New ETL to Target

[LeaderFromFront]

Hey all. I wanted to say hello and solicit any Day 1 advice for someone transitioning from years in a Warehouse/Fulfillment management role into a Retail Management role.

I know it is a rough time to swap, right in middle of peak season, but ready to go!

Thanks for advice/insight in advance!

 

[boringClerk03]

Congratulations; welcome to the store side

Make sure that your team is aware of your presence when you're on the sales floor and that they feel comfortable coming to you for any relevant job inquiries.

Get to know your team; know their names, and be a good listener + stay attentive to their struggles, especially during Q4. Stay on top of productivity, and make sure processes are running as they should.

We're all busy during peak season and there's nothing worse, especially from a TM perspective, than having a leader that doesn't give two shits about what you're going through during the hardest times in retail.

Good luck to you and all your endeavors.

 

[MrT]

Itll be a disaster till january. itll get better maybe. Imo its probably best to build relationships with people in your store and just work as hard as possible till then and just hope whoever is covering/ who your taken over for had a plan ready to go.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Welcome!

 

[Yetive]

Welcome. Get to know your team is job 1.

 

[RedRevolution]

Welcome to TBR! The community is awesome. Knowledgeable, experienced and very supportive. A store full of TBR members would be the dream team of Target.

The great thing about TBR is you can come here with all issues & questions and get honest, down-to-earth responses. None of the sanitized, political corporate speak that you would get from the store and corporate.

Temper your expectations as an ETL. There are going to be very rough patches but also you will find some gems within leadership, TMs, and corporate. Like a lot of large corporations, Target is hampered by excessive corporatism and share price obsession.

 

[Black Sheep 214]

Treat your team well, it makes life a lot more pleasant for everyone and builds a positive, cohesive team. Reward the good TMs and hold the others accountable, listen to what your team is telling you, and always remember that your team can make you or break you. Never say anything negative about Spot where your bosses can hear it, act like you are drinking the Kool-aid and buying into the bs even when it seems ridiculous to the Nth degree, for the job you save may be your own. The next few weeks will be hectic and chaotic, but things will settle down after that and you will be able to find your footing in the boredom that is January. Welcome and good luck!😁

 

[commiecorvus]

 

[NotCynicalYet]

Congrats! Be an ETL who knows people's names and doesn't grunt instead of saying "hi."

 

[happygoth]

 

[Planosss]

Welcome. Get to know your team is job 1.

Get to know your responsibilities is job 1

 

[LeaderFromFront]

Congratulations; welcome to the store side

Make sure that your team is aware of your presence when you're on the sales floor and that they feel comfortable coming to you for any relevant job inquiries.

Get to know your team; know their names, and be a good listener + stay attentive to their struggles, especially during Q4. Stay on top of productivity, and make sure processes are running as they should.

We're all busy during peak season and there's nothing worse, especially from a TM perspective, than having a leader that doesn't give two shits about what you're going through during the hardest times in retail.

Good luck to you and all your endeavors.

Thanks alot. I have grown over the years to be on a constant "patrol" through my area(s). I have found that sometimes your team needs to know that they will have access you, if nothing more to wave at or an avenue to provide feedback. I will likely spend the first month, opening every sentence with (Hey ####, what's up!?). I have found that repeating names and near annoying checking in, lets the team know I care enough to check in.

 

[LeaderFromFront]

Congrats! Be an ETL who knows people's names and doesn't grunt instead of saying "hi."

Always! I make point to know 1-2 things about everyone. That gives me a point of a relationship with everyone and sometime to check in on with about. I was surprised with one team that I have 2-3 people that lived in the same town as me, even with an hour commute! So important to be a human to your team.

 

[LeaderFromFront]

Get to know your responsibilities is job 1

Metrics and KPI are essential to holding yourself and your team accountable. Accountability always needs to be communicated and appropriate feedback given to the team. I have spent more than one morning meeting apologizing for some decisions that didn't turn out well and wanted to let the team know that their efforts were appreciated, regardless of the overall outcome.

 

[LeaderFromFront]

Itll be a disaster till january. itll get better maybe. Imo its probably best to build relationships with people in your store and just work as hard as possible till then and just hope whoever is covering/ who your taken over for had a plan ready to go.

Peak/Holiday is always "survival-mode". I was actually supposed to start earlier, but the store leadership didn't want to start me so close to Black Friday and be tossed in the meat-grinder. So I'll be starting just after to have a better on-boarding experience. Slow periods are just clean-up mode and re-assessing how the plans went. "Get down to basics"!

 

[LeaderFromFront]

Never say anything negative about Spot where your bosses can hear it, act like you are drinking the Kool-aid and buying into the bs even when it seems ridiculous to the Nth degree

Thanks for the advice. Feedback like that would be in a controlled environment and likely more on clarifying policies than anything else.

 

[Inboundbeast]

Peak/Holiday is always "survival-mode". I was actually supposed to start earlier, but the store leadership didn't want to start me so close to Black Friday and be tossed in the meat-grinder. So I'll be starting just after to have a better on-boarding experience. Slow periods are just clean-up mode and re-assessing how the plans went. "Get down to basics"!

Onboarding in any part of Q4 is challenging and a lot of districts actually don’t allow their stores to onboard leadership during that time. Hopefully your training goes/went well and your exec peers/trainer were able to truly invest in you. Either way come January you’ll be able to ask lots of questions and get more in depth info/insight into your priorities as an ETL from peers.