So, in Blog #35 I talked about why my Fatherhood Experience was amazing. In this blog I want to talk about managing the seasoned employees of the store.

 People that have been in a location for a long time can be set in their ways. New ideas are sometimes hard for some people. I always like to start with a team meeting and talk about the vision and what goals I have for the store. Then I’d  follow it up with one on ones with what the expectations are.

I tried this with this team and let’s just say it wasn’t a warm embrace at first. They were pretty set in their ways. Now a person half their age is setting “expectations”. So I started with basics, morning routines, closing routines and sales goals. Then I would follow up on the “opportunities” each week. I would also lead by example.

Takes time

After awhile it finally started going pretty good. I didn’t get on them for nit picky things and I truly believed they wanted the best for the store. They were a good team. I would include them in decisions on displays and I learned a lot of great display tips in the process.

You have to be open to learn as well. With the big front windows we would tell stories of the styles on display depending on the category. The casual styles would have a casual theme, while the dress shoes were business themes. It was real fun. Since the “royal” had so many colors we would usual have a “wheel of color”.

The Big Store

After several months of success in Los Altos, Jim asked me to take over the Hilltop mall store, as the previous manager “Randy” gave his notice. The store had been struggling for awhile so I knew I had my work cut out for me.

I was excited for the challenge but wasn’t looking forward to the commute as I would have to take the 880 which was notorious for bad traffic. Seemed like there was something always going on there to delay your commute. I was up for the challenge…

Managing seasoned employees can be tough so start with expectations and be sure to follow up