Archived Are some team lead positions easier than others?

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While I know its stressful getting people to sign up for redcards and conversion rates etc. If you cant speed weave and grab change for people you shouldnt be a TL. If you have no cashiers, call for backup if there is no backup its just like walmart people will be mad that there is a long line but how many will actually just drop their cart and leave? I honestly think flow and pog are the hardest TL's to be... You cant just leave an aisle empty you have to finish what you are doing. You cant just bowl an entire truck and leave boxes on the ground for when the store opens... These are all high pressure time sensitive task. If either of those two teams logistics or POG is broken your store is broken...
 
I feel like GSTLs have it a bit easier because LOD will always come deal with difficult guests at our store and they also have GSAs and very strong cashiers to lean on. Plus other TLs go over a lot when they need a supervisor if they're nowhere to be found. But it's not the job it's their team honestly 🙂
 
Dealing with difficult guests is the easiest part of my job. It's a game with me - how many different ways can I explain Target policy with a smile on my face before the guest will eventually implode, agree or walk away? My record is probably 12.
 
I'm am surprised to hear that you think GSTL is easiest job. Maybe at low volume store, but not mine. All of ours GSA and GSTLs don't last for more than a year, and when we have a position available, they always hire from outside, because nobody applies for that craziness. I think Rx TL is the most easiest and most paid in any store.
 
CrazyTarget said:
I'm am surprised to hear that you think GSTL is easiest job. Maybe at low volume store, but not mine. All of ours GSA and GSTLs don't last for more than a year, and when we have a position available, they always hire from outside, because nobody applies for that craziness. I think Rx TL is the most easiest and most paid in any store.
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Don't get me wrong I would never want to do that position. I used to be a TL and had transferred stores because I got tired of my long commute. I had two options either demote myself of be a GSTL as no other TL spots were open. I picked demotion because I would not want to deal with the day in day out task that it involves. Before I took a demotion I had been a Flow TL, a Hardlines TL and an instocks TL. At the time when I made the call the GSTLs were the only one who had a less standard schedule. When I was a flow TL i worked 4 10 hour days in a row and had 3 off. When I was hardlines I worked my every other weekend but I either opened or I closed we had no mids at the time. When I was instocks I worked monday through friday 6am to 230.

I just couldnt get into the random shifts and having to push red cards... Each job has its challenges but in no way do I feel that job would be hard had I decided to take it.
 
still sticking with flow and plano as the hardest. The rest could be argued.
 
VanillaBeaner said:
But it's not the job it's their team honestly 🙂
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You know, I think this has a lot to do with it. Having a good team to work with and help carry the load would make any job in the store easier. Contrary wise, if you have a team you cannot rely on or who does not back you up or maybe even no team it all... it can suck big time.
 
GlobalTL123 said:
True for my store. Our starbucks tl hides in the office and wont be a part of any team. They have it easy because the leadership team turns a blind eye!
redeye58 said:
GlobalTL123 said:
Starbucks? Lol yeah right! That is one of the easiest.
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I beg to differ.
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Our SB is an older one & a lot of our equipment is original. We've had our espresso machine go down multiple times, our brew station has alternated between not heating & overflowing, our coffee grinder locked up one morning, we had 2 blenders but when one crapped out they removed it & never replaced it so we only have one that we're holding our breath over. My TL has spent so much time on equipment issues alone yet still has to make time for off-stage duties so he has trained another barista & myself to handle things like promo set-ups, scanning in the orders, etc. - anything that doesn't necessarily need a TL's access.
Like others have said, it depends on the store.
 
I think flow,plano are probably the hardest and no new person should get placed under those two.

Instocks doesn't really need a solo TL. BR/is combo is fine

I feel the same way about price change as well. All i see them do is sit in one spot and ticket. If that is all they do, then they can merge. I heard certain stores do the plano/pricing combo.

Sales floor/softlines/gstl/food ave/star bucks/produce meh. beginner friendly

My 2 cents
 
Clark Kent said:
I think flow,plano are probably the hardest and no new person should get placed under those two.

Instocks doesn't really need a solo TL. BR/is combo is fine

I feel the same way about price change as well. All i see them do is sit in one spot and ticket. If that is all they do, then they can merge. I heard certain stores do the plano/pricing combo.

Sales floor/softlines/gstl/food ave/star bucks/produce meh. beginner friendly

My 2 cents
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IS/BR would not be effective in a higher volume store. Same would go for price change/Plano TL.
 
I think the answer to this question depends on how strong of a team you're leading, store culture, and ETL partnership, so there's not really a universal answer for all stores. Those factors combined, flow and consumables seem to be the toughest right now at my store. Half of our flow team went overnight for our store's remodel, and they've really been hurting for it. They lost a ton of experienced TM's, and a truck hasn't been completely pushed before 9:30 in weeks. Someone earlier also made a comment about the little factors that can make or break a flow TL's day as well (truck size, call-offs, etc), which are felt even harder now. And our CTL is basically treated like a sales floor team member. I think the only time he gets to spend in consumables is when he does the SDA report in the morning. The rest of the time they're either using him to set sales planners, or push reshop. Market is never forecasted more than 8 hours a week either for the market TM. And they think we're going to have a Pfresh in a couple of months... On the flip side, I'd say our BR/Instocks TL is probably in the best shape at our store right now.
 
I've been with a AA volume store for just over 4 years now, since it opened (woohoo planorama!). I started out as a Backroom TL, moved to Electronics/Hardlines, moved to Presentation, and just now recently made Senior Team Leader (day side). From my experience, the sales floor team leader positions are easier in large volume stores because you aren't the only leader and you have large amounts of team members. IMO, Presentation was the toughest, simply due to the careful planning, execution, and attention to detail necessary to be successful. Also you work with a smaller team, mines was composed of 9 TMs, but this is a larger volume store.
 
smaller is relative. We have 4 on my pog team.
 
RightArm said:
VanillaBeaner said:
But it's not the job it's their team honestly 🙂
Click to expand...

You know, I think this has a lot to do with it. Having a good team to work with and help carry the load would make any job in the store easier. Contrary wise, if you have a team you cannot rely on or who does not back you up or maybe even no team it all... it can suck big time.
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Absolutely! If your team is no good then your job is a lot harder - regardless of area. However, I tend to think smaller areas (if hardlines or softlines is broken up into several team leads) would make for an easier job.
 
salesfloor10 said:
RightArm said:
VanillaBeaner said:
But it's not the job it's their team honestly 🙂
Click to expand...

You know, I think this has a lot to do with it. Having a good team to work with and help carry the load would make any job in the store easier. Contrary wise, if you have a team you cannot rely on or who does not back you up or maybe even no team it all... it can suck big time.
Click to expand...

Absolutely! If your team is no good then your job is a lot harder - regardless of area. However, I tend to think smaller areas (if hardlines or softlines is broken up into several team leads) would make for an easier job.
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Sharing an area comes with challenges however... Sometimes it is nice to be the sole owner of a process/area because you can make the decisions! Sharing means you have to consistently status, followup, and solicit feedback from your peer on the decisions you guys want to make (inherently slowing improvements down)
 
Rock Lobster said:
salesfloor10 said:
RightArm said:
VanillaBeaner said:
But it's not the job it's their team honestly 🙂
Click to expand...

You know, I think this has a lot to do with it. Having a good team to work with and help carry the load would make any job in the store easier. Contrary wise, if you have a team you cannot rely on or who does not back you up or maybe even no team it all... it can suck big time.
Click to expand...

Absolutely! If your team is no good then your job is a lot harder - regardless of area. However, I tend to think smaller areas (if hardlines or softlines is broken up into several team leads) would make for an easier job.
Click to expand...

Sharing an area comes with challenges however... Sometimes it is nice to be the sole owner of a process/area because you can make the decisions! Sharing means you have to consistently status, followup, and solicit feedback from your peer on the decisions you guys want to make (inherently slowing improvements down)
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this completely. My peer is not a very good TL at all. She doesn't care, doesn't back me up, and doesn't support the redcard culture. It's challenging to inspire my team when she doesn't support it. I hear from the cashiers a lot "well she doesn't make me do that. She said I didn't have to do that" and it's so frustrating! It's gotten to the point where I CC my ETL and ETL-HR into most of the emails I send her because she doesn't followup on anything I say to her and just doesn't do her job in general. I have a hunch she's on her way out the door because I've been mentoring a GSA to become a TL and they asked me to step it up a bit to get her ready for 4th quarter.
 
You could say this exact thing for hardlines (my work area) or maybe softlines...

How many Pulls are there? Guest requests? Front lines requests? zoning??? and worst of all, which seem allll to common at my store... call ins...
 
The best response is it depends on your team. At my old store, the pricing team sucked and the plano team were all-stars. So being a PTL there was great and the PATL was a hellish position because the scores are horrible and if the team doesn't care, how can you improve? At my current store, the plano team is really falling behind and the pricing team is amazing, best in the district. So being the PATL is great because the team is global and takes pride in their work, but being the PTL is frustrating because the team doesn't care and not enough hours are allotted to presentation to complete the workload, and the PTL gets the pressure. I should know; I've been both at both stores. I've also been a Flow TL (really liked that position, actually, even though going into it, it was the one I was most apprehensive about), a BR TL (combined with in-stocks; easiest of my positions because my BR team is phenomenal), and a SF TL (second easiest).
 
I agree that the team can make all of the difference. Because of tight payroll in most stores, new hires are never trained the way the should be. They are buddied up with whoever happens to be working that day. All of the printed materials are a waste if you don't have the time to use them. I would rather have a group of 3 or 4 train the same schedule along with the designated trainer. That trainer is training for those shifts and should NOT be part of the cashier, flow or sales floor grid (etc) for those days. If we spent the time that we should with new people we could really train them, make them feel like they know what they are doing then they would not only stay but thrive. As it is we are looking at trainees as another (thank goodness) person to work pulls, do reshop or cashier. A well trained team can make or break any area. Flow is hardest physically, Plano is hardest mentally
 
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