We are living in an era of unprecedented retail competition. This is no secret. Going forward, retailers need to address the unique needs and desires of consumers, providing a more rewarding and memorable shopping experience.
Expected changes include innovative retail formats and distribution models, as well as improved marketing and customer communications.
Failing to evolve or connect with customers on a personal level risks slipping into obscurity. It’s challenging times like this that separate the winners and losers; where fortunes are made and dreams are dashed. It’s times like these that require outstanding leadership.
Leadership takes many forms in the convenience store industry. There is corporate leadership, store leadership, foodservice leadership and so forth. While all facets are equally important and challenging, it’s your store teams where you are most vulnerable—and where your customers will judge you most harshly. That’s why staffing your stores with employees who buy into—and will nurture—your corporate culture is so important.
LEADERSHIP CHALLENGES
As a teen growing up in New York, the city was a wonderful playground in the mid-1980s. Yet, I felt the need to do something different, to see what the world had to offer and learn new ways of doing things. I was young, but I recognized that my contribution to humanity at that point was merely questions with very few answers.
So as a senior in high school, I decided to accept the challenge the Navy had to offer—work hard, travel the world, learn about other cultures and be part of a team to help protect your country. Not a bad value proposition for a 17-year-old.
What I learned soon was that leaving the comforts of home is one thing, but leaving the comforts of home for boot camp was another thing entirely. The intense physical and mental demands took quite some time to get used to. It was ingrained in each of us that all 80 members of the troop had to work in perfect unison—march to the same cadence, stay in formation and move fluidly through the field as one, to complete our mission.
Those of you who went to boot camp understand the powerful impact and enormous challenge drill sergeants have when it comes to breaking down individuals and building a cohesive unit. But when the task is completed, you have teams of sailors and soldiers that have bonded for life—teams for which no obstacle is too big and no challenge too daunting. That is the essence of boot camp.
What got me thinking about all of this was an ad I saw recently for a Retail Boot Camp. In many ways, all of you are drill sergeants with a complicated task to get your retail units in order to win the battle to drive new business.
If there is one takeaway I learned early on in my time in the military it’s that some people simply have difficulty changing and learn how to get by doing the bare minimum.
Avoid those people.
Others can maintain a can-do attitude and execute plans flawlessly with minimal guidance. This is the fundamental distinction between great leaders and slackers that never reach their full potential.
If you give employees the tools to succeed and they are still letting you down, cut bait. But don’t let it come to that. Start identifying talent and the characteristics of those with can-do attitudes long before you make them a job offer.
What’s required is a team effort and any employee that refuses to buy into your mission can infect your entire brand culture. Often that infection has to be removed with surgical precision and without hesitation. It sounds easy, but it’s a never-ending process that requires constant attention.
When it comes to retail competition, the stakes are high and promise to only get more difficult. It’s your team that will determine your success, but it’s on you to prepare them for battle.