“This…this isn’t real?
What is real? How do you define real? If you are talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.”
(later in scene) “Welcome to the real.”
*Neo and Morpheus, The Matrix
Being a store manager, as stated in part one of this series, is complex with many, many levels of considerations. You face many challenges with many successes and opportunities. You must choose many answers regarding many questions. You have many realities.
Welcome to part two. It is entitled Keeping It Real. Hence The Matrix reference. I found this film trilogy interesting because there are a variety of moments where the characters must face what is real and what is not. Do not fear, I will not ask you about taking a red or blue pill. I want to consider when you take on the post of retail store manager, are you being real about what it is going take. This would include but certainly not be limited to long hours, hard conversations, not making sales goal, being short staffed and eating cold fries in five minutes and that is lunch for you. I mentioned in part one that it is a wonder anyone would want to be a manager. Well thankfully some do. Some are exceptional, some are good, some are average and some are, well…they suck their supervisors will to live. I believe the degrees of success may be linked to an awareness of what the job will really take.
So if we are explore keeping it real, we have to ask, “What is real?” My plan then is to make it somewhat simple. I will share four realities in your job and then have you consider how you interpret them, how you feel about them and what you do well and what might need to improve.
The Job. This seems clear enough. I am a store manager. That is my reality. It is more than that. I have found many managers were elevated into the position because they were good or great sales reps. Now they have to manage other sales reps and run the store. And the other stuff we have previously mentioned. First “real”, do you know your job? Have you been trained? How are you doing with regard to these tasks? This should be a priority if you feel under-developed. Second “real”, your store will dirty, Skippy will late and a customer will have a complaint about something that you think is BS. The job will be hard. Are you open to facing the crap in the job? Third “real”, short and sweet, people do not leave a job, they leave managers. This may be your boss. I will leave it at that.
The Business. This differs from the job; this is the sales and service part. It looks squarely at selling widgets and dealing with the customer. Making your numbers and creating a customer experience. Two “reals”. One, you must sell stuff or you will not last long. Targets will be too high sometimes. You may not have inventory to sell. There will always be a number to achieve…always. And two, while the customer is not always right, they are still the customer. The customer decides who they do business with by the experience they receive, especially in these economic times. They pay your salary and can as Sam Walton stated fire you anytime by taking their business somewhere else.
The Team. Let’s be point blank: your team is a reflection of you, your greatest asset and the barometer of your success or failure. Your objective as store manager is get things done through your team. This is everything from operations to performance. First “real”, they are not motivated exactly like you. Do you know their triggers? Do you know what makes them “them”? Have you made this a priority? Second “real”, they will make mistakes (so will you). How are you at ensuring their mistake is either a fluke or chronic? How are you at accountability and consistency? How are you at praise or discipline?
The Balance. Perhaps the most real “real”. Your life inside work balanced with life outside of the work environment. Are you being true to who you are and what you are striving to achieve in each of those realities? Do you live to work or work to live? In some ways this is both a hard and unfair question. I get that. Just think about it.
I feel that being real, that keeping it real allows us to embrace all things in our job. Life is peaches and sometimes it is lemons. But then there is lemonade, right? Or is that just Morpheus’s brain signals thingy.
Cheers