Motivating and Leading Retail Associates in the New Economy

[Doron Levy]

Labor budgets at the retail level are shrinking rapidly. Some of my clients have a real concern on how to motivate front level staff in this complicated economic environment. Hours and payroll dollars are being slashed in all areas of retail and more work is being piled on to the associates that are scheduled. I have suggested that supervisors and managers keep an upbeat attitude and maintain presence on the selling floor. Now is not the time for back office managers. Leadership and attitude are key factors in overcoming the negative stigma that surrounds retail. Resource programs such as company paid training and leadership workshops should be made available to all levels of staff. Keeping employees challenged is another major factor in keeping motivation and moral up. It's one thing to keep them busy, but another thing entirely to actually engage them in the workplace. Looking for thoughts from our group on the subject and any experiences you may have.

[Jeffrey Summers]

All things begin and end with the company's values and the culture you create with them.The economy has nothing to do with it. We're not in a recession we're in a recalibration. You need to look at everything top to bottom and recalibrate it in light of consumers choices and level of engagement with your brand. This starts with front line employees and including them in all decision making processes from branding to operations. There are going to be no best practices here. That word has probably forever been put to rest now. At least let's hope so.

Jeffrey Summers
Restaurant Coaching Solutions

[Derek Sanders]

Bravo, and well put! The back office manager "desk jockey" is a real problem in today's setting. I have been seeing more and more apathy due to slow traffic and it takes a level 5 leader to create the culture needed to survive.

[Mel Kleiman]

Doron: You bring up some great points and one of the things that we are going to have to remember is that it is impossible to do more with less. It is totally against the law of physics. With this said as companies do push to do more with less something will suffer. The other day I was in a store where hours of frontline staff had been cut so to get the shelves filled the manager was doing the job. This made him the highest paid stock person in the company and some job that he should have been doing did not get done or got done by him putting in more hours which is the very short term might work but in the long run the candle will only burn for so long.

As far as motivating staff in this down economy managers need to remember that the number one motivator in the world is recognition and that Gallup Polls reports that 60% plus of American workers say they have received no recongition at work in the last year. A thank you, a pat on the back or maybe a written note is one thing that cost nothing a manager has 100% control over. If you want to look at a choice of shift some growth opportunity on training all things that great employees are looking for. It may not help you keep them a year or two but it could be just want you need to keep them for 6 month until things begin to pick up.

[Mel Kleiman]

I just post some comment to this on Doron discussion but here are some additional thoughts.

Studies show that there are 4 major motivator out there that are wanted by every generation and demographic group. I have added a 5th. You will never be sure which one is the motivator for a particular employee but there is a way to find out and that is very simple ask them.

I am not going into a long discussion of each of these but here they are.
1. Great boss and great co-workers. (Maybe we should build a discussion around what makes a great boss)
2. Growth and opportunity. (This often take the shape of more responsibility and into days world the people you have working for you should be the ones that are looking for more responsibility and in today world you should have more to give them)
3. Interest work. (Are you cross training them)
4. Work life balance. (This means different things to different people but figure out how to have a family friendly environment and your people will put up with a lot of other stuff)
5. My favorite is RECOGNITION. (The way you recognize someone is find out what motivates them and then give it to them. Such as more interesting work.)

[Mel Kleiman]

WOW your one line is worth the entire post We're not in a recession we're in a recalibration

Jeffrey Summers said:

All things begin and end with the company's values and the culture you create with them.The economy has nothing to do with it. We're not in a recession we're in a recalibration. You need to look at everything top to bottom and recalibrate it in light of consumers choices and level of engagement with your brand. This starts with front line employees and including them in all decision making processes from branding to operations. There are going to be no best practices here. That word has probably forever been put to rest now. At least let's hope so.

Jeffrey Summers
Restaurant Coaching Solutions

[Alicia Marie Fruin]

Jeffrey

Excellent comment "We're not in a recession we're in a recalibration" is brilliant. As I witness my clients adjust to the changes in th economy I am reminded that change is always an opportunity. Those of us who insist on doing every thing the exact same way we always have will have the most difficult time of it. Its time to pay attention and personally shift as needed.

[Doron Levy]

These are some great responses and I would like to add to the dialogue. Jeffrey makes 2 points that I wholeheartedly disagree with. I do agree that we are going through a 'recalibration' (great term btw Jeffrey), but I disagree that this isn't a recession. If you ask any person on the street, and that would be anyone who shops retail if they eat and wear clothes, they would say we are in a recession or in troubled economic times. As retailers, we must react based on that psychology. My clients customers are not shopping based on a recalibration, their behaviour is driven by the economic situation. Secondly, we use best practices as a marker for frontline associates. I can't even begin to tell you about the morale and motivational benefits of employing and emberacing best practices. When a non managerial associate comes up with a best practice, they are showing true ownership in their area of responsibility. My observations from the field suggest that most managers are hungry for new ideas from their teams. Engaging a culture of ideas and open communication is how you get things done in retail. And best practices is a huge element to that. Hope I didn't ruffle any feathers and let's keep the discussion going. Thanks to everyone that has replied so far.

[Ken Jackson]

Doron,

In these times of recalibration <--I like that thanks Jeff, your "people" people and sales people have to step up and use their skills as never before. Plan, Create, and Over-Communicate. Celebrate success more often, engage face to face as often as possible and pick up the phone instead of email. Additionally, invest the time and effort to train / train / train - teach the skills need to be more productive and to achieve the companies true priorities.

[Mel Kleiman]

There are 5 things that everyone wants out of a job beside money which in reality has not proven to be a motivator but lack of it has proven to be a demotivate. Those 5 things are
1. A great boss and great coworkers.
2. Interesting work
3. Growth and opportunity
4. Work live balance
5. Recognition

If you really work hard at all five of them they can be accomplished without spending a lot of money and in many cases not spending any money at all. For example making the job more interesting can be accomplished by doing some cross training which also creates growth.