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Potential TL advice - metrics
- Thread starter secretsanta
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From another thread
Well you have the right attitude, and sticking with that is half the battle. You'll feel a little discouraged at some points when it may feel like it's going nowhere.
The other half is owning and leading your area. Aside from making sure you complete your push for the day, take time to know what's going on in your department. Check the set workload tool for any upcoming SPLs, Revisions, or POGs and be proactive about completing them without being directed. Also take time to EXF (or audit if your store allows it, ASANTS on that one) your outs frequently. At the end of the day, your department should look full and guest ready. At the end of the week, you shouldn't have any pending sets.
The leadership part can come in by partnering with your TL or ETL on what needs to be done in your department on your days off, what needs special attention, etc.
All in all use this as a guideline but realize your store leadership will be very transparent with what they expect from their leads if you ask them. Asking to have a sitdown with your ETL to talk about this kind of thing for a little bit is 100% something you can and should do. Considering he/she already approached you about it it shouldn't be uncomfortable.
Thanks
Rogthedog
Well you have the right attitude, and sticking with that is half the battle. You'll feel a little discouraged at some points when it may feel like it's going nowhere.
The other half is owning and leading your area. Aside from making sure you complete your push for the day, take time to know what's going on in your department. Check the set workload tool for any upcoming SPLs, Revisions, or POGs and be proactive about completing them without being directed. Also take time to EXF (or audit if your store allows it, ASANTS on that one) your outs frequently. At the end of the day, your department should look full and guest ready. At the end of the week, you shouldn't have any pending sets.
The leadership part can come in by partnering with your TL or ETL on what needs to be done in your department on your days off, what needs special attention, etc.
All in all use this as a guideline but realize your store leadership will be very transparent with what they expect from their leads if you ask them. Asking to have a sitdown with your ETL to talk about this kind of thing for a little bit is 100% something you can and should do. Considering he/she already approached you about it it shouldn't be uncomfortable.
Thanks
Rogthedog
Attitude is everything. Reach out, ask questions, ask for more responsibility. It took me a while to move up but the leadership in my store is very seasoned. Take any opportunity they give you. As far as numbers go, comp is compared to last year the goal is always to be growing in sales. Meeting sales goals and comp are probably the biggest numbers to focus but there are many many more and it really depends on what department you are in on what you should focus on, setl and gmtl are going to have vastly different focuses for instance. Not knowing this stuff isnt a big deal and is a good starting point for the conversation with your etl. Good luck
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Yetive
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Do you know your DBO routines? Are you sure? Where can you find out?
Do you know how to do EVERYTHING that is part of your routine? (I assume not, as you aren't sure about finding sales, etc). Who will you ask if you don't? What will you say?
Is there any continuous learning that you haven't done? Why haven't you? Where would you find out?
These are the BASICS for a DBO.
You are going to be a leader, not a doer. It is important that you know the tasks of your current job, so that you can provide guidance and pitch in when necessary. However, learning a laundry list of tasks will not make you a good leader. You will be following up with your team on all of the above. Your job will be to remove roadblocks so that your team can succeed. What if one of those roadblocks is another team member? What will you do?
How will you create that TEAMwork? You should not be ok with the bitching and complaining. Not as a Team Leader, and not as a Team Member. Are you participating in the bitching? How can you remove yourself? This should be done sooner rather than later if you will be leading some of them in the future. I find a simple, "What are you going to do about that?" Works pretty well. (We all vent. Just do it here).
I'm not trying to discourage. In my experience, the great doers who get promoted and keep focused on learning more tasks, are the ones who tend to fail.
Do you know how to do EVERYTHING that is part of your routine? (I assume not, as you aren't sure about finding sales, etc). Who will you ask if you don't? What will you say?
Is there any continuous learning that you haven't done? Why haven't you? Where would you find out?
These are the BASICS for a DBO.
You are going to be a leader, not a doer. It is important that you know the tasks of your current job, so that you can provide guidance and pitch in when necessary. However, learning a laundry list of tasks will not make you a good leader. You will be following up with your team on all of the above. Your job will be to remove roadblocks so that your team can succeed. What if one of those roadblocks is another team member? What will you do?
How will you create that TEAMwork? You should not be ok with the bitching and complaining. Not as a Team Leader, and not as a Team Member. Are you participating in the bitching? How can you remove yourself? This should be done sooner rather than later if you will be leading some of them in the future. I find a simple, "What are you going to do about that?" Works pretty well. (We all vent. Just do it here).
I'm not trying to discourage. In my experience, the great doers who get promoted and keep focused on learning more tasks, are the ones who tend to fail.
It is tough going from tl to tm. The tms are going to push back and try and get you to take their side, as a former tm. Its feels kind of like stating the obvious but as a tl you just have to step up. Make the tough calls, stay firm on your expectations, and call out your tms for missing expectations. However that doesnt mean to not be sympathetic, things happen. You have to be fair with you expectations, too. Asants on that so youll have to know what your stores expectations are.
For the team work part, it might be worded that way but imo very rarely does it mean actual team work.
For the going to your tms for insight and advice, sounds good in theory but its a slippery slope. Spot expects the leaders to follow procedures whether its a good idea or bad.
Im sure there is plenty of advice left to give but i don't want to ramble on and on
Edit to reaffirm what @Yetive said you should do what you can to distance yourself from the bitching/complaining sooner rather then later. You do not want to give tms any chance to throw you under the bus.
For the team work part, it might be worded that way but imo very rarely does it mean actual team work.
For the going to your tms for insight and advice, sounds good in theory but its a slippery slope. Spot expects the leaders to follow procedures whether its a good idea or bad.
Im sure there is plenty of advice left to give but i don't want to ramble on and on
Edit to reaffirm what @Yetive said you should do what you can to distance yourself from the bitching/complaining sooner rather then later. You do not want to give tms any chance to throw you under the bus.
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I think going from TM to TL Is easier than being a TL outside hire. The team knows you have been in the trenches and understand the opportunities That there are and the struggles they all face. Use your contacts to strengthen the entire team, you can make them more cohesive if you deal with the issues in the complaints. A good leader is involved, not locked in the ivory tower of TSC.
Knowing the numbers and the metrics will come with experience - you are not required to know them for the interview. There are 13 metrics that are tracked - the greatest number of them pertain to fulfillment but each TL does have impact on at least one.
Remember leading is not doing. You will NOT be resposible for executing anything but you WILL be accountable for all results. In other words: It will not be your job to DO the tasks, it will be your job to ensure the tasks are done well.
Show you can train, guide, solve problems, follow up and hold others accountable to the expectations set.
Good luck. You are off to a good start.
Knowing the numbers and the metrics will come with experience - you are not required to know them for the interview. There are 13 metrics that are tracked - the greatest number of them pertain to fulfillment but each TL does have impact on at least one.
Remember leading is not doing. You will NOT be resposible for executing anything but you WILL be accountable for all results. In other words: It will not be your job to DO the tasks, it will be your job to ensure the tasks are done well.
Show you can train, guide, solve problems, follow up and hold others accountable to the expectations set.
Good luck. You are off to a good start.
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Yes, I'm confident I know the DBO routines. The only thing I was asking in regards to sales, was how to read/interpet them in MPM - then implement solutions in a way an ETL expects a TL to, not a TM. It was more of a question that was aimed at answers to possible TL interview questions. I understand that the transition from TM to TL is about leadership. It's a lot more about delegation than doing tasks. That means it's not enough to have the right people on your bus, but also to have them in the right seat on the bus. Knowing each TM's strengths and weaknesses and working with those to decide who/when/where/how to delegate each task and workload to.
In regards to the insight and advice - I agree I may have worded that in a way that suggests more of a do-er than a leader. When I was thinking about it, it was more having a second pair of eyes on the creative side of merchandizing (switching up the fixture blocking inside moveable walls/ switching up color stories and themes when merchandise sells through in focal points). However, as a leader I think it would be more of me making suggestions and watching how they implement them and then working from there.
The bitching and complaining about TL's from the TM's is, from what I've noticed, largely due to lack of communication (but also - frustration from diminishing hours and increased workload). Otherwise, people like to know why they're being asked to do something. When it doesn't make sense to them - they start saying so-and-so asked me to do this and it's so stupid because of x reason. What they may not know is the x reason is that the STL or ETL has added it as a new task that needs to be done for the day.
In regards to the insight and advice - I agree I may have worded that in a way that suggests more of a do-er than a leader. When I was thinking about it, it was more having a second pair of eyes on the creative side of merchandizing (switching up the fixture blocking inside moveable walls/ switching up color stories and themes when merchandise sells through in focal points). However, as a leader I think it would be more of me making suggestions and watching how they implement them and then working from there.
The bitching and complaining about TL's from the TM's is, from what I've noticed, largely due to lack of communication (but also - frustration from diminishing hours and increased workload). Otherwise, people like to know why they're being asked to do something. When it doesn't make sense to them - they start saying so-and-so asked me to do this and it's so stupid because of x reason. What they may not know is the x reason is that the STL or ETL has added it as a new task that needs to be done for the day.
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You obviously get the hard part, the understanding of how to manage people. Learning how to read, effect and utilize the numbers Is a small thing that you can be shown easily, pick up quickly and get better at with time. Take it one step at a time. You don’t need that at this stage. If you were applying for SD that would be different.
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Also - I think it is important for me to clarify, when I said I was comfortable with the bitching about TL's, it's not that I am okay with it, but more so that I understand where it is coming from. That's why as a leader I would like to always make sure I'm communicating why I've assigned certain tasks - until they get to the point where they are able to figure out the reasoning without explanation. The lack of hours is not something I think I will have control over, unfortunately, which I think easily gets mixed in because TM's get frustrated that TL's get guaranteed full time while they watch their hours routinely get cut, despite having the same expectations and workload.
isthatathing
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Regarding metrics etc. I personally love pulling numbers from Greenfield. Don't know if you've dug into it or just used MPM so far. Greenfield has a lot of metrics relevant to leading your team. BRLA. RFID. Pricing. Pogs set on time. Etc.
My favorite stuff is sales tho. Like, say as VM during covid you set up something temporarily while we had no inventory. You could pull up the comp numbers for the specific week you had it set up. Track specifically, say, A New Day dresses for example. You could speak to that. It's also nice if a team member is executing it for you, and you can share those numbers with them so they understand the "why."
Team members can be like: Why am I being told to randomly move around my whole dept when I had it memorized the way it was???
But when they know the "why" it can be easier to get them on board. Like, well dresses are 20% off this week. Let's get them off the walls and onto the main aisle. The hurdles are almost empty and we want to look full for our guest. Inventory recovers at the end of the month and we want to sell this before you have to spend time ticketing it as clearance.
Or whatever the reason. Just examples.
I think you're right that communication is huge. Sometimes it feels like TLs think their team is uninterested or even like, dumb. Taking the time to explain things and share knowledge is one my favorite things to do as a leader. Do they always care? Well no. But they're informed. And the times when someone gets hyped, or comes to find me and say, "omg, I only have like 2 of those dresses left" is so validating.
Anyway. Good luck! It seems like you're already thinking about the right stuff as a leader.
My favorite stuff is sales tho. Like, say as VM during covid you set up something temporarily while we had no inventory. You could pull up the comp numbers for the specific week you had it set up. Track specifically, say, A New Day dresses for example. You could speak to that. It's also nice if a team member is executing it for you, and you can share those numbers with them so they understand the "why."
Team members can be like: Why am I being told to randomly move around my whole dept when I had it memorized the way it was???
But when they know the "why" it can be easier to get them on board. Like, well dresses are 20% off this week. Let's get them off the walls and onto the main aisle. The hurdles are almost empty and we want to look full for our guest. Inventory recovers at the end of the month and we want to sell this before you have to spend time ticketing it as clearance.
Or whatever the reason. Just examples.
I think you're right that communication is huge. Sometimes it feels like TLs think their team is uninterested or even like, dumb. Taking the time to explain things and share knowledge is one my favorite things to do as a leader. Do they always care? Well no. But they're informed. And the times when someone gets hyped, or comes to find me and say, "omg, I only have like 2 of those dresses left" is so validating.
Anyway. Good luck! It seems like you're already thinking about the right stuff as a leader.
