How Far Do You Cast Your Leadership Vision? Does That Match Your Role?
Every position in a retail environment has a role to play in planning and executing strategy. When things are working well, all the players are clear on that role and how to perform at a high level. When roles become cloudy, or some choose to deviate from that role, things can—and likely will—get out of alignment. Discipline is necessary to deliver consistently positive results, an outstanding customer experience, and build an organization that can thrive.
That sounds like it could be both easy, and boring. If I am assigned one thing, is that all I do? Yes, it sounds easy, but actually is easy, no. As I have said before, if things were always as easy as they sounded, we would have countless organizations crushing their performance metrics. That is not the case. And, yes, some roles will be required to largely perform a singular task. That doesn’t mean it has to be boring or feel like it is a dead-end position. A cashier’s job is to do essentially one thing: provide a fast, friendly, and accurate checkout experience, every time. That is the role. They are in the moment, yet every transaction is different, a new opportunity to deliver the expected experience.
When we think about this from a leadership perspective, each level has a new role in how they connect to the strategy of the organization. When everyone understands how they impact the critical points for the company, they can make a significant difference for themselves, the team, the customers, and the company.
Supervisors and second level leaders
These front-line positions are closest to the team members that are executing the strategy directly impacting customers. Their line of sight is today, the now. They need to be fully engaged in what is happening throughout each day. That information should be discussed, and shared, so the store level leader has insights for his role in planning at the next level.
Store level leader
This position may be called different things in different businesses. In general, this is the person responsible for a singular location — retail store, restaurant, hotel, etc. This level of leader needs to be aware of the day-to-day outcomes, but begins to cast their eyes to the week ahead. They are organizing the resources necessary to achieve what they can see happening the next several days ahead. This can be as simple as schedule writing or at least reviewing to ensure that the allocation of people matches the needs of what is coming for the business.
District or area level leader
In multi-unit roles, you are now responsible for helping each of those store level leaders to see the week ahead, and prepare them for what is anticipated in the upcoming month. More strategic thinking is required at this level. You are not only anticipating what is coming from a business standpoint, but also understanding your team and how you can best support them to succeed. Where do you need to be over the course of that period of time to make the biggest impact on your team? Your experience and understanding of the larger picture can guide what you expect to happen, when, and how. That guidance becomes invaluable to your store level leaders, as you can direct them where to prioritize their efforts. Communication becomes much more important, and tailoring your message for each individual can be a differentiator for success.
Regional or division level leader
I will stop at the regional or divisional level for now, as I believe this cycle illustrates the point. This level is much more driven by what is coming in the quarter or more ahead. They are also gathering information and feedback from large portions of the company that are used to inform and direct strategy at the levels above. This can be a difficult balance when you have to keep your eyes firmly cast well down the road, yet lead a team that is still helping to support the day-to-day execution of the existing strategy. If you get too caught up in the everyday components, you can lose sight of what is coming down the road and miss opportunities for efficiency or course correcting. Spend too much time looking ahead, and you miss the indications that things are not going to plan currently. With each day, that tends to grow, and eventually requires a lot of time to get teams back on the plan and executing what needs to be happening for success right now.
An important note for each of the above, none of these can be a truly black and white situation. The time frame I am using illustrate the idea of how far each role casts their vision ahead. These are not specific or hard and fast times. Use these to get a sense of how your role connects into the concept of looking ahead in the best way to support your team. As an example, a month may really be three to six weeks for your business.
With each position, think of the beams of a radar device sending out signals further and further. As your role in strategy increases and your responsibility grows, your line of sight, your planning thought process must extend further and further from the day-to-day point. This continues as you reach executive and ‘C’ level positions as well. Ultimately, the CEO is looking years into the future and building a strategy for how the organization can reach that pinnacle. Because they are always looking that far forward, the dynamic of the plan will continue to change. The destination may stretch beyond the original thought, the paths may change, or there may need to be a complete revision because where the future lies has changed from where it was a year or two ago.
Think about how each of the roles mentioned above would have to change and how their line of sight and planning has been impacted by just the last two years. Plans that were in place in February 2020 had to suddenly change just one month later. And then, looking into the future became extremely challenging. But, if not for many of the high-level leaders looking beyond the day, the week, or the month, many more businesses likely would have failed in an environment that was constantly changing, and continues to today.
Casting your vision and planning for the role you are in plays a role much bigger than you may have imagined. But it is equally critical that those roles that are asked to keep their vision and activity to the near-term to execute on the strategy at hand. The future cannot happen if we do not lead through today.
How can you ensure you play your role in casting your vision at the right distance to ensure success?
Join other retail leaders in continuing their development journey with Effective Retail Leader.com. SUBSCRIBE today to receive leadership tips directly to your inbox and monthly newsletters that provide many tools to help further develop your leadership skills. JOIN NOW!
No spam ever — just leadership goodness.