossip -
This "sin" looks harmless on their surface but can cause major
damage to a store team and manager's creditability. Gossip often happens without
the participants even realizing what they're doing. The best way to avoid gossip
is to never say something about someone unless you would be okay with that
person standing besides you as you say it. I know that whenever I start a
conversation with "Just between you and me. . ." there's a good chance I
shouldn't be having that conversation.
Inflexibility -
Great stores are the result a manager/leader who can take a group
of strong individuals and have them execute as a team. One of the biggest
barriers to this occurring is the manager's need to exert control rather than
influence. Anytime a manager says "my way or the highway" then the chances are
they're losing their team. Remaining flexible and open to new ideas invariably
leads to growth of the staff, the manager, and the overall store sales.
Inappropriateness
-
Creating any type of hostile workplace is completely unacceptable.
While a manager rarely does do that on purpose, it happens with more frequency
that most of us even know. The key is to not only not go near "the line" but to
stay far, far away from it.
Lack of
accountability -
The biggest impediment to a store achieving goal is almost never
foot traffic or inventory availability. The biggest culprit is mediocrity.
Specifically, the store management team allowing mediocrity to take hold in the
store. This often is the result of a manager or management team not holding the
staff accountable for their actions because they don't want to have those
difficult conversations necessary to turn around or remove underperforming
employees. Not only is it unfair to the rest of the team (and the company as a
whole) to not hold underperforming employees accountable, it's also unfair to
the employee themselves.
So let me ask, how's your sin level?
