Cutting the Strings

Is a good part of your day filled with being pulled in different directions by the demands of your staff and your role as a store owner or manager?

Imagine a puppet being pulled by its strings. Now combine that with what happens in your daily life.
String A: New shipment of merchandise needs to be checked in
String B: District Manager due in one hour, must complete weekly sales reports
String C: Salesperson needs assistance with arranging new display
String D: Cashier unable to change the register tape

If you can relate to this scenario, you're not alone. Certainly no one can deny that re¬tail is a demanding business with a multitude of tasks to be done. As an owner or manager you'll often find yourself being pulled, almost like that puppet, in a variety of directions to get your tasks accomplished. After all, you are the one who is ulti¬mately responsible for the success of your store. You continue to do whatever everything to get the job done. However, when you continue to allow yourself to be pulled in many directions, you'll eventually lose sight of your main goal: increasing sales.

Much of the string pulling in retail stores is the direct result of developing a staff that relies on you to do things for them. There are two main reasons that your staff has come to rely on you. One reason is that you haven't trained them to be capable of doing the job. The other reason is that you have weakened them to the point where they are dependent on you for the answers.

Every time you answer a question your employee should have known or been able to figure out on their own, or do their work for them, you've now attached another string to yourself. The solution to this problem is really quite simple:

Give your staff a hat to wear and get them to wear it.

In this case, a hat is not just a job description. It is a detailed list of all the behaviors necessary to carry out the job completely and successfully.

Behaviors are things people actually do, step-by-step, rule-by-rule, clearly laid out and fully explained. Each job or function in the company must be written down, not as re¬sponsibilities, but as specific behaviors. If the behaviors are not written down, it’s diffi¬cult to hold people accountable. When you teach specific behaviors people need to perform their job your way, they will be prepared to do it right.

For example, we tell salespeople to be enthusiastic and friendly when greeting cus¬tomers. The words enthusiastic and friendly leave a lot of room for interpretation by the salesperson. To eliminate uncertainty, include a section on opening the sale in your procedures manual. The behaviors of opening the sale are clear and simple:

1. Opening lines must be questions to encourage conversation.
2. Opening lines must have nothing to do with business to establish a person-to-person relationship.
3. Opening lines must be creative, original, personal, etc.

Each selling step has a specific set of behaviors associated with it. By setting up the behaviors you want people to do in specifics rather than in generalities, they are much more likely to do things right.

The individuals in your store who don’t wear their own hats force you to wear their hat. Because you are capable of wearing it, you probably out it on more times than you would prefer.

There's an old saying that relates very well to this situation: "Give a man a fish, and he has food for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he has food for life." By giving someone one fish you'll satisfy their immediate hunger. The problem is they'll be hungry again tomorrow and will come to you for more fish. Aren't you doing the very same thing when you continue to do your employees' jobs?

The path to management freedom is the ability to cut the strings that control your time and energy. When everyone on your staff is fully trained and operating without your assistance, you have time to better help your store succeed.

©2008 The Friedman Group


Cutting the Strings - To learn more about this author, visit Harry J. Friedman's Website.

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