From Store to HQ: Building a Common Language for Success

In today's episode, titled "HQ vs. Store: Bridging the Divide," we finish our two-part series - Everything Works at HQ!

• What can HQ learn from stores?
• Why is developing a common language between HQ and stores crucial for successful communication and relationship-building?
• What strategies can stores implement to better listen and execute the corporate strategy delivered by HQ?

We're going to explore the critical need for building a shared vision between your retail stores and corporate headquarters. The secret lies with effective communication and alignment. 

Central to our discussion will be how stores and headquarters can develop a common language to enhance understanding, build relationships, and ensure that execution of corporate strategies at the store level is effective and seamless.

I outline a practical 'speed dating' approach to connect the store level with various roles at HQ, emphasizing the value of rapport and communication to overcome the execution disconnect. I share vital insights that HQ wishes to convey to stores, and vice versa, shedding light on the assumptions that may hinder the rollout of new programs.

The episode doesn't shy away from the complexities of inventory management or the pitfalls of poor communication techniques. Rather, I provide a framework to articulate the "why" behind KPIs and metrics, turning data literacy into a powerful tool for retail leaders.

And finally, I examine the North Star concept. This is what it looks and feels like when HQ and Stores have are in alignment, collaborative, and both provide solutions-oriented leadership for mutual success. 

So grab your notepads and prepare to change the way you think about the relationship between HQ and Stores. 

This episode charts a new course to a more resilient, adaptable, and united future.

Transcript

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Corporate strategy integration into stores: challenges, solutions.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Okay, this is for all my people up at HQ. Retail HQ people listen up. Have you ever thought or um even said these things to your peers? Listen to me. I I I only ask questions I already know the answers to. Alright? I already that's that's me. That's me. So I know you have. But here it here here it goes. Here it goes. Here's the thing. They don't listen. They don't listen. People in these stores, they don't listen. Let me tell you what, the execution was poor. I went into four stores in the market and it wasn't executed properly. I think they have talent issues. Why can't we get really good talent in our stores? Have you ever said those things? Have you ever said them? Or you have you thought about them? Come on, man. You gotta be honest with me. Be honest with me. Let me know. But here's the thing, I get it. Right? Here's the thing. You you spent months crafting a strategy in the corporate office, but once it hits stores, things don't go as planned. How can you, you know, at corporate how can you ensure that the big vision and big picture that you have seamlessly fits into the stores? How can you do that? It's very hard, right? You have to try to strategize and actually fit kind of this one central idea into maybe a hundred stores, two hundred stores, five hundred stores. And it's difficult. And it's difficult. In this episode, we are going to talk about some of the things that stores can learn from HQ. All right. This is part two of our series that Everything Works at Home Office. Let's go ahead and get started.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Welcome to Retail Leadership with Steve Worthy, where we go well beyond the corporate playbook to unpack major opportunities, hidden challenges, and critical issues that senior retail leaders face every day. If you're ready to get the insights you need to elevate the impact you have on your team, increase the profitability of your stores, and level up your retail career, then keep listening, my friend, because I see a lot more success in your future. So let's get started right now.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Okay, HQ, I was kind of I was joshing a little bit at the very beginning. But I do have three things. Here's how we're gonna roll with this episode. We're gonna talk about three things that I know you want to say to stores, but you can't, and um, I'm gonna say them for you. We're gonna talk a little bit about common language, and then I'm gonna get into two vital areas that I want to say that store that stores can learn from HQ relative to what you have going on up there. And then of course we are gonna move into our um we're gonna move into our North Star aspect of the podcast. All right, let's go ahead and get started. So here's here are three things or in probably three categories that stores you need to listen to. You need to think about all of these things. Anytime an initiative or pilot project or whatever is rolled out, right, it is under the auspices that you are already on SOP. Okay? Understand that. Just think about that. If you were HQ and you were thinking about rolling something out, your assumption, your assumption, and I know we shouldn't assume, but your assumption is that you know the majority of stores are on SOP because SOP was proven, right? SOP was the the processes for a logistics process that all the stores are following. There may be some variations, right? Uh due to um, you know, transportation, um, you know, uh, you know, you know, cities versus rural, all these different things. There may be some some differences. But the the majority of the time is that the new initiatives are under the assumption that you are on SOP. I'll give you a great example. We were rolling out um a new food inventory um uh in stocks program at uh in in my market. I just took over the market and I volunteered us for for for a pilot, which I I tend to do. I I often did that with all my markets. And one of the things that we really struggled with was as we were reading the initiative, um I literally thought to myself, like, this isn't gonna work here because I have probably 12 stores that aren't on process. That aren't on process. And so what we had to do, we actually had to go back and get each and every store on process, not their individual processes, not something that they've they, you know, you have Susie who's been there for you know with with the company for 15 years and Susie knows how to do it, right? And Susie's way may work and it may not, right? Susie has a given the time to work, and so and Susie leads the in stocks team. And so guess what? It's gonna be done Susie's way. I'm not trying to pick on Susie. I'm just I'm just using her as an example. What tends to happen is that we have to get um all the stores back on process, back on SOP. Because when you do that, ideally, ideally, the new initiative is built on top of that foundation. Is built on top of that foundation. But here's

Prepare for process challenges, address gaps.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

stores, here's what what you will get when you when you think about this. The result is you will find more bumps and warts in your process when you try to get back on SOP. Right? You will find more issues and you will find more gaps in your process. So when you start to think about, oh my gosh, they're they're just trying to roll this thing down, I would actually utilize it as an opportunity, as a time to really think about your your um your SOPs within the different aspects um of your store, right? Logistics, HR, hiring, staffing, training and development, all these different things, right? Because it's gonna happen. It's going to happen. And if you're not ready for it, right, and if your foundation isn't ready, it's it's it's good it's gonna crumble. And all the issues that you haven't addressed are going to come out. So that's the first, that's the first one that um uh HQ wants to tell you. Number two, number two is around inventory management. Here's here's the here's the problem that HQ really wants you to understand is that, and I know this sounds like an excuse, but here's the thing, it's complicated. It's complicated, right? I know we have the the the sharpest minds that are at HQ from a logistics standpoint, um, and some of them actually have come from stores, some of them have come like from MBA programs and all these different things. And the major the vast majority of these logistic programs are built on based on uh AI, uh generative AI, machine learning, um, analytical, uh, you know, you know, you know, data mining, all these different things. And can I just be honest with you? It is not a perfect system. It's just not, right? There are going to be issues with assortment. There are going to be issues with you know allocation, right? But the one thing that you can do from an inventory management standpoint is once again try to have your inventory as best as possible from an in-stock standpoint. One of the things that I cannot stand, I hated this thing so much. This when we had negative on hands, when we have negative on hands, I know this is getting into the weeds a little bit, but here's here's here's the here's what happens. It's because when we start to think and want a relationship with HQ, it's all about the data and the information that we can provide to them that will actually make their jobs a lot easier. But more importantly, for the new initiative that they're trying to get across, they're trying to roll out, they have uh rich information and resources, right? They have data. Right. I I remember um going into um a market, and one of the first things that I would do was to look at every store's negative on hand reports. Every store. Every single store. And that was the one of the first things we cleared up. That was the one of the first things

Talent, negativity, market challenges, product management issues

SPEAKER_00 9:51

we cleared up. It was around talent and then negative on hands kind of throughout the entire market. The throughout throughout the entire region. They hated me for that. But we had to do it because guess what? Now we were able to clear up space, right? Those things when you know from a planogram standpoint that were not set, right? Now we were able to actually to to uh uh implement and actually able to do something with because we were actually getting the product in. But sometimes we I walked in, I don't walked in, I remember working for one company, and uh I am not gonna talk about the name of it. But the vast majority of the planagrams weren't set. Weren't set. We're not set. And so guess what we had to do? We had product in the back room that was just sitting there. That product in the back room had gone on sale, off sale, on sale, off sale for you know for months, for months. But we couldn't do anything unless unless the pri the planagrams were set. So, stores, please understand you have to make sure that your processes and operations are solid, right? Because once they are solid, now you actually have a bargaining chip, right? I would always talk to to um you know district managers or regional managers, and some like, listen to me, don't come to me complaining if your stuff isn't tight. Seriously. I I don't want to hear about any new initiative when you have 50% of your stores not on process. That that that was just my my my philosophy, right? Get your stores on process. Once we are able to do that, if it's not working or you start to see some gaps in a new initiative that's coming, now now we can actually talk about it and have a conversation. But other than that, I don't want to hear about it.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

You're listening to retail leadership with Steve Worthy.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

Number three. Number three, um profit pressure. Profit pressure. You have to understand,

Understanding different perspectives leads to successful deals.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

stores, that corporate, of course, is thinking about the big picture, right? One of the things I learned in my my um, I think it is two years, three years maybe in project management, and I was the business developer um for a company um uh in Atlanta. And one of the reasons why I was able to close so many, so many deals, one of the reasons why we were able to reduce our sales cycle from you know six, seven months down to three to four months was because whenever I went into an organization, I would look, I would make sure that I looked at the core problem, but I would think about it in the context of like how everybody at every level thinks about that problem and and the impact of that problem on those individuals. When you're able to do that, you know, that whether it's thinking about it from a systems thinking standpoint or you're thinking about it from a critical thinking perspective, you have to understand that everybody looks at the problem completely differently, right? While you may think about workload and you may think about the the implementation, HQ is thinking about, listen to me, this is going to increase our overall bottom line. This is gonna increase our our you know return on investment, this is gonna increase our cash flow. So that's gonna be more money that we can either give to give to our team or we can expand the brand, whether it's in the same market, we have money that actually we can we're self-funded now, we can actually do more remodels, right? How many of you um you know you know uh regional guys and gals are like, man, I I need I I need my stores remodeled, right? But you're not doing anything to add to the bottom line. You're not doing anything to add to the cash flow, the cash on hand, which funds a lot of the different things that actually take place. So we have to make sure we're looking at this from a different perspective, right? The the the the profit and the financial realities of of your store are are looked at from a completely different scope at HQ. And that is okay. We need people like that. We need that perspective. Because if we don't, guess what? Um you you you won't have a job, right? If if you have people at HQ who are not taking into consideration shareholder value, um uh uh competitive analysis and looking at what the competition is doing to try to adjust and adapt and trying to do things differently so that we can so that you can stay relevant in the marketplace. Guess what? It's not gonna work. So those are three things that I wanted to make sure that HQ wanted to say to you in in the in the context of what they do. There's there listen to me, I have a list of probably five or six more. Um, but I think those are the three core. When I think about um my relationships with a HQ and having conversations with them, these are the main three that they definitely wanted to say and talk about. So let's talk about the solution before we move into the two things that I really want to address relative to the relationship between HQ and stores. Okay, so if you if you listen to the first episode in this series, it was it was really what can um HQ learn from stores? And my solution is still the same. It is still the same. It is common language. How do you develop a common language? So I am not going to spend a lot of time on this one because if you listen to the first episode, I probably went into into more length, into more depth into common language in that episode. Okay, so the idea around common language, of course, is the unspoken, and this is the more important part is the excuse me, is the spoken, but the more important part is the unspoken aspect of that common language. Just like stories, just like I said to you, it's important that HQ has your back. It's important for you to have HQ's back. It it it it is. Right? And I know that's kind of hard, uh sort of a hard appeal to swallow because the overall

Bridge understanding, communicate effectively, support reciprocally.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

dynamics are are vastly different from what you have to do and go through on a daily basis to what they have to go through and what they see and and their perspective uh on a daily basis. I understand, I understand that that that chasm. I understand that that dichotomy that exists between the two. But you have to understand if you don't have their back, they won't have your back, right? I would rather I would rather try my best to actually have a better understanding of what they do so I can build relationships and build those bridges so I can have communication and cross-functional communication so that way when I do have an issue, it's important for me to know who I can actually talk to. Can I give you some pieces of advice, um, storage with this common language? Understand what's important to HQ. Understand the language that they that that they use when it comes to different initiatives, right, or different projects. Right? I I I would often I would often connect with people, whether it was um whenever I did a a corporate um visit. So here here's what I'm and I know you probably do this already. If you don't, shame on you. You m you need to make sure that you're doing it. There's two parts to this. So if if um you know, of course, senior vice presidents, you you guys and and and regionals and uh district managers, you you guys already are probably doing some of this stuff, right? I think it's important that you are connecting with different people in different categories, right? Um when you go to HQ. Having to sit down, taking a four coffee, whatever it is, right? My my my boss, Jim Hogan, you was he was the master at that. Anytime we went up to HQ, he actually

Boss Jim Hogan was a meeting master.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

um um secured a meeting room. And I started doing this myself throughout my career. Whenever I I would take my team up to HQ or we had a big meeting or something like that, I would I would you know grab a uh a conference room for like two hours and I would set up a series of different people. Um it could be um a merchant um in uh in boys, because my my um my market was struggling with sales and boys and sales with in the boys category. Or it could be what's coming up from a logistics standpoint, how can we maximize our current storage processes? How can we maximize our current store space to to make sure that we are are are gearing up, whether it's for summer or whether it's for Q4, um HR, what are some of the new things from an interviewing standpoint that we need to know, right? Because I don't want to get secondhand information. I actually want to get it from the person who actually create who actually created the copy, who actually created the protocol. So making sure that you're going up there and utilizing you know those opportunities and having this kind of um um, you want to like, what do they call that thing? The dating thing, like it's a rapid-fire dating, speed dating. There you go. Having like the speed dating type of um format where people come in, you they give them 50, you they they you give them 15 minutes to talk about their wares and talk about what they do, and then your team can ask, you know, two to three questions, and then we move on to the next person. It's a great way to actually build rapport and understand who it is that you need to talk to when you do have an issue. So that's part of the common language aspect of what stores can actually do to help out people. The second thing, so if you are in stores, so if you're a store, if you're a store manager, one of the things that you that that that you can do is to ask your boss who those people are. Like, who do I need to talk to? And and here's the worst thing that you can do. Once you get a name for like a merchant in um uh in commodities, right? And the worst thing you can do is to like send them an email and blast them. I am not getting X, Y, and Z Skew. That is the worst thing you can do. The first thing you need to do is to open up lines of communication, say, hey, Steve sent me, Steve gave me your information. I just wanted to make a connection with you and um you know start it, start, start it, start a dialogue. But here's one thing that I do need your help with. Right? Not this thing sucks, not this is horrible. This is one thing I do need your help with, right? This is part of the common language. These are the things that from a store's standpoint you can actually do to actually bridge that gap, you know, that that truly exists, and it exists. I don't care what organization it is, I don't care what company it is, that gap between stores and um and HQ, it exists. And it's real. And it's real. Alright, so just wanted to touch a little bit upon the common language piece. Let's move into two pieces that we want to address. We sort of addressed it um, you know, with that with uh with the previous episode, but I do want to talk about time again. I do want to talk about time and what stores can learn from HQ about time. Stores, I know everything is super duper fast paced. I know it is, but sometimes you have to be able to slow the ball down. Uh Andy, um, you know, one of my one of my bosses, Andy, used to always talk about that, Steve. You gotta slow the ball down to be able to see the floor like like a point guard. And it's so true, and it's so true, you have to sometimes slow the ball down, and I know life gets gets hectic, right? Maybe you you're understaffed, I understand all of that, but you have to slow the ball down, and you have to be able to think strategically because from the storage standpoint, you're tactical, right? You are implementing and executing, right? But from a planning standpoint, you have to be a little bit more strategic in how you see your business. Where do you see your business, right, you know, five, six, you know, 12 months from now, right? We typically utilize that question in an interview for ourselves. Like, where do you see yourself in two to three years? But you need to apply that, you need to apply that same philosophy and question to your business. Where do you see your market in six months, twelve months, eighteen months, talent-wise, operationally, sales, all these different things, right? And then try to create the tactical and strategic plans to actually execute on that. That's how corporate looks at everything. They look at it from a broader scope, and then ideally

Corporate considers broad scope, store, brand, marketplace, customers, needs.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

they try to um uh funnel the idea into um what's gonna work for. For for the stores, taking into consideration the brand, taking to into consideration our place um in the marketplace, taking into consideration, you know, what this what what customers are saying about us, what customers want, and then taking into consideration your needs. How can we create a sustainable business so that we can keep people employed within our stores? You have to be able to look at your business from a broader standpoint. This is one thing you can definitely learn from stores, excuse me, from HQ. So when you are having those meetings and you are talking to people who are from store ops, ask them that question. Like, how how do you guys plan out your year? And how can we, what can we at stores do differently to help facilitate that that that plan that you have for store operations? Right? And I know it may sound like you're pandering to people, but it's it's not. If you want to build relationships, you if you want to get better at what it is that you do and the relationship that you want to have, you actually have to take these necessary steps in order to do that. Okay? You have to be able to do that. Can I give you another reason why you can do this? And this is completely like I didn't even write this out, but I'm gonna give this to you right now. When you want to get promoted, come on now, when you want to get promoted, you need people in the room that's going to talk about you when you're not there, right? And I'm not talking about if uh uh official sponsors. I am literally talking about when uh I have had situations where I'm moving up the ladder and they there there are conversations about a market, and it could be a conversation with you know the executive vice president or COO or whoever it is, because I know I'm gonna probably have to interview with them down the line. And you know, uh they're in conversations with you know the you know vice president of merchandise and for for um you know for women's apparel. It could just be a conversation, you just never know what's gonna happen, right? Um and they're talking about my market. Oh my gosh. And then the the vice president of uh of of women's apparel is like, oh, Steve? Oh yeah, I know Steve. Oh my gosh. We had a conversation the other day, and we were just talking about yada yada yada. And the CEO is like, really? Oh, okay. Wow. Like, yeah, we've been talking about we've been talking about this, we've been talking about that, um, all these different things. And guess what that does for you? It builds cachet for you that you didn't even know existed, you didn't even know you had. Right? And and and so making sure, making sure that you are uh looking at the relationships not just to, of course, benefit yourself, but to also benefit the business. But that's a that's a byproduct of these relationships that you have when it comes to you know time and conversations and communications and also strategic vision, you know, for um, you know, for HQ as it relates to what you do from a store standpoint. All right. So let's move into the last thing. Let's move it to I got a couple of I got a couple of questions that I know HQ that you want to ask stores, you want to ask HQ. And I kind of touched upon some of these already, right? Um this this first question, um, how do corporate market analysis affect our store operations? I'll I'll give you a story. Can I give you a I'm gonna answer this in a story? So I was I was uh um going from store manager to district manager with uh with with Target, and I had built up a really good measure of cachet already, and the the interview process for me was was was was fairly easy, which and you know thank God um you know for that. My interview with Greg Steinhoff at the time, who was a CEO, and uh we we sat down and we were having a it was just really just a conversation, and one of the things that he said to me, and it always stuck with me, he said, Steve, it's not just about one of your stores, it's about all of your stores. We all have that one store, they feel like it only happens to them, right? We have that one store manager, even that one DM, and we feel like that they they feel like it only it only happens to them in their market. That is not the case. When you are thinking strategically about your business, you have to think about it in the context of not just the one store, multiple stores in your market. Are your peers struggling with the same issue? Um, maybe you you create a relationship with somebody in Kansas City, your stores are in New York, and they may be struggling and dealing with some of the same things. Now you have some information

CEO emphasized the importance of multiple stores issues

SPEAKER_00 29:15

from a market analysis, like an internal market analysis standpoint of something that's actually taking place, that it's not just you, right? It can it's a it's a it's a bigger, broader, broader perspective. So though you need to make sure that you are building up um a case, if you will, right? One of the things that I taught my I taught my daughters, you know, years ago, years ago, you know, because you know the kids will always want to say, I want this, I want that, I want this, I want that. Um I think it was around a time when I was going to grad school, so I was really big into like, you know, case studies. And I I remember um, you know, uh um uh a chandler was asking me something, and I said, uh, uh build me a case. And she's like, what does that mean? What does that mean? I said, tell me, give me the reason why you want it, and then what is this, what is this going to do for you? Right? And then the cost associated with it, yada, yada, yada. So she started doing it, and da-da-da-da. I end up getting it for, but it just became this ongoing thing, you know, you know, with the girls, build me a case. And it got to the point, it got so elaborate. I'm sorry I'm digressing here. It got it got so elaborate they would they would actually start using PowerPoint uh presentations to, you know, um uh uh a Bailey wanted a bird. And so she would end up um she created a whole presentation around like why I want this bird, the the the the cage that's necessary, the bird feed, yada yada yada. I'm sorry, I I I I'm I'm rambling on here. The the the point I'm trying to make is that you have to be able to build a case for the you know the issue that that you deem is important for your market, you right, or for your store. Right. So his his whole philosophy for me was make sure that it's not just one store, but that it's a it's a um uh it's a it's a multiple of of stores who are experiencing the same issue. Now you actually have more gravitas behind possibly getting the solution and also getting attention to that problem as well. Okay, the second question. Um, second to last question, I'm gonna I I I want to make sure that you understand this one. What metrics or KPIs are corporate um focusing on and how can we contribute? I love this question. I love this question. I know I I created right, so it's kind of self-grand aggrandizement. I'm sorry. But here's the here's the issue with stores when we think about K KPIs. Can don't get upset at me, but I'm just gonna let you I'm just gonna tell you how it is. Stores, we think about KPIs from a surface level. We think about the end result, right? Uh corporate, they think about the the why behind the numbers, behind the KPI. That plain and simple. Plain and simple. I don't know how many times I have gone in stores and I and I had to teach my team and and and educate them on this on this process of you know, you can read off to me all your payroll, you know, conversion numbers, all of that stuff. Listen to me. I've already looked at that stuff on the plane. I've already looked at that stuff in the in the in the car, looked at it on my phone. I already know what your numbers are. Right? Most senior vice president, director stores, all of that stuff. They already know all of that. Okay? And this is not a, you know, like, oh my gosh, look at me. This is just the truth. But what we want to hear, but what we want to hear is the why behind those numbers. Is the why. And not the not at the excuses, but the actual thing that you did or didn't do to get that number. Right? That's that's what we call in our um in our leadership playbook um program, coaching program, and we also teach we also use it to teach um uh different corporate teams of around having a valued opinion, right? How do how to um define and articulate your valued opinion on something, right? Because when you're able to do that, when you're able to articulate the why behind something, your value goes up as a uh as a leader. Your ability to problem solve go goes up. The other thing that happens, and I talk about this all the time when I when I when I'm coaching people, is that it's it it gets to a point where it's not about what you know, it's a it's about what you're known for. Right? When if you if you can become known for the person who can have a uh um you know a robust conversation on conversion and the the attributes of conversion and why you were able to actually either exceed expectations or not at or not meet expectations with that and actually have a plan and a strategy in order to move forward, guess what? Your your your overall value to to the team has gone up. Your overall value to the team, to the company has gone up. I was I was the person that they would send to um um to corporate for those, you know, for those meetings, um, as it relates to um talking about a a problem that a market is having or a region is having. One because I loved numbers, because I my background is of course in accounting. And the the other two is that I I I I love being able to articulate the the why behind something. And not just for why's sake, but here's also a potential solution that we can have. So what are you known for? What are you known for? Don't be known for the person that complains all the time about your KPIs. Don't be the person that when your your your you know your your regional comes in, that you're you know, you're you're you're just you're and you're in the stores and you're complaining that you can't meet the numbers and all this. And I here's the thing. I I understand all of that. I understand sometimes the expectations that HQ provides, um, even that um you know the company, overall company provides, uh are sometimes unrealistic. But I gotta tell you, I gotta tell you, if if you are uh a leader who is resilient and adaptable and able to actually kind of figure things out, right, which I know you are, or else you wouldn't be listening to this, you actually have the capacity to change your store, your market, your region, um, your your your um your country of stores. You have the ability to actually do that. So make sure that you try to figure out how to have solutions. Think about KPIs completely different. Think about the why behind it. We have developed um a learning lab called data literacy for um for for for retail leaders. And it's it's it's inside of our community called the campus, and it's a one-hour kind of powerhouse uh focus on data literacy and what does that mean? Um what are the key components of of of of conversion, right? What about missed opportunities? But more importantly, how do you um create an opinion and um understand how to make a decision based off of that data, right? It's so it's one thing to know about the data, the other thing is to actually have an opinion on the data. Our learning labs, you know, are not are not free. They're at a they're at a particular cost, but if you become a member of the campus, you get the learning labs for free. You know, so make sure that you you go ahead and join the campus so you can get you know um you know that learning lab on data literacy for for retail leaders. We all we have a we have a few more that I know that you're gonna also enjoy as well. All right, so you know what time it is. You know what time it is. Let's go ahead and rock it out and move to the North Star. Okay, let's talk about the North Star. The North Star is that that point in the program, if you will, where you know we give you the perspective of like if you heard and listened to everything I just said and you implement it and you execute it, or

Key point: alignment, language, insight for implementing changes.

SPEAKER_00 38:57

you need someone to to help you implement it, these are the things that will will that will happen for you. And these are the things that you will see as a result. Okay, the first one is going to be um better alignment and also uh collaborative insight. These are I'm combining those two into into one. When when when you are having a common language where you understand time and you understand how KPIs and be able to understand your your KPIs to make a decision, you you increase alignment and you increase collaborative insight because now you actually have a common language that you can speak to somebody about their their current issue as it relates to the the the the the project that HQ's trying to um implement, right? You understand your role as a store, as a market within that initiative, and now you're actually able to communicate back and forth the the the uh good issues, the bad issues, you know, some of the takeaways that you are that you are seeing, some of the uh challenges that you are are are having, but more importantly, maybe even some of the successes, the way the things that we need to leverage. Can I help you with this one too as well? Um leaders, leaders, get this under understand this, understand this. I I gone are the days where you have to you have to always complain. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I know you probably will you probably will stop listening to me after this, but I am a solutions-oriented leader. I am a solutions-oriented-oriented person. You gain nothing by complaining about something. Now, when you are looking at a solution-oriented um um uh leader, that's exactly what they do. They try to focus in on like what's what's the best next solution? How can I think differently about the situation? And this is where the that alignment kind of comes in. If you are developing a common language and able to look at your business from a broader perspective, guess what? Now you become more solution-oriented. Listen to me, I'm not saying that uh obstacles are not going to be in your way. I'm not saying that you're not gonna have any challenges, but guess what? You're gonna look at those things a whole lot differently if you have a different mindset. Number two. Number two, it has to be, it has to be long-term, um, excuse me, it has to be increased resilience and adaptive and adaptability. We kind of just sort of talked about that. Increased resilience and adaptability. So I always get ahead of myself because my because my brain just, you know, I have so much information that I that I want to get out. You become more resilient to when you have a common language and you have a shared vision and perspective. When you know someone has your back, you will try your best to do whatever it is to help them out. But more importantly, they will do the same. And now when you are both aligned, you're both uh um uh uh moving in a mutual direction where the the benefit for both of you uh may not be the same, but the fact that you know that there's gonna be a benefit for this relationship and at the end of that project, guess what? You will adapt, you will develop some resilience, and you will figure out strategies in order for this to come to pass. That's what you will see as a result if you start to embrace in stores, if you start to embrace some of the thought processes and philosophies of HQ. All right, the last one, the last one that I want to talk about. Oh, and this is the one I love, I I I I love the most. I love the most. You will understand and build a competitive advantage, right? You will see there is nothing, there is nothing like seeing a team that is that is uh um in moving on all cylinders together. Have you ever seen that before? Have you you have you ever like you know had 12 stores, 40 stores, right, that are all moving in the same direction and you are all singing the same song. It is a thing to behold. I am telling you, this is I get jazzed up about seeing that and feeling that and building that, right? But it takes individuals to build that, right? It takes it takes individual connections and communications and

Individual connections build competitive advantage for companies.

SPEAKER_00 43:17

relationships and challenges and obstacles and um crying and laughing and takes all of those things. But my God, when you when you see a team moving and all together, you build a competitive advantage for your market and for your company. Because guess what? Now people throughout the company they want to come to your market and they want to see why why is Jim's market crushing it like this? What are they doing? How can how can we have how can we build build that? Right? That's what you end up creating when you as a store team embrace some of the philosophies and thoughts from an HQ standpoint into your everyday processes. All right, okay. I just spent I just spent some time talking to you about all of these different things, and I know, I know it was a lot. I know it was a lot, but here's the thing is that these these situations, this process and this relationship between HQ and and stores has been around from all millennia, right? Since there was since uh companies started to form H HQs, there was there's always been this issue. My job is to help create the dialogue, you know, for stores and also for for HQ. One of the things that we do at Worthy Retail is that we help um store teams and also corporate teams develop that common language, right? Develop that common language. And we do that with the first step, which is a clarity call. We we help you kind of identify what are some of the issues that you may be going through. You could be a big retailer, mid-size, or even a small retailer, and you are having gaps and having issues communicating your vision to your store team. You probably you need someone who can come in from the outside and actually provide some vision and some direction, and more importantly, once again, some clarity for that. If you are a leader, if you are a leader and you don't have clarity, you you you you want to learn a little bit more about yourself, you want to kind of figure out how do I develop a valued opinion, right? How am I actually able to deal with criticism, right? How do I become more approachable? Make sure that you connect with me and and and uh uh schedule a clarity call because we do the same thing. We identify a couple of different things that you may be dealing with, and then we we we utilize our process and give you something that you can take away, and then from that point in process, we get people um into our coaching program as well. So thank you for joining me for this um the end of this two part episode. We have uh two part series, we have a whole bunch more coming up um for this season of Retail Leadership with Steve Worthy. Thank you so much for being here. Have a great day and God bless.