Archived NEW FLOW TM thoughts about leadership

[Penrose]

I know, I’ve only worked here for barely a month, but I do have some ideas or observations that I’d like to share here, but don’t have the courage to say in front of my ETL:

I am maybe a lowly TM, but I do think about certain issues that I observe that does not significantly affect me. One of those things is about leadership.

Efficiency is a good thing, but I think an excellent leader is also someone who is able to recognize when other people may have been put in a very stressful situations. Let's say, putting a TM in a task that is normally handled by 2 or 3 people every single day, and think this should be the new norm. An excellent leader is someone who knows how to reward their most productive worker, not with MORE work, but with maybe lighter duties now and then.

In the real world or at least working with diverse groups, the best employees sometimes are not the most expressive. Perhaps, English is not their first language or they might have some communication anxiety issues. Praise is good, but sometimes, it felt empty when you don't really give that person a break from doing tedious task every day.

The solution to this can be as simple as identifying other work centers that might have surplus of people. Now and then, one person can be assigned to help work centers that have only one person working.

You might think that it is the employees job to inform you of concerns like that, but do know that in a minimum wage job environment, the people working there are not the most assertive bunch of people.

This thing is probably not easily realized by a middle-class white leader in his or her mid-twenties.

However, these things do matter especially for those team members who have worked there for a long time, consistently performed well, and may not have nowhere else to go because of their economic and social background.

 

[DoWork]

You will run into a lot of brain busting situations like this. Ultimately, most team leaders always try to get the most out of their team, regardless of how it affects the team members morale. They use the team to make themselves look better.

Just remember this situation if you get into a leadership position.

 

[Penrose]

Thank you, DoWork. I do fantasize becoming a team leader one day, but as it is I have a lot of personal challenges to overcome.

It would be great though if I would be given a chance because I think I can offer a different perspective. One that address real issues that plague employees. Some of these issues are probably beyond any store leaders control. Yet, there might be something that they can do to alleviate the employee’s sufferings.

If I were to become a leader, then, if I can achieve my work goals and maintain a high level of true safety and good morale in my workplace that for me is success! Additional money incentives that I’ll be getting isn’t my top priority.

I don’t want a zero-sum game. I want a true win-win situation. I would like to complete my goals because I have truly identified a process that works, and not because I am simply demanding more from my team, and in turn possibly compromising their safety and mental health.

They say, the end justify the means. For me, the journey itself is relevant.

 

[semantics]

There is a reason why our electronics flow TM changes nearly every 6 months, the way they are treated makes it dissatisfying to be the electronics flow tm, most transfer out of flow because of it. When I talked to them they hated how they were taken out of electronics push after doing security to go push hardlines then put back into electronics at the very end of their shift making if they will finish electronics stressful. Extra work and responsibility without any real benefits outside getting hours, along with the TL tring to block them from working in other workcenters such as backroom, plano, p-fresh etc. Really the TL tries to use people too much, doesn't treat the TMs as people but tools and it pisses people off.

 

[Penrose]

Thanks for sharing that, semantics.

Leaders always say “let’s reduce our footsteps” to their members. I think that this rule is just as applicable to them. If it is a normal occurrence for members to be assigned in X , then pulled to Y, then back to X, and Y team goes to Z. Then, I hope that the leader realizes what a waste it was to assign X to Y. The goal isn’t simply to finish something. Additional help should only be done if it is clear that the team can’t finish on time. Completing a goal with minimal disruption or interruption from other work center is the most ideal. Leaders should always ask themselves why they are changing their original allocations, what has changed? Is this action really necessary?

Moreover, I think there are situations when it’s best to have the team member stay and zone after pushing, rather than go to another work center. For example, if that work center is one of my most profitable center, and say from 4 to 8 pm is when the most sales are made. If I were a leader, I would make sure to have at least one person around to help out guests.

For early morning flow, if no other work center is in dire need of help, I would use this opportunity to correct whatever mistake is needed to correct in that area. Make sure that items are in the right place, have the right price. Take out any damage items, or over-pushed items.

Lastly, I think an excellent leader should try not to form any negative perception on team members easily based on a few instances. Give them the benefit of the doubt. I was seen walking towards the breakroom when it’s 5-10 minutes till break, you might think I’m getting my break early and not waiting for the announcement – you would never guessed that a co-worker might have asked me to get a mydevice. If leaders are truly bothered, simply asking a question wouldn’t hurt. It’s hard for employee to keep approaching you and explain their behavior especially when you are not asking them a question.

I was able to explain why I was walking towards the breakroom, but I am just demonstrating how easy it is for misunderstanding to occur.

The problem with these “misunderstandings” is that these later on influenced how leaders make their decisions.

 

[dave white]

Was Flow TL for almost a year. Trust me, any idea you come up with or any criticism you might have. .. it's already been thought of, pitched and shot down.

Our team had gone away from "bowling" so I wanted to start doing it again. Shot down by ETL on basis we didn't have enough people to afford losing 1-2 people to "bowl".

DTL comes overnight and asks why aren't we "bowling". The next truck the new expectation is to send at least two people to "bowl" the pallets.

 

[Patty]

Are you any relation to Jack White?

 

[Penrose]

Dave White, I probably won’t be suggesting these to my ETL anytime soon. Since it’s only been a month since I started working here, I need more time to observe the processes and the workplace culture.

It’s interesting that some of the things that members come up with, are the ACTUAL best practices that TARGET already has. I suspect it’s more of an issue of store leaders not executing the right processes for whatever reason.

I wish training materials are available to us members. I wish more leaders realize that most team members do care about the quality of their work. If actual training is not on the budget, at least give the team members a resource where they can read about work stuff, for the sake of learning and increasing competence.

Not everything should be a hands-on experience. How can you learn when while at work, you felt negative and people around you seem negative?

I wonder if it cost that much money to make some work simulations. We already have eHR, why not take advantage of that, and start creating an actual knowledge database for all team members?

 

[Penrose]

Are you any relation to Jack White?

I am not familiar, why do you say that?

 

[DoWork]

Honestly, if you care about both the quality of your work and the quantity, you won't be a team member for long. Most team members, without offense meant, fall into five categories: new hires, doesn't care about the job, just does what is asked, hard worker but has no scope, and has attendance issues. Ones who do their job well are usually promoted eventually. This has been my observance in my limited tenure with Target.

Assuming these categories do not fit you, you'll be in a leadership position not too far down the road, so hopefully you'll be able to take what you see as flaws in other leadership, and turn them into your strengths.

Target does value home/life balance in a weird way. It doesn't want you to even think about work off the clock. I'm guessing there's some ill formed legal reasons behind that.

You'll learn that some of Target's best practices can be inefficient and impractical. Time is always your enemy. Never enough hours, so you have to improvise and learn to both delegate and prioritize tasks on the fly. This is what some leadership fail at. They're cutting corners instead of reorganizing for a better fit.

I'm currently battling a clusterfuck of a situation that involves my work centers. For so long, they had done things one way, which led to out of date product, inferior quality product, and a general lack of product. Accountability was non-existent. Best practices were not followed, and I see why. With hours, it simply was not possible. I've prioritized various tasks for the AM and the PM so that things are visually up to par and product is on the shelves, despite the chaos underneath it all. It's not best practices. I wouldn't deny it. It works, though, without the hassles of both guest and higher up disappointment.

 

[Patty]

I am not familiar, why do you say that?

I was asking Dave White if he was related to Jack, who is my favorite musician.

 

[Penrose]

DoWork, I have continuously improved my performance by increasing the amount of work I complete and the accuracy of my push. It’s sad that no one really notices my improvements, only my mistakes. Even things I do different is considered a mistake. Say, there are 3 actions to do (e.g. ABC). A=open box, B=hang/sort item, C=flatten box and put in cage. Normally, it’s ABC and loop. Instead what I do is AB, then C’s. Why? Personally, the C part slows me down. I intentionally left 3 boxes for them to do, so I can complete the C actions. It wasn’t efficient for others, well whatever, it was for me, at least in saving my own personal energy.

I don't feel strongly about that idea, so I am letting it go. Just explaining why I might do things differently sometimes.

I completed 10 carts today in an hour and maybe a few minutes. Still, that doesn’t seem enough. Not to mention, I was getting most of the pallets.

I overheard 2 of my team said something about not understanding why we are still half-way and it’s almost 8, and it sounded like they were trying to blame somebody. I could be wrong, I was quick to change direction. If that was what they were saying, then, I think that we had a heavy workload than normal, and clearly, no one was to blame.

I just realized that she was probably so stressed because she was assigned to do all the z-racks. The other time, she did the workload of 2 people which is a lot considering 1 person's workload equals at least 3 departments. I felt sorry for her, but she needs to speak up. She's been here long enough to develop a respectful relationship with the supervisors. It's not alright to take it out on me.

Besides, how can I go around telling supervisor, we need more people, when they made that impression that they can handle a lot of work? By always working too fast, and finishing earlier, we made an impression that we are a superstar group. No wonder, we are now down one person.

Not to say, I won't help. I will, but it's not going to get done before 8.

 

[Penrose]

I decided to continue my rant in OFF THE CLOCK CHATTER subforum

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Mods, please move this thread to off the clock.

 

[Penrose]

DoWork, sorry about not really responding to your reply in my previous post. I was battling some negative emotions lately.

I'm currently battling a clusterfuck of a situation that involves my work centers. For so long, they had done things one way, which led to out of date product, inferior quality product, and a general lack of product. Accountability was non-existent. Best practices were not followed, and I see why. With hours, it simply was not possible. I've prioritized various tasks for the AM and the PM so that things are visually up to par and product is on the shelves, despite the chaos underneath it all. It's not best practices. I wouldn't deny it. It works, though, without the hassles of both guest and higher up disappointment.

While at times, it’s reasonable that best practices were not followed due to some other external constraints. Let’s say we have several pallets of Pfresh items, and only a few people to push. Obviously, TM’s can’t take the time to FIFO with only 30 minutes to get it done.

However, maybe at times that might be doable, and I think an excellent leader should make sure, than when it is POSSIBLE, that TM’s are also concerned about quality of their work.

In other words, maybe it’s best NOT to simply be complacent, and yield to simply getting things done as the goal. TMs should always be reminded that best practices are important. Direct feedback should always be given when opportunity presents itself. An excellent leader should foster an environment where criticisms are NOT seen as negative, rather as a learning opportunity.

It can be a challenge to change someone’s mindset. I know I struggle with criticisms myself. Yet, if TMs see that it’s normal because criticism are given constantly to each other. Then, that might change their minds too, and they might, as time goes by, appreciate feedbacks and even give these feedbacks to others.

You can’t change behavior through a one-time announcement in the breakroom. It is changed by continuous reinforcement. If possible, demonstrate it when you see someone do something wrong. When TM hears it often, that’s when they knew you are serious!

As for lack of product, why not just temporarily assign excess capacity from other items to the empty shelves? That way, the shelves always looks full and visually pleasing? This might only work if the pricing are all the same.

 

[Penrose]

I'm thinking, maybe it is best to identify members who are really good at their job, and are comfortable with giving and receiving feedback. Make sure that they are encourage to keep doing that. The more voices, the better, the louder. Until team members are not just hearing the leaders--when they hear more and more people echoing the same voice or concerns, it becomes a crowd -- and that herd mentality will help improve the consistency and quality of their work.

 

[DoWork]

Team members are encouraged to flex items to fill holes with an equal or lesser price point. If you have a box of 89 cent macaroni next to a box of 1.39 penne, it would be acceptable to flex two deep of the macaroni, taking two out of the facings of macaroni. 20 boxes fit in two facings. Take two out, leaving you 18 in the original facings, and two for the one facing of the penne you don't have. This way, when the penne comes in, you can simply push the macaroni back to its original spot so that there is no needless back stock or overstocking.

Some people hate that, flexing, for some reason. It covers holes. You can't sell empty space.

As far as people's mentality goes, recognition goes a very long way. Praising them for doing a good job, especially over the walkie, gives most people a self esteem boost and builds a culture of recognition. That, in my opinion, is the best way to improve morale and quality.

Also, if someone doesn't have time to FIFO, they're doing it wrong. I'll argue with anyone, regardless of what others may say, you can find a way to FIFO in its most basic form when stocking at all times. You can't check all dates on the shelf, so assume what just came in is the newest. Put it in the back.

Not fifo-ing simply pushes a small problem off to a later date, making a much larger problem. So much waste is created when it isn't followed.

 

[mrknownothing]

Some people hate that, flexing, for some reason. It covers holes. You can't sell empty space.

The problem I have with flexing is that it isn't done responsibly. When you're flexing an item to fill a hole, you should print a label and use one of those flippy things, and communicate to other teams that the product is flexed. It may seem like overkill when it's just a few eaches, but the problems that result from "lazy flexing" can snowball faster than you can say 4x4.

 

[Penrose]

Well, recognition might seem good for old team members. However, I argue that for newer members (which for some stores might make up almost half of the total employee population), clarifications and feedback goes a long way. They won’t feel good to going to work if they feel lost on what to do or they don’t understand the expectations or task sequence.

There is genuine boost of confidence and self-esteem when someone feels that they reach a true level of competence, and they are comfortable with their job duties. This is why, I personally felt that “Recognition” time can easily be replaced by “instructional” time.

Case in point, I didn’t even know till you mentioned it that flexing is acceptable in situations where there is an excess amount of item on one shelf, and yet several empty shelves or locations in similar price range. I did do that early this morning, and I felt bad for my decision. I realize that may not even be a mistake.

Praising does not address the basic problem that other people might have not developed a correct understanding of procedures, and now are enforcing it to the newer people who will follow these procedures – and so you have a cycle of improper understanding of processes.

The reality is that when you are actually pushing the items, and others are speeding up, and you are not – you will, feel pressured to take a short-cut—your own team-mates will even say that to you. There is also that 30 minute constraint, so that the drop in temperature will not spoil the food.

NOT saying this should be done – but if it is important to follow FIFO that should always be voiced out. Don’t just say “Get this done by 12”…best to say “I would prefer this done by 12, but don’t compromise FIFO”.

 

[Penrose]

The problem I have with flexing is that it isn't done responsibly. When you're flexing an item to fill a hole, you should print a label and use one of those flippy things, and communicate to other teams that the product is flexed. It may seem like overkill when it's just a few eaches, but the problems that result from "lazy flexing" can snowball faster than you can say 4x4.

I guess issues like this needs to be communicated, but it can be quite difficult when you only have a culture of getting things done, and not a culture of let's talk about issues that may arise, and how we can solve it or what can we compromise.

 

[DoWork]

The problem I have with flexing is that it isn't done responsibly. When you're flexing an item to fill a hole, you should print a label and use one of those flippy things, and communicate to other teams that the product is flexed. It may seem like overkill when it's just a few eaches, but the problems that result from "lazy flexing" can snowball faster than you can say 4x4.

This may be outside my realm, but when doing research or helping in stocks, I always look at labels to make sure correct products are there. In soft lines, I imagine it's more problematic, but anywhere else, lacking labels or facings are an obvious indication of flexing, so I'm not sure where that would become a problem. If things are snowballing, I don't believe it's the flexing that is the problem.

 

[mrknownothing]

This may be outside my realm, but when doing research or helping in stocks, I always look at labels to make sure correct products are there. In soft lines, I imagine it's more problematic, but anywhere else, lacking labels or facings are an obvious indication of flexing, so I'm not sure where that would become a problem. If things are snowballing, I don't believe it's the flexing that is the problem.

You are correct, sir. The problem isn't the flexing, per se. See below.

I guess issues like this needs to be communicated, but it can be quite difficult when you only have a culture of getting things done, and not a culture of let's talk about issues that may arise, and how we can solve it or what can we compromise.

The flow culture of "get it done quickly with no ifs, ands, or buts" is not at all conducive to actually getting to the roots of the problem and solving it. And it's not the fault of the flow TL, who doesn't want to get chewed out for not finishing the truck. It's not the fault of the ETL-Log, who just wants his/her metrics to be green so he/she doesn't get performanced out. It's not the fault of the STL, who is only given a certain amount of payroll to spread out between all the workcenters, hoping for the best. It's corporate's fault for not understanding how things actually work in the stores. It's because corporate refuses to give us the resources to change this company-wide culture of taking shortcuts just to save our own asses that such trivial things as flexing can become major issues.

 

[Penrose]

It's corporate's fault for not understanding how things actually work in the stores. It's because corporate refuses to give us the resources to change this company-wide culture of taking shortcuts just to save our own asses that such trivial things as flexing can become major issues.

I agree. Corporate would implement cost-cutting measures that would have a long-term negative impact to the stores. Case in point, when making decisions on designing a store. It might be more expensive to design it with efficiency in stocking and replenishing of items in mind, versus a cheaper one that just address storage. Most likely, corporate would approve the cheapest bid NOT caring how that affects the day-to-day operation of the store.

The end of quarter or annual meeting, they praise themselves for these cost-cutting measure when in fact, they are setting these stores up for failure.

 

[Redzee]

The problem I have with flexing is that it isn't done responsibly. When you're flexing an item to fill a hole, you should print a label and use one of those flippy things, and communicate to other teams that the product is flexed. It may seem like overkill when it's just a few eaches, but the problems that result from "lazy flexing" can snowball faster than you can say 4x4.

Amen brother.

 

[Redzee]

I agree. Corporate would implement cost-cutting measures that would have a long-term negative impact to the stores. Case in point, when making decisions on designing a store. It might be more expensive to design it with efficiency in stocking and replenishing of items in mind, versus a cheaper one that just address storage. Most likely, corporate would approve the cheapest bid NOT caring how that affects the day-to-day operation of the store.

The end of quarter or annual meeting, they praise themselves for these cost-cutting measure when in fact, they are setting these stores up for failure.

Corporate is fixated on the quick, cheap, short term fix. It appears to me that the company is being prepped for a sale or merge, meaning upper management has no interest in long term plans or fixes. Those nice folks are going to cash out and move on (or be pink slipped). Either way store level muddles along w questionable marching orders. It is the way of things.