The strength of and value derived from the team working in your newsagency will depend on the leadership you provide. The best leadership you can provide in small business retail is being present with team members, working alongside them, giving them opportunities to learn from you.
Too often newsagents try and lead their businesses from the back room. Too often I see an old-school structure when a small business works better with a flat structure.
The best way to communicate how you want something done is to show it being done. The best way to share your vision is to work at implementing it alongside team members. The best way to show the level of customer service you want is for you to deliver it. The best way to show how you want your team members treated is for you to treat them this way.
Being present and working your business with your team offers excellent opportunities to good leaders.
I think this is good advice especially in the case of new employees and sometimes more experienced ones as well. Older staff sometimes get “lazy” for want of a better word about some practices like Lotto, upselling, product advice etc and working alongside both new and old staff can be a bit of a tune up on the type of performance that is expected.
Having said that I like what some new staff bring to the business like a fresh set of eyes on what we do as well as things I may not have thought of. Like many owner operators I sometimes think I know everything there is to know but the truth is I don’t and keep on learning all the time.
A resort that I used to work for many years ago had the philosophy that staff are actually at the top of the organisational chart and that management are at the bottom. When looking at what the resort was all about and the customer experience we wanted to exercise the chart made total sense to most of the staff and the service and customer experience was excellent and proven by the fact that we were way ahead of our nearest and much larger competitors.
I wish we had the luxury of not being there. What’s a day off. Presently working 12 hours a day.
Carol I am sure you are not alone even though it would feel like it. Many of us who buy or start our own businesses sign up for long hours. We have to work hard to embrace it otherwise we could hate our businesses and that’s a pit that is very hard to climb out of.
Mark I was getting to the stage of hate but when I re-invented the shop and put in gifts I was really excited but was let down by supplier who fail to realise to get stock to FNQ takes up to two weeks. I cancelled a couple of orders that I had been looking forward to stocking. Pleased I did because Cooktown is like a ghost town as everyone has left in drove to shop in Cairns. All my gifts are going out at 25% off tomorrow but….