Throughout history the lighthouse has
played an important role in navigation and pilotage at
sea; its purpose is to guide, to show the way, to warn
of danger and generally provide safe entry into harbors.
The Store Manager is the lighthouse for
the employees of a retail store and the Head Office is
the lighthouse for all of their retail employees
nationwide.
Lighthouses do not shift positions; they
stand firm and bright and can always be counted upon to
guide those looking to them for that purpose. If
lighthouses moved; changed direction and sometimes
turned out their lights they could not be counted on
and, therefore, could not have become such an enduring
navigation aid. Granted, technology has diminished the
need for the lighthouse as we know it. But other tools
and devices now replace the lighthouse. So it is not
that the need for guidance no longer exists but only
that there are now different ways to provide it.
As long as humans are manning retail
stores and as long as retailers want to stay in the
game, the Store Manager must be the guidance device…the
lighthouse.
The Manager must provide consistent
guidance. In every aspect of the store operation there
must be clear and consistent management at all times. I
am talking about the kind of management that is based on
integrity, respect, knowledge and principles; the kind
of management that every Manager should practice and so
few do.
The Manager with integrity and respect
for others will not say one thing and then do another;
or make a mountain out of molehill one day and ignore
the very same circumstances that precipitated the
outburst the next. S/he will not forget that employees-
all employees regardless of their position, performance
or abilities - should be praised in public and
disciplined in private. S/he will establish and abide by
some golden rules and insist that others abide by them
also. They will ensure there are rewards and
consequences and that both are consistently applied.
The Manager with knowledge – both general
and retail specific – must use that knowledge for the
good of the people and the organization. S/he must
constantly engage in productive conversation and
activities that transfer that knowledge to others in the
store/organization. This Manager must make his/her
knowledge free for the asking and everyone must be
encouraged to ask.
The Manager with principles will not be
thrown off course by whatever comes along. Decisions
will not be made based on comfort or popularity. They
will be made based on principles because they understand
that giving up their principles leaves them open to the
turbulence and uncertainty and, very likely, the failure
that befalls unprincipled Managers.
It’s easy to imagine the Manager as the
lighthouse in the store environment. Just think of the
myriad of details that must be attended to every
day…like receiving, merchandising, scheduling, cleaning,
hiring, training, banking… just to name a few. And those
are only the non revenue generating tasks. The really
important work – serving and selling to customers –
occupies the majority of the retail employees’ time or,
at least, it should.
In an environment like this it is easy
for employees to lose sight of the goals and to go off
course simply due to the activity in the store and not
because they are indifferent, unskilled or lazy. The
simple truth is that if there is no one to act as the
lighthouse, or if the lighthouse is not stable,
consistent and bright, the most important reason for
being there in the first place – which is to satisfy
customers and produce revenue – may just be forgotten.
Most retailers cannot afford to take that chance. The
Managers must provide the guidance.
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