Great leadership is vital if we want to get the best out of our people in today’s challenging and ultra-competitive world of retail. With headlines talking about close to 50% of employees wanting to leave, there is a big focus on keeping team members especially the standouts. This will require exceptional leadership.
Here are 10 key areas that extraordinary leaders give every employee:
1. Autonomy and independence – empower your team by training them and let them have a go.
2. Clear expectations – so they know the guidelines they need to follow and work within.
3. Meaningful targets – each team member should be set stretch targets that challenge and yet motivate them.
4. A true sense of purpose – so they know where they fit in and how they support the business and the customer.
5. Opportunities to provide significant input – the more you ask your team for their thoughts and input, the more engaged they are.
6. A real sense of connection – this is the feeling that their leader actually cares about them.
7. Reliable consistency – it’s ok to treat individual team members differently, the key is to treat them all fairly.
8. Private criticism – feedback that focuses on what the team member needs to do to improve must always be done 1:1 in private.
9. Public praise – most team members love when they receive praise in front of their peers, which can also work to inspire others.
10. A chance for a meaningful future – great leaders find out the hopes and ambitions of each team member and works with them to try and achieve this.
Exceptional bosses do all of the above — and more. Sure, they care about their company, its customers and their suppliers. But most importantly, they care to an exceptional degree about the people who work for them. And that’s why they’re so rare.
Please take the time to run the ruler over these ten tips and identify the areas you need to work on to make the small step (or the leap) to being an exceptional leader.
Roger Simpson – CEO, The Retail Solution and Author of “The Ultimate Retail Sales Experience” With over 35 years’ industry experience, Roger Simpson is recognized as Australia’s #1 Authority on customer ROI in the retail industry and as a global expert on staff coaching, customer service, and selling skills.
