On the road again

 Starting a new role tomorrow.

Let's implement this.

1_SHARED VALUES Three years ago, at the start of this journey, we revisited their values with the aim of bringing it to life in the business. These values had to encapsulate who they are. His staff members had to buy into it. It had to drive all behaviours in the store. Finally, it had to deliver the service their customers deserve. Accountability on all levels was one of the five important values they agreed upon for this business. It was the guiding star all members will ‘follow” to take them where they wanted to go. Accountability is defined as the obligation of an individual or organisation to account for its activities, accept responsibility for them, and to disclose the results in a transparent manner. For this (or any of your 'values') to have an impact we need to follow an integrated approach to implementation, otherwise this is another value on a poster in the staff room that means nothing. Otherwise, 'shared values' is mere Kumbayah... How do you establish a set of values that people buy into in such a way that it actually positively impacts the business?

2_STRATEGY Staff members need to know where they are going! If they don't know where they are going, they won't go along for the ride. (For example a vision could be to have 20 STORES BY 2020.)  This can be called the vision or mission - don't get caught up in the semantics. If you communicate and get buy–in from your staff members then you are okay.  When the going gets tough, don't change your mission: If you have worked this through, you have agreed it with your team and you have committed resources to this strategy -  just keep going with your eyes focussed on your NORTH STAR.  What you need to change and review are the actions and plans to achieve this. The Litmus Test: Can I ask your casual on a Sunday where your business is going? Build some triggers into your strategic plan that mandates change. Even if it is only apparently 'change for the sake of change', because the alternative is worse; the alternative is atrophy.

3_STRUCTURE People struggle if they do not know what is expected from them in their roles. You can't simply throw in a job description in and believe it will clear their confusion up. If your structure is effective, then truly accountable team members WILL: 1. Identify gaps This young man developed a new product offering. He presented it as one of the plans for the following year. The feedback from the owner was not: “Good idea BUT we need to look at this and that”. His first question was: “What will be the impact of this new product offering on the customer service experience and is this what they are looking for?”   Just for fun; this is how you reward someone >> Give that man a Bells 2. Learn new roles and processes and ultimately build a more capable team This young man has a few more ideas for his department for the next year, but he needs a capable team to support him. He needs to take them on this journey with him. Does your structure drive/support your strategy? Does your structure support your staff to take responsibility for targets and outcomes? You can adapt the structure to assist you to achieve your outcomes. If you change the structure, roles and responsibilities also change. Communicate WHY you do this; this is essential. The approach should not be that 'the job role requires them to do that, so they know they must do that'.

4_SKILLS Many skills (technical skills, soft skills etc) are required, but one important skill in fostering this culture of accountability is the ability to provide fearless feedback. If your goal is to foster accountability then it is not about punishing the leader and his team if they do not meet targets. This will encourage staff members to take calculated risks and to innovate. Fearless feedback = S B I  Situation: When giving feedback to your staff member, it is critical to provide a clear, simple, accurate description of the situation where the recipient of the feedback was involved. Key points to provide are: Time and place Who was present Context of situation Behaviour: It is critical to provide the staff member with a simple, clear description of the behaviour that you observed. Key points to provide are: What exactly did the person “say or do. “(You cannot always be on the floor, teach this technique to all your staff members.) Keep this simple and accurate – without judgment What did the person say? What body language did the person display? Impact: It is important to provide a simple honest statement of the impact. Avoid sentimentalism or intense emotion. Feedback coached in those terms only puts the listener in a defensive mode and the opportunity for good communication is lost. Key points to provide are: How did the action taken make you feel? From your perspective, how did the person’s behaviour impact other individuals? What impact did this have on the communication process?  On working at the task at hand? Do you staff members seek feedback from you regularly? You need to “unlearn” the 'sandwich' approach to feedback . Slice of Bread = you are a valuable employee Slice of Meat = but this is how you can improve Slice of Bread = but keep up the good work.

5_STAFF The usual mantra when recruiting is to “Recruit for Attitude”. BUT. Then you keep all the control with rules, policies and job descriptions. Give freedom to allow them to come up with different solutions, in order for staff to display the correct attitude when they interact with your customers.  Support and lead by example are the key factors. Your staff will grow in confidence and take ownership of their targets and the reasons for targets being met or not. You can only implement this strategy with good staff and if you know stuff that will get your staff to want to be accountable. In this case 'stuff' is not only retail metrics or data; It is information about each team member, what they like, why they work there and what they need out of the relationship. Do you REALLY know what drives your staff member’s behaviours? Emotional Intelligence means you recognise why some staff members want to receive accolades in front of the team, whilst others love it. Remember (from above) that you need to know stuff to get staff members to copy your behaviour.

6_SYSTEMS This business measures everything. That was really refreshing because most SME retailers we worked with, do have a POS and that is about it. He knew exactly to the last dollar on the last day of the year what he needed to do to make it happen. And that he will have to give feedback about his department’s contribution to overall SALES and GP. "If you can't measure it, you can't improve it.” Here is the thing though: Does your staff know why you measure it. If they do not why then they will not take full responsibility for it.  (This why is not to make only money.) He came in on his day off and worked the entire day. So that he and his team can make target for the month, but it was only possible if EVERY element of the above were in place to make it happen.   If you know the WHY then the HOW is easy.

7_STYLE He came in on his day off. This is a reflection of how you lead, how you coach and how you inspire your staff members. However, this owner must have done something right to get this staff member to do what he wanted him to do. He had laid down the foundation (Shared Values, Strategy, Structure, Skills, Staff, Systems) that would enable him to lead them to places where they have never been before. I think STYLE is one of the most underrated and misunderstood variables in management. Know thyself - really know thyself. Knowledge opens opportunities. It tells you how to structure your management group It plays in integral part in your recruitment strategy Peter Drucker (Management Guru) says about Know Thyself: “It tells you how to structure your relationships, this is the kind of results you should expect from me. And in this time frame, because this is who I am”. Does your team know who you are? And are they fine with it?.  It is not easy to admit who you are, and it is the same for your staff members. Working in an environment where there is acceptance and authenticity is not about warm and fuzzy, it is about dollars and cents.